Kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart has said she believes there is still "reason to have hope" that Nancy Guthrie, an 84-year-old Arizona woman, could be found alive 25 weeks after her suspected abduction from her home near Tucson. Smart, who was herself abducted and held captive for nine months in 2002 before being rescued, drew on her own experience to argue that a prolonged disappearance does not rule out a safe return, offering some comfort to Guthrie's family as the case continues without resolution.

The case has drawn national attention, with Guthrie's daughter, NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie, making an emotional on-air appeal for information after a ransom note reportedly suggested her mother had died. Savannah Guthrie said "somebody knows something" and described her family as living in "agony" as authorities continue to investigate nearly six months on from the abduction, with no confirmed breakthrough yet reported.