What the data tells us about kidnapped people and how Nancy Guthrie is an outlier

"The abduction of Nancy Guthrie is putting a spotlight on the excruciating uncertainty endured by thousands of families whose loved ones go missing each year. Experts see parallels with those cases, even as many details in Guthrie's case are unique, from the victim's age to her celebrity daughter, Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie. The circumstances of Guthrie's disappearance are "quite shocking," says Jesse Goliath, a forensic anthropologist at Mississippi State University."

""Usually you hear about smaller children, juveniles that go missing" and attracting national press, Goliath says. "But having an older woman who's gone missing and having [a daughter] that you've seen on TV every day" is extraordinary, he adds. More than 500,000 people were reported missing in the U.S. last year, according to the Justice Department. But Tara Kennedy, media representative for the Doe Network, a volunteer group working to identify missing and unidentified persons, says high-profile kidnappings are rare."

"From June 2020 to June 2025, women comprised more than 75% of the victims in the some 240,000 cases of kidnappings or abductions that were reported in the U.S., according to FBI crime data. But of those, only 646 women were in their 80s like Nancy Guthrie, who is 84, or less than .2% of all victims. Compare that to the age group that accounted for the largest number of victims that year: people 20-29, who made up just shy of 30% of victims"

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was abducted under circumstances that experts describe as shocking and unusual. The case has unusual elements including the victim's advanced age and a high-profile daughter who is a national TV co-host. High-profile kidnappings with ransom demands are rare in modern U.S. contexts. More than 500,000 people were reported missing in the U.S. last year, but kidnappings or abductions numbered about 240,000 from June 2020 to June 2025. Women accounted for over 75% of those victims, yet only 646 victims were women in their 80s, representing less than 0.2% of cases. People aged 20-29 constituted the largest share, nearly 30%.

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