Nancy Guthrie Update: Elizabeth Smart Believes Nancy ‘Could Absolutely Still Be Alive’

Elizabeth Smart doesn’t want the public to lose hope in the search for Savannah Guthrie‘s mom, Nancy Guthrie.

“She could absolutely still be alive,” Smart, 38, told CNN‘s Erin Burnett in an interview on Tuesday, May 5. “There are cases that span many more years than mine does, and they came back alive. We’re talking years and years, so she could absolutely still be alive.”

Smart herself was kidnapped at just 14 years old in June 2002. She was held at knifepoint and abducted from her bedroom by Brian David Mitchell. Over the next nine months, Smart was physically and sexually assaulted by Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee.

In March of the following year, passersby recognized Mitchell and Barzee from television reports, and police were able to bring Smart home safely.

Nancy, 84, was last seen on January 31 after her daughter, Annie Guthrie, and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni dropped her off at her house in the Catalina Foothills. When she didn’t attend a streaming church service the following morning, a friend alerted the family and Nancy was reported missing.

Since then there have been few major developments in the case, and some experts have said they no longer believe this is a missing persons case.

“I said at some point you have to realize it’s not a missing person anymore,” Morgan Wright, CEO of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, previously explained during an interview on Brian Entin Investigates on March 19.

“We have to realize Nancy was 84 years old [and] cardiac compromised,” he continued. “You need to treat this as a no-body homicide.”

Savannah, 54, has made multiple pleas to the suspect to bring her mother home, but to no avail. The family has also offered up to $1 million in reward money.

People with any information regarding the case are asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). You may also contact your local FBI office, the nearest American Embassy or Consulate, or you can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.