The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has dominated national news coverage in recent weeks.
Part of that attention reflects the troubling details of the case. But the intense coverage may also reflect two factors often cited by researchers studying missing persons cases: Nancy Guthrie is white, and she is the mother of a well-known television journalist.
Advocates and researchers say those factors can influence how much public attention a missing persons case receives.
While Black people make up about 14% of the U.S. population, Black women and children account for a disproportionately large share of missing persons cases, according to FBI data and advocacy organizations.
“They don’t take Black women’s cases seriously like they do (with) our white sisters,” said Missouri state Sen. Angela Mosley, who has sponsored legislation aimed at addressing violence and disappearances involving Black women and girls. “When a white person goes missing, we see them constantly all over social media, all over TV,” Mosley said, adding. “We never hear about Black women when they go missing.”
The disparity has been described as “missing white woman syndrome,” a phrase coined by the late PBS NewsHour co-anchor Gwen Ifill to describe the tendency for cases involving missing white women to receive far more media attention than cases involving people of color.
In 2022, the Columbia Journalism Review created an online tool designed to calculate a person’s “press value,” measuring how much coverage a missing person’s case receives based on factors including race, gender and geography.
Several cases in the St. Louis area illustrate the challenge families sometimes face in generating public attention when someone disappears.
Among them:
• John Rieves, a 60-year-old St. Louis man who disappeared Oct. 2, 2025. He was last seen near the VA hospital on North Grand Boulevard.
• Angela Robinson-Jimerson, 45, who was last seen in the 9600 block of Halls Ferry Road. Robinson-Jimerson was reported missing last fall. She was known to ride Metro buses, has mental health issues and relies on medication.
• Michelle Harper, 38, who was reported missing by her family March 15, 2025. She disappeared in the 5800 block of Wabada Avenue and has not been seen since. Harper also suffers from a mental health disorder and requires medication.
These are three of the 9,091 individuals reported missing in Missouri last year. According to available data, 123 adults and 146 juveniles from St. Louis city remain actively missing.
Mosley’s legislation, approved in 2024, created the Missing and Murdered African American Women Task Force, which examines violence against Black women and girls and requires annual reports to the governor and General Assembly outlining recommendations for improving prevention, investigation and support for families.
Advocacy organizations are also working to raise awareness of missing persons cases involving people of color.
The Black and Missing Foundation Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to bringing attention to missing persons of color, reports that hundreds of thousands of children are reported missing each year in the United States.
Theda Wilson knows the uncertainty families face when a loved one disappears.
Her 9-year-old son, Christian Taylor Ferguson, disappeared June 11, 2003. Sixteen years later, in 2022, the boy’s father, Dawan Ferguson — who had custody of Christian at the time — was arrested, charged with first-degree murder and later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Christian’s body has never been found.
In a June 2024 interview with PBS NewsNation, Wilson spoke about the years of grief and uncertainty following her son’s disappearance.
“People would say, ‘Oh, you’re so strong,’ but they didn’t know what those foundational stages of distress were like,” Wilson said.
Since her son’s disappearance, Wilson has organized annual walks to raise awareness about missing children and created a nonprofit organization, Looking For An Angel, dedicated to reporting abuse and neglect of children and providing resources for parents of missing children.
Wilson is now lobbying city officials and Missouri lawmakers to pass the CTF Alert. The proposal uses her son’s initials and would immediately notify the public when a person who requires critical medication is reported missing
Wilson said high-profile kidnapping cases can sometimes lead to improvements in public awareness and law enforcement response.
One example often cited is the 1981 abduction and murder of Adam Walsh, the son of “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh. That case helped lead to changes in law enforcement coordination and national alert systems for missing children.
The national attention surrounding the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has again highlighted the difference in how some missing persons cases are covered.
Guthrie disappeared from her home near Tucson, Arizona, early Feb. 1. Authorities say evidence at the residence suggests she was taken from the home, and the case is being investigated as a possible kidnapping.
News outlets have reported details about the investigation, including that a doorbell camera was disconnected and that family members called 911 around midday Feb. 1 after becoming concerned. The family has offered a $1 million reward for information.
Wilson said her hope is that missing persons cases receive the same level of urgency regardless of race or public profile.
“It would be nice if we were given just a portion of the attention they (whites) are receiving,” Wilson said.
“If they simply did that, then we wouldn’t have to be out here saying ‘you have to be white to get a billboard’ or to get all the same kind of constant attention.
“It just shouldn’t have to be like that.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.