As the search for stretches past 50 days with no answers, one woman who has spent more than two decades searching for her own missing sister says this is the moment families fear most â when urgency begins to fade and the fight for answers becomes even harder.
Julie Murray, whose sister Maura Murray vanished in New Hampshire in 2004, said what the Guthrie family is experiencing right now is something she recognizes immediately.
“What theyre going through is something you never forget,” Murray said. “You can see it on their faces. You can hear the desperation in their voices.”
Murray said cases often begin with an intense surge of attention, resources, media coverage and public engagement, but that momentum can fade, leaving families to carry the burden.
“Most families⦠have to fight to be heard and beg for that level of attention,” she said. “And some families dont get any at all.”
That attention, she emphasized, can be lifesaving.
“Media pressure saves lives.”
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen Feb. 1 after being dropped off at her Tucson, Arizona home. Authorities believe she was taken against her will in the early morning hours.
Surveillance video captured a masked man, described as average height and build, approaching her home carrying a black backpack and what appeared to be a handgun. Investigators say Guthries phone and watch were later recovered inside the home, while her pacemaker last synced with her Apple devices around 2:30 a.m., helping establish a possible timeline.
Despite weeks of investigation, authorities have not announced a suspect. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Guthrie was likely targeted.
The case has drawn national attention, driven in part by emotional public appeals from Guthries daughter, NBC “Today” anchor .
“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony,” Guthrie said in a preview of her since her mothers disappearance.
In the same interview, she described the toll the uncertainty has taken.
“I wake up every night in the middle of the night⦠and in the darkness, I imagine her terror,” she said. “She needs to come home now.”
Authorities are urging anyone with information to contact the .
Murray said the level of attention surrounding the Guthrie case can generate a surge of tips, but not all are actionable.
“Youre begging the public for information, but at the same time youre getting speculation and hearsay,” she said. “Some of those tips you just cant chase down.”
Her family, she said, still receives tips more than 20 years after her sister vanished, none of which have led to answers.
Each one, however, carries emotional weight.
“I call it the hope roller coaster,” Murray said. “You want it to be the one that breaks the case open⦠and then it doesnt.”
Moses Castillo said that emotional toll is already visible in the Guthrie familys public appeals.
“You can feel every ounce of her pain, her strength, and her desperation,” Castillo said. “That kind of resolve matters. It moves people. It forces attention.”
He described Savannah Guthries interview as “a call to action” that could help generate new leads.
Murray warned that one of the most difficult turning points in a case comes when investigators exhaust immediate leads.
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For Murray’s family, that moment came just weeks after Maura disappeared.
“The worst day wasnt the day she went missing,” she said. “It was the day we were told they had done all they could.”
From that point forward, she said, the responsibility shifted to the family to keep pushing for answersâthrough media coverage, public pressure and independent efforts.
“You cant let up on the pressure,” she said.
Investigators have said the Guthrie cas
