Kevin’s Journal: When a Person With High Class Status Goes Missing

Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her residence in a community northeast of Tucson, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office. (Pima County Sheriff’s Department/TNS)

It has been almost a month since Nancy Guthrie has gone missing, and it is still receiving the same amount of coverage it has since the beginning. Of course, this is because her daughter Savannah is a famous personality and the situation is very strange. It’s not every day an 84-year-old is kidnapped. This type of situation is only amplified because of the media attention it is receiving and the financial implication that has been put forward by the family.

According to the Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center, there are 2,100 abductions of children every day in the United States, and 800 of these end up being a miscommunication or false alarm. The article also says, “Crime statistics have shown that the majority of abduction cases are committed by family members. However, 28 percent of kidnappings are committed by strangers. While non-family abduction does not happen as frequently as family abductions, it is considered a significantly more dangerous crime that is potentially life-threatening to the minor who has been kidnapped.”

This shows that while these situations are very rare, they do happen; even if it is a family abduction, it is still very serious and should be investigated. Situations like what happened with Guthrie take the spotlight away from people who need the attention and are a lot more at risk than she is.

While of course this crime is important, and there are a lot of strange pieces to the puzzle, including there being video evidence of her captor, there are also other missing people and possible kidnappings that deserve just as much light. One of these stories is the Choc family, who have been missing from Alabama since Jan. 31. They were last seen on Jan. 30, and there were signs of a struggle inside their home.

According to the FBI, “Aurelia Choc Cac is described as a female with a date of birth of June 18, 1985. She is 5’0”, 140 pounds, with black hair. She was last seen wearing a maroon jacket with tan joggers. Niurka Zuleta Choc, a.k.a. Zule, is described as a female with a date of birth of February 15, 2008. She is 5’1”, 100 pounds, with black hair. She was last seen wearing a black top with plaid pants. Anthony Garcia Choc is described as a male with a date of birth of July 9, 2023. He weighs 30 pounds and has black hair. He was last seen wearing a cartoon character hoodie with blue jeans.” There is a $15,000 reward for information leading to their location or recovery.

Another case of a missing person not getting as much attention is Sabrina Elaine Heinz out of South Carolina, who has been missing since Jan. 28. She was last seen outside a 7-Eleven, and she was deemed missing after her car was found abandoned on Interstate 77 in South Carolina.

According to the FBI, “Heinz was last seen wearing black shoes, black pants, and a red shirt with a long-sleeved black shirt underneath. Multiple searches and extensive investigative measures were taken by law enforcement, but there has been no sign of Heinz.”

When crimes like these happen, class status is the biggest factor and people of lower class are less likely to get the media attention that people from higher status might get. There are black and brown children and adults that have been overlooked because there are crimes that the media chose to sensationalize. There are people who have been missing since the early 2000s, but since they were deemed runaways or people have stopped looking, their cases have grown cold and in a lot of cases they have been closed with no proper investigation.

You might be wondering what you can do… There is a lot, look through your local town’s missing persons database and ensure they are working to find everyone, call your representative when a crime is being underrepresented and demand they act. I realize this is easier said than done, but if we all take small steps like these, we might just save a life.