The father of Elizabeth Smart, a woman who was kidnapped more than two decades ago before eventually being rescued, has spoken out about the Nancy Guthrie case, requesting the public to focus on verified information rather than speculation. Ed Smart opened up during an interview with NewsNation amid widespread speculations about Tommaso Cioni and Annie Guthrie.
“I think that it’s really important to, one, not go into conspiracy theories. I don’t think there’s much value in that. Of course, the Guthries have been looked at,” Smart told NewsNation. “[The family has] supposedly been cleared. So that should no longer really be out there in the public, regardless of whether people are searching around the house or not.”
“I think it’s important to keep information coming. Savannah and the family—more information about their mother,” Smart continued. “That was one thing that our family continually tried to do was to keep new information coming out. We don’t know what law enforcement has, whether they have any DNA that’s of any value or not. Sometimes law enforcement really does not disclose what they have and that can be problematic.”
“I think keeping Nancy’s face out there, more information about Nancy, is really key,” he added.
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Nancy’s family has been cleared of any suspicion in the search for the missing 84-year-old woman, police said. This means that ‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie, and her siblings Annie and Camron, have been cleared of any wrongdoing in connection to the case.
While journalist Ashleigh Banfield previously claimed that Tommaso may be a “prime suspect” in the case, authorities were quick to announce that no suspects have been identified. Tommaso was the last person to see Nancy before she disappeared, but Nanos told the Daily Mail that he did not want Tommaso to be wrongly scrutinized on the basis of that. Cioni last saw Nancy around 9:45 pm on January 31, after she had dinner with him and Annie.
The Elizabeth Smart case
Ed’s daughter, Elizabeth Smart, was abducted by Wanda Barzee and her husband Brian David Mitchell, who was a street preacher, from her Salt Lake City bedroom at knifepoint back in 2002. Smart was 14 years old at the time.
The duo entered Smart’s home through an open window. Barzee and Mitchell kept Smart captive for nine months. The teen lived with the couple in run-down homes and campsites in Utah and San Diego, and was reportedly raped on a near-daily basis.
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Smart was rescued after a good Samaritan called police after spotting her walking with the couple in the suburb of Sandy, Utah. In the aftermath of the crime, Mitchell was convicted of raping and kidnapping Smart, and was sentenced to life in prison. Barzee was sentenced to spend 15 years behind bars in 2010, but was released five years early in 2018. Her prison sentence was cut short after Utah authorities said they had miscalculated the amount of time she was supposed to serve.
Smart is now a married mother in her 30s. Barzee’s early release infuriated her, and she demanded that the suspect be sent to a mental health facility instead of being set free. Smart said Barzee “saw me as her slave. She called me her handmaiden. She never hesitated to let her displeasure with me be known,” according to the New York Post.
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