The Savannah Guthrie Case Exposes Everything Wrong With Search Priorities | Episode 434

The Savannah Guthrie Case Exposes Everything Wrong With Search Priorities | Episode 434

Some stories pull every resource into the sky—helicopters, drones, digital forensics—while others barely make it past a form at the front desk. We confront that painful gap and ask the question few want to answer out loud: who decides when a missing person becomes a top priority, and why do some families get the cavalry while others are told to wait?

We walk through a high‑visibility case tied to a national TV figure and contrast it with the daily reality facing thousands of families across the country. From media incentives and ad‑driven clicks to the practical limits of local budgets, we explore how attention shapes action. We also look at big tech’s selective urgency and draw a lesson from the Take It Down federal law: when standards are clear and accountability is real, systems move faster and fairer. That blueprint can apply to search efforts too.

Our call is simple: adopt a national, risk‑based playbook that activates the right tools for every credible case—regardless of fame or fortune. That means uniform triage criteria, rapid escalations across agencies, shared access to drones and digital tools, and transparent audits that show when thresholds are met and help is owed. Every family deserves the same urgency, the same technology, and the same hope.

If this conversation resonates, share it with someone who cares about public safety and fairness. Subscribe for more tough, honest episodes, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show. Your voice helps push this movement forward.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome And Mission Goals

2:00 Setting Up The Missing Person Question

4:30 The Savannah Guthrie Case Context

9:00 What Triggers A High‑Priority Search

13:30 Media Influence And Resource Allocation

18:30 Big Tech’s Role And Delayed Action

23:00 The Take It Down Law Example

27:30 Two‑Tier Systems And Local Limits

31:00 A Plea For Equal Access To Tools

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Transcript

Welcome And Mission Goals

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes 0:02

Hi everybody, Justin here, Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the show. Uh, if you can reach out to 25 of your uh closest friends and your phone, let them know about Voices for Voices TV Show Podcast, and let's give us a thumbs up, subscribe, follow, share, all those great things. They're free to do, they're easy to do. Follow us on all our social media profiles: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Threads. Uh, if I miss any, uh we're everywhere. And uh, we can't do this without you. We haven't reached 430 episodes without you, without your interest and our show and our organization and what we're doing, how we have awesome goals to reach not just 100 countries where we're at, but to reach 300 countries, not just to reach a thousand plus cities across the world, but to reach at least 3,000 cities across the world, and to help at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. I am Justin Allen Hayes, I am your host. Thank you for being with us on this episode. Uh, so this episode we're gonna talk a little bit about missing persons and how how that they get uh let's see, what's the right word? How do they get prioritized? You know, how do how does a missing report or missing person get prioritized in in the community and law enforcement? We're asking ourselves this question because we have a high-profile missing person is believed to be taken against their will, regardless of how somebody's taken. If they don't want to be taken, uh we call that a missing person. So somebody's been taken from a regular place where they live, where they uh gather for church, whatever that may be. And there's a high-profile missing person uh event kind of going on, not in a good way, where there is, I believe, eighty-three, eighty-four-year-old mom of Savannah Guthrie. So somebody that's in the limelight, somebody's on TV constantly, daily, at least during the week. And out in Arizona is where her mom resides. And it came to the law enforcement's radar, the Savannah's mother was missing, not home, not where she was supposed to be, not anywhere close to where she's supposed to be. And so at the hour of our filming, we don't know where she's at. So by the time this episode airs for the first time, we hope and pray that she comes home safe and sound. But there's always, you know, other areas, other things that could potentially occur. And we don't want those. We want we want a positive outcome. Again, we want her to come home to be healthy, to get the medical care she needs, and then obviously have the person or persons be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. So, what does this missing person have to do with other missing persons? Because it's an unfortunate fact of life that there's unfortunately a lot of people that are missing persons. Not where they're supposed to be, not where they're expected to be. Some maybe a little more sophisticated. And I'm reminded in the back of my mind again of so many people that go missing each and every day that have been missing for days, some weeks, some months, some years. Some are never found. Some are found and it's too late. And so that's really just the question we want to talk about today on our show is what qualifies a particular missing person event to be able to qualify for all these additional assets from the FBI, from all across various parts of the government, military, private sector, like Google. Like who who gets to decide that? And I get it. She's a daughter of somebody that's a higher profile. But how is I know to be careful with how I use my words here. Cause I believe there should be assets and technologies used to help find Savannah Guthrie's mom. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what prevents those same assets, those same technologies, those same resources for other people who are missing? Like as I mentioned, where's the line? Where where's the line that is drawn? It says, once we pass this line, this is when we go ahead and make this a high profile uh missing person event, and we're gonna throw all the resources that we have at this. So this is more like a like a question type of show. I don't know. I don't I don't know what qualifies. Is it how much how much money somebody makes? Is it like an annual salary deal where people to make over a million dollars a year or over five hundred thousand dollars a year that they get they get this uh extra treatment? Is it they have to be on television with Nielsen ratings at a certain level? Or if they're on one of these five, six, seven TV stations, and if it's anybody related, I mean we we know the media loves they love drama, they love clicks. You know, that's how they drive you know their online revenue is they have stories, events, they want you to click on them because there are advertisers who are paying to be on those those web pages, and so maybe that's it. Maybe it's those advertisers that drive some of this too. I'm not quite sure. If I knew the answer, I don't I don't know. We probably be doing something a little bit different. But it begs the question, at what point does the federal government, local government, you know, the the the cyber teams, military, all the when do all these assets come come into play? I'm just curious because I see, as I'm sure a lot of you see and hear about, people that unfortunately go missing and have been missing for an amount of time. Some of them are children, some of them are adults. At what point do we look at a human life and say, Well, this person's life means more than this person's life? Who makes that decision? Who gets to make that call and say, Well, uh, we're getting pressure from the viewers of the particular TV show that Savannah Guthrie hosts, co-hosts. I'm not sure, but that's why we're having this show, is we want to be thought provoking. We want to be thought provoking. Because heaven forbid anybody around us has somebody who is missing and isn't a TV host, isn't a multimillionaire, um, isn't somebody in the limelight? Heaven forbid somebody that isn't one of those, or related to one of those, goes missing. Are the same assets gonna be used? We're gonna bring in the the best of the best, cyber teams, you know, digital, uh heat seeking, all kind. Are we gonna bring those in? That's really what I'm asking. I don't think so. You know, we hear about some police departments, some law enforcement has access to certain things, drones, you name it. Some don't. And so that's where we get into the conundrum we have on today's episode, which is at one point, at what point, you know, does the cavalry come in? Do uh like I said, the the assets of our military, our government, our private sector. I mean, even Google Google's involved with this. Google's involved with this particular case. Just made aware of. So here we have, I mean, they're publicly traded, but you know, here we have humongous organization. And the reason why I asked this is because one of our guests, Elliston Berry, who you probably know, we've had on the show a couple times. She's a law changer. The Take It Down Act, not to take it down federal law. You post, take some of these photos, put run them through an AI program or whatever. You post them, they're nudes. Big tech has 20 has 48 hours to get those down. Doesn't matter for Taylor Swift, doesn't matter who who you are, doesn't matter how much money you have. And so that needs to also be reverberating on this show for people who didn't know that. It's a federal law, it's no longer like some figment of somebody's imagination. It's a federal law signed in the law by the president of the United States last May. And I look at that situation where Ellison shows up to school and finds this unfathomable situation where somebody did that at her school, took a couple of innocent photos and turned them into nudes. Senator Ted Cruz championed the effort, Texas, where they where they're from, brought it to DC, House, Senate, pass, goes to the president's desk, President Donald J. Trump, and the first lady, Melania Trump, sign it into law, federal law. You can prosecute the people that do that, and big tech has to take it down in 48 hours. And the reason why I bring up big tech now in this conversation is big tech was reached out to in the early days of that situation, and they didn't do anything. They didn't do anything, nothing. All I know is they didn't do a darn thing. Wasn't until Senator Ted Cruz said, I'm gonna champion this effort, and things got moving to when I mean we're talking about a almost two-year process, okay? Before big tech is like, oh yeah, okay, federal law. And I know they're fighting it on many different levels, because right, it takes it takes code, it takes things that these big tech companies have to put into place that if this happens, that they have to take them down and give empowerment to the people to go after the people who did this in these unthinkable acts. And here we are, less than a week into this disappearance of Savannah's mother. Again, as a human being, I want to see everybody home safe. I don't want anybody to be anybody to disappear. I don't want anybody to have their photos filtered through some AI program that shows up as nudes. I don't I don't want any of that. So don't don't read in into it like that. But what I will say is big tech is jumping in within a week of this person missing, and these girls had to deal with this situation that's the Take It Down Act, now it's the take it down federal law. They had to deal with it for almost two years before big tech. Big tech only did something once the law was in place. Once people of power did something. We're throwing everything at this. Again, I don't I don't care if the person's eight, seven, twelve, fifty-five, sixty-four, eighty-four, ninety-four, a hundred and four. I think all assets should go into play to bring every person home safely. That's truly what this shirt voices for voices. It's everybody's voice, it's not just the 84 year old. Old daughter of Savannah Guthrie who is on TV every day of the week on a prime network. This goes for everybody. Anyone who goes missing should have the same the same access to be able to locate their loved one too. And I think that's what that's really got me fired up on this topic. Because it's not happening. It doesn't happen like that. There's some threshold that that gets passed. And until you pass that threshold, gotta be out there doing everything yourself. Band and family together, friends. Gotta do what you can. Cause like we're told, oh, we don't have we don't have the assets to do this. So cyber stalking is a law, I believe. We've been cyber stalked, and like every organization has been cyber stalked to an extent. And when I go, when I went, not when I go, because I already went, and I go to report this, what am I what am I met with? Oh, we don't have the resources, we don't have, you know, you're gonna have to reach out to the you know to somebody another law enforcement agency. Yeah, I believe that if this individual, if Savannah's mother was living in the same community as I am, as my family is, and does, they'd be all over it. They would they would find every every tax dollar, every piece of equipment, they would throw everything at it, and that's the part that really bothers me, is so it's cool for me to get cyber stock. It's cool for that to happen. I'm being facetious, I'm being, uh I'm not saying this in seriously. I am, but I'm not. Like I'm just supposed to be cool, like, oh yeah, that's right. You know what? Like, I'm going to the place where people say if something's going on, if you see something, say something, and I saw something, and I said something, and not a damn thing was done or has been. Yet, as I said, take this situation in Arizona, you bring it close to where me and my family reside. They're throwing throwing resources they didn't even know they had at it. And again, I want every single person to come home safe. Every single one. I don't want anybody to get lost. I don't want anybody to meander and and and have a hard time finding their way home. I want anybody to be lost, to disappear, to I I don't want any of that. But I'm just trying to show the two-tier the two tiers that really come into play. It's you either get all the federal resources or you don't. And I know there's limited, I know there's limits on that. But that's why I'm asking. Somebody out watching, somebody out listening knows this. What does it take to get those federal assets to help the mom, the dad, the grandma, the grandpa, the aunt and uncle to find their child or to find their adult? What is it? Talk about the magic dragons, right? Whatever it takes. How do we get to the point of we're gonna do whatever it takes to bring this person home safe and sound? And that my friends is a pretty scary situation. Because there's only a handful, only a select few people that are in in that position. There's only there's only a select few. And so I'm pleading for law enforcement, for federal authorities, for our government, United States, uh, for our city council members, for our school board members. What's it take to bring a person home safely and to use all the tools and all the resources from all over the government, all over the military. Because I can just imagine watching this coverage, these press conferences, these news conferences of a mom or a dad or a grandma or grandpa, anybody who's had somebody gone missing, and go see helicopters in the air, see this, see that. What about my what about my daughter? What about my granddaughter, my grandson, my niece, my nephew, my son, my daughter, my stepson, my stepdaughter. Why won't they do that for mine? My my child's been missing for two months. Can't even get a response. So let this be a thought-provoking episode. I want everybody home safe, everybody home sound. I want everybody to have the same opportunities, the same technology, the same resources used that are being used in the search and hopefully safe rescue of Savannah Guthrie's eighty-four-year-old mom. I think that's what's owed to us as American citizens, U.S. citizens, is bring our people home safe. Whether you're a sibling of an athlete that's a multimillionaire, whether you're a billionaire and your son or daughter goes missing, whether you're a TV host on and your mom or dad or and somebody goes missing, every single person. And that includes the people that don't have the ways and the means and the air time, the main the airtime to be able to talk on you know to millions of people. So let's bring everybody home safe, let's bring Savannah's mom home safe, and let's work to make it to the point where we don't have this point in the sand that says, Well, if we don't pass this, they'll just be missing, and we hope that they show up. We don't want any lines. We want any lines in the sand. We just want our family home safe and sound, and whatever it takes, whatever type of technology, whatever type of uh expertise across the government, across uh military. We want everybody to have the opportunity to bring their loved one or our loved one home as safe as can be. So thank you for watching, thank you for listening. Please reach out to 25 year contacts in your phone. Let them know about the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. We talk about the tough topics that other shows won't, and we will see you again. We're over 430 episodes. Uh, if you're able to, we are 501c3 nonprofit. We run on donations if you're inited states. Uh all your donations are 100% tax tax deductible, and you can do that by reaching out to lovevoices.org. Lovevoices.org, and that is lovevoices.org. Thank you so much. Just adjustin' alan Hayes. We love you, we're sending good vibes your way, and again, reach out, help us make it to 3,000 cities, help us make it to 300 countries, help us make it to help at least 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. Take care. We love you. We'll see you on the next episode. Talk to you. See you real soon. Bye bye for now.