Charles van Heck's Woodhull Journal

The abduction of Nancy Guthrie has riveted national attention for 15 days. The news media and social media have given extensive coverage to the search for her. Her family’s plea, their desperation for the return of their mother, loved and respected by those who know her, disturbs the heart. We ask ourselves, who would kidnap an 84-year-old woman? What was the abductor’s motive? How could this happen? Why did this happen?

A family friend was a forensic expert. He asked if I would consider writing a book about the homicide cases he investigated with various agencies— local, state, and federal. Herb gave me full access to his files. We spent hours discussing the crimes. There were videos, photographs, extensive notes,  lab reports, transcripts of court testimony, and newspaper accounts. Late in the evening, we sat on his back porch drinking scotch and enjoying our cigars. This is when our conversation shifted. He reminisced about his life before crime, his youth in Bolivar, New York, his time as a chemist at Corning Glass, his family, and friends. He fleshed out the people he had known, giving them a fullness.

When he spoke about law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and investigators, Herb was judgmental and unforgiving when they crossed the line. One case in particular upset him. He was scheduled to give testimony for the prosecution. They withheld the evidence. Herb’s investigation established that other witnesses had lied when giving testimony. The forensic evidence proved the accused was innocent. “The evidence never lies,” he said. Herb knew he would be called again to testify if and when the case progressed on appeal. “I want you to review everything. Write about the case.” I did with commitment.

Fleshing out a crime requires objectivity and methodically following the evidence and other resources. I couldn’t allow Herb’s perspective to influence me. What was the evidence telling me? What were the backstories of the personalities that led to a death, and their roles as witnesses, prosecutors, and defense counsel? There was direction and misdirection in each path of the characters’ lives as they moved toward a crime scene, an arrest, a trial, and imprisonment. The work I did took months. There was more than a cover-up of evidence. There was a sheltering of self, what we all keep hidden, our secrets, from public view, that I had to understand. If I was going to intelligently grasp the case, I had to comprehend the motives of everyone involved, including Herb.

I did write articles and gave interviews about the case. I never wrote the book Herb hoped for. He died a few years ago. There are times when I am tempted to go back into my files to revisit other crime scenes, our discussions, and emails for the book. There are lessons about human nature that I learned from those conversations and case reviews.

Among the lessons was that criminal investigators enter a darkness that most citizens cannot begin to comprehend. Crime, particularly homicide, has been a source of entertainment since the ancient Greeks and Romans, who attended plays and trials. Today, we have an insatiable appetite for murder. We consume homicide podcasts, social media, blogs, films, shows, and novels. These are, for the most part, carefully packaged, the cases neatly resolved with happy endings. Happy endings are elusive. Violent crimes leave scars, broken lives and empty spaces.

I acknowledge that I occasionally enjoy Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels, William Deverell’s books, particularly his Arthur Beauchamp stories, and Raymond Chandler, Georges Simenon, and Erle Stanley Gardner books. Yes, I am currently revising a mystery set in the 1950s. To briefly linger in the shadows of the imaginative life, with the defects of character and morbidity, and then go on my way is one thing. However, to constantly be bombarded by the reality of crime, to devour it like junk food, is to become numb.

Cesare Beccaria, the 18th-century Italian philosopher, jurist, and philosopher, writes in his treatise On Crimes and Punishments (Dei delitti e delle pene) that as human beings we have free will, the capacity to reason about our actions. We are bound by a social contract, and society is bound to us. Our individual character is the sum of moral and mental qualities, our personality, qualities, and attributes that are nurtured and developed to fulfill our obligations to the social order.

Recently, I find myself thinking about character as it pertains to crime, particularly as it relates to abduction. What motivates the criminal in these cases? The expectation of obtaining ransom money fails to give a full explanation. How and why do these crimes occur? The investigators of the Nancy Guthrie case are piecing together evidence both to find her and to understand the criminal. These are also the questions that families, friends, and the too few investigators assigned to missing person cases are left asking themselves.

There are various categories of missing. These included: human trafficking, parental abductions with or without custody orders, abduction by a relative, abduction by strangers, running away, wandering off/becoming lost, accidents, homicides/presumed dead, and unknown reasons.

Statistical data is faceless. According to a report issued by the Statista Research Department on 28 November, 2025, the number of missing-person files in the United States in 2024 totaled 533,936. A 2024 National Crime Information Center (NCIC), provides a breakdown of missing persons in the United States by race:

Whites: 307,623
Blacks: 193,461
Unknown: 17,097
Asian: 11,507
Indigenous: 10,248

Though not noted in these figures, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported in 2024 that Latino/Hispanic children lead the statistic with 130 reported cases, followed by white children, with 94 cases, and Black children, with 90. As I reviewed the data, I questioned, and still question the absence of data for Latino adult missing persons.

In Canada, the government reported that, for the same period, “67,611 individuals were missing.” The global content and technology company, Thomson Reuters, issued an analysis titled “Missing and Stolen: Disappearances and Trafficking of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.” Their 2025 analysis established that between 2010 and 2024 there were 185 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Of this, 124 cases remain unresolved. In the U.S., the Bureau of Indian Affairs report for 2024 stated that 4,200 Indigenous girls and women were missing. The majority of their cases remain open.

Nancy Guthrie’s abduction is a harsh reminder of the reality that others live with, and have lived with. We cannot know the depth of the pain, grief, suffering, and desperation of these families. The police, local, state, and federal investigators who seek a resolution deserve our praise for their efforts. They carry these cases with them, mentally and emotionally, even after their investigations are resolved or end up in the Cold Case file.

My heart goes out to the Guthrie family. As I write this, Nancy Guthrie is still missing. I pray she will be found alive and for her safe return to her family. However, I hope for more. I hope the news media, podcasters, bloggers, and others on social media will use their platforms to bring other missing cases to the fore. That, without becoming paranoid, we will be more observant and caring towards those around us, and honor the social contract that binds us even to the missing.


Photograph by Amy Hepworth on Unsplash