LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Feb. 3 came and went as Missing Persons Day, and in Michigan, the number of missing seniors may be relatively small, but the impact is profound, leaving families with unanswered questions and lasting heartbreak.

Missing seniors in the U.S.

According to the NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) database, 26 Michigan seniors age 65 and older are currently missing. Nineteen are men, seven are women. Twenty are white, four are Black, one is mixed race, and one is Native American. Some have been gone so long they’d be over 100 years old today. In the entire country, there are 1,666 missing seniors listed on NamUs.

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Yet if you’ve been following the news, you might think there’s only one missing senior in the entire country. The intense, sustained coverage surrounding 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of TV journalist and Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has sparked quiet frustration – and, in some cases, loud and open complaints – among families whose loved ones have also vanished. And whose stories have been ignored.

To be clear, no one wishes harm or delays in finding answers for Guthrie or her family. Every missing person deserves to be found, and every family deserves hope. But that’s just their point. For many families, the disparity in media attention compared to other missing seniors – and missing persons in general – has been painful, raising difficult questions about whose stories are amplified and why – and whose are left in silence.

One name the media did notice in Michigan.

Among Michigan’s 26 missing seniors in the state, there is one who’s actually gotten some notable media coverage over his disappearance. His name is James Sanford. The 75-year-old from Westland has been missing since April 8, 2024. Reports say he walked away from his home, never returned, and requires medication. His case received coverage from multiple local outlets, including TV and print, along with sustained social media attention. Compared to the rest of the list, Sanford’s case is high-profile. The others? Largely invisible.

That includes Joseph Robert Clewley who was 73 years old when he disappeared. In July 2008, Clewley disappeared during a hike near his cabin in the Tahquamenon Falls area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Clewley told his wife he planned to walk the North Country Trail with his dog, Chip, but never returned, and his van was found parked at the trailhead with the keys inside. A massive search of thousands of acres turned up no trace of him, and while his dog eventually wandered back to the family cabin, Clewley has never been found and his disappearance remains unexplained.

There’s also Victoria Marie Salisz who was 69 years old when she went missing in Boyne Valley Township in 1988. According to Namus, she was reported missing by her employer when she failed to report for work. She was last seen by her brother-in-law walking in the yard at her home. Her purse and keys were left on the dining room table but she was gone. She would be 107 years old today, but even when a missing person is presumed deceased, their case still deserves attention including investigation, answers, and closure.

Michigan’s “almost” silver alert system pitches in.

Michigan does have a process to find missing seniors – just not a full solution. Under the Mozelle Senior or Vulnerable Adult Medical Alert Act, law enforcement can issue alerts and share information through the Michigan State Police and the media. What it doesn’t do is push real-time automatic alerts to cell phones the way Amber Alerts do although legislation was passed by the Michigan House to do so in September of 2025.

“We’re not famous enough to matter.”

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The frustration over uneven coverage doesn’t stop at age. The backlash over Guthrie’s media coverage sharpened even more after a grieving stepfather spoke out concerning his missing 29-year- old stepdaughter, Shanice Ogata-Staudinger. She was last seen on the morning of July 9, 2023, on the big island of Hawaii, while picking opihi – an edible type of small sea snail – with a relative near the area of Pāhoa. Police said she became separated from her relative and never returned to a pre- arranged meeting spot later that day. She has not been seen or heard from by her family since.

The stepfather, who goes by the handle “@ssgtwrightusmc” on X and is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant, had posted on February 4, “If my daughter got this much media attention as Nancy Guthrie is getting, maybe my daughter would have been found in 2023 when she went missing.”

Newsweek wrote about his angst and titled their article “Nancy Guthrie Search Angers Man Whose Daughter Is Missing: ‘I’m Not Rich.’”

Reacting to claims that he was “angry,” the Marine responded bluntly on X: “Newsweek says that I am angry. No, I am way past being angry. I’m just making my voice heard for all the families who also have loved ones missing that the MSM (mainstream media) ignore because we are not nationally known for anything to even bring attention to our missing loved ones.”

Media attention.

His comments echo the sentiments of many other families who say the issue cuts deeper than a single case. Critics argue that media attention is often shaped less by urgency and more by name recognition, race, age, and gender – by who the missing person is and whether their story fits a familiar, marketable narrative. Financial incentives also play a role, influencing which cases are likely to draw cable-news audiences or generate online clicks.

Until that changes, Michigan’s missing seniors – and others like Ogata-Staudinger – leave families quietly waiting for answers while the spotlight shines somewhere else.