if the guthrie family were brown skin and lived by the tracks in a trailer park, we would never have known there was a family member missing??

And if your aunt had balls, she'd be your uncle. You're bringing race into this for no reason. If it was Al Roker's mom it'd get the same amount of coverage. It shouldn't surprise anyone with a brain that a globally famous journalist has the platform to put some attention on the case.

Plus, generally speaking, America as a whole loves knowing when things (especially bad things) happen to people richer and more famous than them. So they report the stuff that gets ratings.