Two Tucson Searches: One in the spotlight, one in the shadows

As the nation focused on the hunt for the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was also in Tucson last month, conducting a search for a 12-year-old boy missing for 35 years.

NCMEC’s Team Adam consultant, Henry Schmidt, and three K-9 cadaver teams found no sign of Jimmy Hendrickson, but his sister, Tammy Tacho, is grateful that NCMEC was helping Tucson police in her brother’s case and that the investigation is still active all these years later. Tacho still carries Jimmy’s photo and missing flyers with her everywhere she goes and knows the pain Nancy Guthrie’s family is now experiencing.

“I would tell the Guthrie family just to hang onto hope, because I still hang onto it after 35 years,” said Tacho, who was 17 when her brother disappeared, and is now 51. “Somebody knows something.”

The last photo taken of the siblings, (L-R), Paul, Jimmy and Tammy. (Photos courtesy of Tammy Tacho)

Tacho last saw Jimmy on June 12, 1991, when her blond-haired, blue-eyed little brother leaned into their car to kiss his mom goodbye as they were leaving to visit the family of Tammy’s boyfriend. Jimmy didn’t want to lose even a few days of summer cooped up inside, so his mom let him stay with a family friend. He ended up spending the night with the friend’s cousin who wanted Jimmy to help him fix a fence. Then he vanished.

At first, police believed Jimmy may have run away, but his family knew he wouldn’t do that. They didn’t have social media to help their search, so they relied on “our feet and homemade posters” to get the word out. She was glad to hear that the Guthrie family donated $500,000 to NCMEC to help missing children who don’t get the same intense publicity.

Tacho, married with seven children, said Jimmy was a “mama’s boy” who loved church, being outdoors and his favorite red sweatpants. She stayed in Tucson in case Jimmy returned home, but their single mom, who raised the two of them and their brother Paul, found it too painful to stay there and moved around a lot.

“She just couldn’t handle it,” said Tacho. “I had to stay strong for my mom and grew up fast to keep his name out there.”

She said police developed a suspect but he has since died and was never charged. Tucson police Det. David Miller reached out to NCMEC in April 2025 for assistance in the case. Schmidt, an expert in searches on Team Adam, began the preliminary work, including studying time-lapse photos and videos and the geography of Miller’s search areas.

When the searches were underway on Feb. 15, Miller said some residents were surprised to learn they were investigating a 35-year-old missing child case, but police don’t stop investigating when there’s no statute of limitations. He said it gives comfort to families and “lets the bad guys know we’re still looking.”

Team Adam is named after Adam Walsh, whose parents, John and Reve’ Walsh, co-founded NCMEC in 1984 after his abduction and murder. The rapid-deployment team is comprised mostly of experienced retired law enforcement officers who help with critically missing children and cold cases like Jimmy’s.  

Tacho said their mother, Debra Hendrickson, died several years ago without ever knowing what happened to her youngest son. She never got the closure she yearned for, and Tacho hopes that’s not her fate.  

“You live on that hope that you’re going to get that phone call,” said Tacho, adding it took her more than 20 years to fully grasp her brother was probably not alive.  “It’s heartbreaking. When I pass away, I just want to know I have answers.”

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You can view Jimmy's missing poster here: https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/755469/1.