Nancy Guthrie, 84, (mother of TODAY Show host Savannah Guthrie) missing - last seen in the Catalina foothills area on Jan 31, 2026

[StarryStarryNight]

This might have been posted already, but it’s the first I’ve seen it.

Nancy Guthrie’s neighbor reported suspicious white van parked on block days before 84-year-old went missing

Neighbors of Nancy Guthrie reported spotting a suspicious white van parked on their street in the days before the 84-year-old vanished.

nypost.com

 

[whitelilac]

I’m new here. Los Angeles Times said she took an Uber to dinner and that family took her home.

Wondering if LE investigated or interviewed the Uber driver.

Article

They probably did, but I would think he/she was cleared. No one knew about the Uber ride until the PC yesterday. If the Uber driver was a suspect, Uber driver would not have been mentioned in the PC.

 

[LivvyL]

I’m curious about the scene at the front door. It appears there are dried/dead flowers on the ground by the door and a large empty vase in the corner. I wonder if there was a spare key in that vase and it was emptied of the flowers to get the key.

 

[txsleuth70]

My gut tells me that family member(s) are responsible for Nancy’s disappearance. My inclination would be that the ransom notes are unrelated because it’s unlikely that a family member would have (or know someone who has) the capability to send the notes from an undiscoverable IP address. Then again, I suppose it’s possible that that the FBI does know the source of the ransom notes, but is building a case beyond the scenes, that we are unaware of. MOO.

How do you account for the fact that the ransom note mentioned the location of the watch or other inside details? I mean, I guess they could have made a good guess... or it could've been placed into the fridge by the captor and that's where it was located. Hypothetical ofc. MOO

 

[SRWCF]

I'm confused about the 2 minutes between the garage door opening then shutting.
This data shows that NG entered through the garage and the door was closed right away, yes?

So either whoever dropped her off at 9:48 ish did not enter with her and help her settle or could they have entered with her from the garage stayed a bit then exited through another door?
Would that exciting have shown up?
I find it hard to believe whoever brought her home did not go in with her, put lights on, help her get her settled etc.
imo

If it truly was the son-in-law to drive her home, I bet he got out of the car to help her out since she walks with a cane, and escorted her through the garage to the entrance to the house. There's your 2 minutes.

 

[HoveringWombats]

How do they know what time her garage door went up and then down?

Smart garage door openers are ubquitous. Most openers sold by Chamberlain today (the leading manufacturer) have this functionality built in. For older openers, there are several devices you can get to make them "smart." With a smart garage door opener, you get a notification every time it opens and closes, and also that would be logged on the provider's side. With any remotely recently-installed garage door opener that's not bottom of the line, I would expect this functionality (though it's of course possible for people to have it and not configure it).

 

[Black eyed pea]

My gut tells me that family member(s) are responsible for Nancy’s disappearance. My inclination would be that the ransom notes are unrelated because it’s unlikely that a family member would have (or know someone who has) the capability to send the notes from an undiscoverable IP address. Then again, I suppose it’s possible that that the FBI does know the source of the ransom notes, but is building a case beyond the scenes, that we are unaware of. MOO.

Or possibly someone close to the family that needs money.

 

[DizzyB]

PACEMAKER From the little I know about them they are linked to usually a phone and that is the case here. Also there are numbers that they connect to when something is not right. I have to assume that primary contact would be Annie. So it follows that at 2:28am she would have received a message or call when it went off line. I assume LE are looking at this but I would like to know more about this. Does this make sense to anyone?

Did the pacemaker go “off line” or did it just disconnect from the Apple Watch, which is the app that monitors it? Can a cardiologist still receive remote data? I am reading conflicting things, but I imagine that there is a lot of info from before the disconnect.

I think the doorstep simply had not been swept in some time. I think the blood is old and not related to her disappearance at all. LE has not mentioned any other blood in the home, have they? If this was some sort of serious injury, there would be a lot more blood, for one thing. The elderly have very thin, fragile skin. It's a normal part of aging. I wouldn't be surprised if she nicked herself on a finger or her arm at some point in the past and lost a few drops of blood on the doorstep. That's been my thought process thus far.

Can they tell if the blood is old or new? If they bothered having a camera installed at the door, it’s a spot where people drop packages or enter. I can’t imagine blood being there for a long time, especially with the amount of foot traffic using that area.

 

[MesquiteO21]

For your first two questions I would say 2% and 95%.

Amateur opinion and speculation only

May I ask why you feel so strongly it is a worker in her circle (as opposed to a family member or friend)?
Totally just curious at this point I don’t know what to think so I almost feel like I’m at 50% for everybody lol

Moo

 

[Trino]

If the ransom notes are fake, unrelated, and the abduction or possible murder was done by someone else, the ransom is definitely helping the actual abductors. Beginning to think she awoke to find someone in her home, confrontation, possible murder. Who?

 

[Skagirl]

I'm having a disconnect here because I have no idea what time I open my garage door and what time I close it.

Also, I come in through the garage a lot because our front door is super moody.

How do they know what time her garage door went up and then down?

I am not 100% but I think she may have used an app and that's how they were able to tell.

 

[cady]

My gut tells me that family member(s) are responsible for Nancy’s disappearance. My inclination would be that the ransom notes are unrelated because it’s unlikely that a family member would have (or know someone who has) the capability to send the notes from an undiscoverable IP address. Then again, I suppose it’s possible that that the FBI does know the source of the ransom notes, but is building a case beyond the scenes, that we are unaware of. MOO.

No one in her family would gain anything without her death certificate

 

[moonbeams]

We used to start new threads when a thread got to 1000 posts because there were people who had dialup and older computers which made a long thread hard to load. Today we shouldn't be having that problem but I could be wrong. Keeping one thread and not starting a new one helps us with some techie crap I don't understand.
If you could @bestill come to the Give Us This Day Our Daily Thread and tell me why you want a new thread.
In fact, if anyone feels a new thread helps them for some reason, please CLICK HERE AND JOIN THE DAILY THREAD and let me know.
Thanks.
Tricia

i think it's easier having one thread.

 

[Wsimm]

Ok, to be fair. My Mom literally lives down the street from me. Sometimes I call or text her and she doesn't answer, which is ODD. I will call her cell, call her house... maybe give her a few minutes (maybe she is in the shower? maybe in the bathroom and didn't take phone lol ) I will give her some time, but after about 30 minutes or so, yep, I would go over to make sure everything was okay. My timeline would be very similar.

We don't know if something like this has happened before, where she doesn't answer right away but does after 10-15 minutes or so.

There also seems to be some question about someone calling the family. Do we have confirmation of this? It was not in the timeline from LE yesterday.

I would do so similarly. My mom is 86, in excellent health for her age and lives approximately 30 mins away. I’d call her home, then cell and with no answer assume she’s in the bathroom. After 5-15 minutes I’d try both numbers again. With no answer, I’d become a bit concerned, but probably wait another 5-10 minutes and try both numbers once again. No answer, I’m grabbing my purse and getting my shoes on and getting in the car. Once driving, id probably call both numbers once again. So 6 calls in a 25-35 time frame. I’m thinking this sounds excessive, but we do live about 25 miles apart not 4. We gifted my mom an Apple Watch 2 yrs ago just in case of a fall and we knew she’d never wear a Life Alert. If my mom doesn’t answer either phone because she’s out of earshot her watch alerts her of a call.

 

[Cassie P]

a break in gone bad is all i can think of to make sense at this point
remove the person/body, removes the evidence
but even that seems like a dumb move

What does an elderly woman have in her home that a thief would want? Cash?
How much cash do people keep at home these days?

 

[Tortoise]

Question for Sleuthers: why do you think there are pieces of boxwood or other shrubbery by the front door? Near the doormat and drops of blood?

It looks to me like fine purple flowers and greenery used as filler in a vase flower arrangement. I've been wondering if such an arrangement might have been on a table near the front door and was knocked or stuck to a sleeve or in hair, as someone brushed past it, taking it outside.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I keep thinking of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.

This mostly reminds me of Al Coors -- they didn't find the perp or find his body for years, but I'm still hopeful that Nancy is alive and will be released.

Adolph Coors III - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This is a very interesting read about how the crime was planned and the perp caught: The Death of an Heir by Philip Jett.

Also, "Forensic Files": Season11, Episode 41

 

[merrymary]

I'm having a disconnect here because I have no idea what time I open my garage door and what time I close it.

Also, I come in through the garage a lot because our front door is super moody.

How do they know what time her garage door went up and then down?

Alot of the more modern openers you can monitor with an app.

 

[acutename]

They may be educated, but IMHO, it's pretty stupid to kidnap an older person with serious health problems. If the victim dies, the suspects would most likely be looking at a homicide or manslaughter charge (IANAL, MOO.)

just wonder if they considered that they might get nothing and be murderers, but if NG is dead, they have no leverage...they assumed responsibility for her well being when they took her- or they didn't

 

[IQuestion]

Hey Everyone.
I thought I would try something different.
A video message from me to you. It;s only about 90 seconds long.
Love,
Tricia

Tricia... a little off topic...but you look amazing! Are you aging in reverse or what? I don't take offense any more because I know how to "roll and scroll."