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

[muddlehead]

Let @tricia know....
she was asking for people to express their thoughts regarding longer threads.

I did yup
question
What is a reason someone might prefer a million shorter threads to sift through?

 

[Bounceycat]

Do we really know that the Saturday evening dinner was planned and/or was there any purpose other than just eating? Maybe there was something else going on and that is why NG took the Uber over there? Perhaps they didn't exactly know she was going to show up. Just food for thought (no pun intended).

We don't know the details of the family dinner, but since Nancy's birthday was Jan 27th, many have surmised that it was likely a birthday celebration. JMO

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The big elephant in the room is...
Truth of Life
Truth of Life
Truth of Life.

I know LE is holding things back as they should.
But I wish we would get an inking of this. It would quiet us all down with the pros/cons of this being a ransom or not.

moo, moo

 

[maskedwoman]

Of course not. But he has a dark and brooding look. He looks 100% Italian to me. In fact, when I first saw his name I thought, that's an Italian name, I wonder if he was born in Italy or in the States? Then I saw a picture of him and said, "Yep, that's a born and bred Italian." And I was right. My point is that I've seen comments saying, "he just looks weird" or "creepy." Ridiculous statements IMO. You can't convict someone of a crime because they look a certain way!

More than dark and brooding, I felt like he looked...tough. Hard. Did I get it right that he's in band? Was that picture of him with other men, the other band members? Maybe they all cultivate that look, which I could understand, because they did all have a similar vibe to me. But, without context, he did look like of rough to me.

 

[Vaderman]

The main reason I believe it is a person known to NG is because a random burglar would assume that being the mother of a celebrity her house is wired to the max with ADT, Ring etc. at the very least. Nothing adds up with this story so far.

Unless the random burglar wasn't aware of his victim or her connection to celebrity until after the news broke.

 

[MassGuy]

I don't really know what to believe, I go back and forth between different ideas of which option seems most likely, given the circumstances. Could be a family member (acting emotionally, out of anger, rather than because of potential financial gain) or a botched home invasion/robbery by half-strangers (someone who had been at the house for a job, or a person connected to them), removing the body to hide DNA evidence. Or something akin to Roberta Martin's case.

We're all going back and forth because there is so little confirmed information. I think just about anything is on the table, although some possibilities are more probable than others.

All quiet on that front today, but something could happen in an instant. I just hope this doesn't go on much longer (I was convinced it would be quick early on, until we learned the cameras weren't helpful).

 

[Black eyed pea]

Who benefits if she is deceased?

The thing I can't stop thinking about is that the house was apparently not burglarized. Imagine... A nefarious person enters the house of a sleeping older woman who has limited mobility. She's in her bedroom. Where's her purse? Where's her jewelry? She certainly must have some nice jewelry. They take the older woman out of the home, leaving the purse and jewelry behind. This is a very odd case.

That is what makes me think that this is a ransom situation or a beneficiary of her will. The cameras at an atm would be a challenge for a person known to the family. Pawn shops keep records of items customers bring in to sell. Who knows how long the perp spent planning this & thinking through all of these scenarios. I hope their plan in the end is to return her safe & unharmed. JMOO

 

[ly502]

Ok, if we assume it is not a ransom for money and it was not a burglary gone wrong (by a stranger or peripheral person in her life) and that it is the family, the most likely reason for family would be money (i.e. an inheritance). If she remains missing, it could take years for her to be declared deceased and/or tie up her estate for years. Unless she is found deceased, and the family is cleared, how soon is any family really going to see any significant money any time soon? What would be other motives for family members to have her gone, aside from money, that seem plausible?

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I did yup
question
What is a reason someone might prefer a million shorter threads to sift through?

ha ha I forget!!! But Tricia mentioned one or two yesterday.
Oh, I think it was old computers and software for some...and therefore wouldn't load fast.

 

[K9Enzo]

We don't know the details of the family dinner, but since Nancy's birthday was Jan 27th, many have surmised that it was likely a birthday celebration. JMO

I thought that was a good point about the B-day being the reason. Also, waiting until Saturday, the weekend, also made sense to me. IMO

 

[Curiousobserver]

That data has been huge in some other cases I've followed. I'm not sure we know the model car (s), but that would be helpful in determining if they had that technology.

All of what has been reported about the timeline, is easily checked. I have not seen an impounded car reported anywhere else, and if a reporter saw it happen, they would be talking.

I fully expect them to look at family, and its entirely possible this case goes in that direction. If it does its difficult to see how it can only be one and not the other, both the daughter and SIL must be involved, one is the alibi for the other.

 

[desert-blue]

I would tend to agree that if money and family are behind this, it wouldn't make sense for her body to not be found. But, what if the motive was to make it more difficult and/or delay the inheritance for others? Maybe someone who had been in the will but was no longer? Just trying to make sense of all this.

 

[WillenFan21]

Nancy Guthrie Alleged Ransom Letter Makes It Seem Like She's Being Held Near Tucson

The alleged ransom letter in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping has a few details that make it seem like she hasn't been taken too far from the Arizona home where she was abducted ... and that should narrow the search radius for law enforcement.

www.tmz.com

 

[thefragile7393]

Nancy Guthrie Alleged Ransom Letter Makes It Seem Like She's Being Held Near Tucson

The alleged ransom letter in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping has a few details that make it seem like she hasn't been taken too far from the Arizona home where she was abducted ... and that should narrow the search radius for law enforcement.

www.tmz.com

intersting. Love them or hate them or no opinion either way, they often have things pretty accurate.

 

[acutename]

I understand where your professor was coming from. I am a data nerd, I love it and the patterns that emerge from it. I apply data patterns to “typical” human behaviors and then gather as much info on the main players to inform interpretation of the unknowns. My amateur skill is aerial mapping and predicting recovery sites based on known factors. In this case, (if this is recovery) it will be extremely difficult with the vast desert. But I do know this. Perps rarely go far with a deceased soul in their vehicle. Sorry to be so creepy. I pray this dear lady is still on this side.

Amateur opinion and speculation

well, they were aerial surveying the neighborhood.

 

[moonbeams]

Oh my I get the cash thing. My father kept wads of cash in briefcases, drawers, and cigar boxes. When he moved into memory care I had to pry it away from him and deposit it into his bank account. It was difficult because in his mind, he NEEDS to have ready cash.

my mom found so many different stashed of cash that my dad had.... almost every day as she was going through his things, she'd find another.

 

[missy1974]

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, but why send a ransom demand through TMZ ? Why not NBC, for instance, or FOX, CNN, Etc ? Isn’t TMZ more of a sensationalist news program ? Idk, I remember it being like that a while ago.

It was sent to a local Tucson news station first. Was also sent to another news station (can't remember the name). Then was sent to TMZ on Tuesday.

I think it may be more about accesibility. TMZ has an easy to use tip form and they probably monitor it all the time. I did a quick search of email NBC.. I got a lot of emails come up and it says, depending on your needs.

I have thought that they maybe were concerned the News stations didn't receive the ransom letter, because LE kept saying that there was none. TMZ posted about there copy shortly after the press briefing by the Sheriff on Tuesday.

 

[K9Enzo]

intersting. Love them or hate them or no opinion either way, they often have things pretty accurate.

Agreed. I think they are more ballsy to get a story out there is all. IMO

 

[Starkville]

There has to be a reason she was abducted. If it was not ransom, what do you think it was?

IMO, it’s possible that she was killed in the house and was taken away to be hidden or disposed of. I don’t know what percentage of murderers do this, but it’s not uncommon.

FWIW, I don’t feel strongly about any particular scenario. It’s a completely baffling crime.

 

[muddlehead]

I just randomly saw this and sent her a message! it has made Websleuths so much easier to navigate and will result in me coming more often

yup
can't believe it was an option all these years
maybe it wasn't ...