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

[Fascinated1]

There is no way a family member say in passenger seat helped this frail 84 year old woman who requires a cane to walk in just 120 seconds to unbuckle seat belt, grab her belongings in the car, help walk to garage door leading into home, say good bye to love one, then bolt back to car in order to shut garage door 120 seconds after opening. Does not add up

I’m wondering if the garage door was how whomever dropped her off exited the house. Maybe they entered through the front door a bit earlier, locked it up for the night , got her settled and then went out the garage door and left. We don’t know if the entrance to the home through the garage door was unlocked do we? I know a lot of folks who keep doors from the garage to the house unlocked. If the front door required a key to lock it, a garage exit makes sense to me and then the 120 minutes doesn’t need to account for her mobility.

 

[K9Enzo]

Incredible that with a flat roof they didn’t check it sooner,

Right. Unless it was placed by LE? But I doubt that because I assume anything they had a surveillance warrant for would be viewed/listened to remotely. This video looked like discovery to me.

I’m then settled on how did the family not point out the rooftop device? This house has been in the family for years. IMO

 

[Curiousobserver]

Is there a car wash at this Circle K?

If they are just getting to this Circle K, shame on them.

You go right by this station going from SIL's home to Nancy's home and it seems to have a forward facing camera to a more well traveled street.

I would think this would be of enormous investigative value for a variety of important reasons...

 

[TheDinks]

Is there a car wash at this Circle K?

I can't see it listed in the amenities there...

https://www.circlek.com/store-locator/US/tucson/15935-n-oracle-rd/2703494

 

[Serononin]

If they are just getting to this Circle K, shame on them.

You go right by this station going from SIL's home to Nancy's home and it seems to have a forward facing camera to a more well traveled street.

I would think this would be of enormous investigative value for a variety of important reasons...

Didn't someone on this thread even post a list of the gas stations and convenience stores near the house quite early on?

 

[wibbleflea]

Yep, sounds suspicious to me. No time for even goodbye, let me help you open the door and get you inside safe and sound. 2 mins bye, hurry, get inside, garage door closing in 120 seconds...run don't walk with cane. Does not add up.

If NG and her SIL entered through the garage door, which closed 2 mins later, it could be because it was easier for her to enter the house that way. Doesn’t mean he left through the garage door before it closed. He could have accompanied her through the house and left through the front door.

 

[Curiousraccoon]

I know this was discussed, but now that two more camera's were "found" in plain sight, I think that the perpetrator(s) either:
- Were very naive about not noticing the additional cameras after breaking the front door one, and also lucky
- Knew that the camera's weren't recording - and how many people could have known that?

 

[Sadi]

Yep, sounds suspicious to me. No time for even goodbye, let me help you open the door and get you inside safe and sound. 2 mins bye, hurry, get inside, garage door closing in 120 seconds...run don't walk with cane. Does not add up.

It will be interesting to find out what time the person(s) returned home after dropping her off. There are cameras from her house to theirs that would show their car, also neighbors cameras. What about earlier that day, were there any other trips made and how long were they gone for? Since LE returned to the house last night, my mind has been on high alert thinking about everything. My personal thoughts about this are still the same and I’m hoping an arrest is imminent, they’re close.

 

[Knitpicker]

Didn't someone on this thread even post a list of the gas stations and convenience stores near the house quite early on?

More agents now on this case

 

[Knitpicker]

I know this was discussed, but now that two more camera's were "found" in plain sight, I think that the perpetrator(s) either:
- Were very naive about not noticing the additional cameras after breaking the front door one, and also lucky
- Knew that the camera's weren't recording - and how many people could have known that?

2 living nearby

 

[Curiousobserver]

Didn't someone on this thread even post a list of the gas stations and convenience stores near the house quite early on?

It is just common sense to look at all the cameras at ATM's. banks, gas stations, overhead traffic cams in that time period, prioritizing those that lead directly from Nancy's home to a major highway or other important landmark.

 

[Starkville]

I'm not sure if any family car has been searched other than NG's car. At the last press conference the sheriff mentioned a car being pulled from the scene/home. Anyway, they may be looking at any Event Data Recorder in the car(s) to get a sense of the car's location/movement. JMO.

There is no indication that NG used her car on the Saturday she disappeared.

There is, however, a claim that Nancy was in Annie/Tomasso’s car.

I would imagine they’d be examining the car in which she was allegedly a passenger, not one she hadn’t used.

Also, nowhere did the sheriff say which home. He just said “the home”. Investigators have been removing evidence from both homes.

ETA: In re-reading this post, it sounds snippy. Not trying to be a jerk! And not arguing with you in particular, just the point.

 

[zecats]

Welcome! It’s a great community, I often have long breaks because life gets in the way, but it always feels like home. Will be great to have your insights as an investigator!

I’ve done the same. It’s been a while since I was here on Websleuths. RL certainly has taken precedence. This case has definitely drawn my interest to mostly peruse, and as usual I find so much more info from the perceptive and collective thoughts from all the sleuthers here. And there sure is a lot of mystery in this case.

 

[Sadi]

Ok. Per this clip I see that AB reports that her source told her that AG's car was taken:

But I haven't caught Brain Entin reporting that.

NG’s car had damage to the front, not knowing if that was there previously or something happened recently? She could have been transported in it and driven to a remote area that was rocky and it was damaged if it hit something? Maybe they drove without any headlights? Another thing, were any tools missing from her house or SIL’s, shovel, rope, tarps? Were they returned, but had evidence of being recently used and had DNA on them? Same with her car, door handles, steering wheel etc?

 

[Cassie P]

I’m hopelessly and helplessly a million pages behind and won’t be able to catch up until I get back to New York ( if the plane isn’t canceled due to weather).

I saw this post though as I am hurrying through. I agree it seems like a strange thing to say in this context of literal real life and death.

I wonder if perhaps, in the ransom note which we have not read, maybe Savannah was instructed by the kidnappers to say this? Some kind of coded language that is supposed to be a message back to the kidnappers?

Just speculating.

Hope your plane took off and you are not stranded!

Yes it is odd.

Why go to a 35 year old movie to make a point about humanizing NG?
When in fact it didn't actually humanize her at all. A reference to a fictional character in an old movie is distancing NG's humanity in my opinion. Why not talk about NG's role as a grandmother, mother, widow, church goer, volunteer or other info about her life.

But of course the best way to humanize someone is to talk to them directly. A kidnap victim is just an object, a money making tool. Turn them into a real person by talking to them directly. So the advice to the kidnapper to go talk to NG is good. And assumes NG can make the case herself.

But still begs the question why use an old movie to do this? Why not just tell the kidnapper to talk to NG, get to know her, etc.

Why introduce the idea of a serial killer to a kidnapper holding your mother? This goes against psychological crisis management. If you have an aggressive person threatening to harm others, you don't start talking about other killers who are famous and made a name for themselves by killing people.

Yes perhaps the kidnapper instructed SG to say this as a coded message. Perhaps it verifies that SG read the ransom note they sent. Or indicates that SG is agreeing to certain terms without publicly disclosing the specifics.

Or perhaps there was something about the crime scene and note that made the FBI profilers think it was a good idea to go in this direction. A criminal leaves their personality fingerprint on the crime scene. The crime is not a personality aberration but a reflection of their daily personality. It is a picture of who they are.

So perhaps there was something in the RN and crime scene that caught the profiler's eye.

IDK. Again just speculating of course.

 

[Curiousraccoon]

Hope your plane took off and you are not stranded!

Yes it is odd.

Why go to a 35 year old movie to make a point about humanizing NG?
When in fact it didn't actually humanize her at all. A reference to a fictional character in an old movie is distancing NG's humanity in my opinion. Why not talk about NG's role as a grandmother, mother, widow, church goer, volunteer or other info about her life.

But of course the best way to humanize someone is to talk to them directly. A kidnap victim is just an object, a money making tool. Turn them into a real person by talking to them directly. So the advice to the kidnapper to go talk to NG is good. And assumes NG can make the case herself.

But still begs the question why use an old movie to do this? Why not just tell the kidnapper to talk to NG, get to know her, etc.

Why introduce the idea of a serial killer to a kidnapper holding your mother? This goes against psychological crisis management. If you have an aggressive person threatening to harm others, you don't start talking about other killers who are famous and made a name for themselves by killing people.

Yes perhaps the kidnapper instructed SG to say this as a coded message. Perhaps it verifies that SG read the ransom note they sent. Or indicates that SG is agreeing to certain terms without publicly disclosing the specifics.

Or perhaps there was something about the crime scene and note that made the FBI profilers think it was a good idea to go in this direction. A criminal leaves their personality fingerprint on the crime scene. The crime is not a personality aberration but a reflection of their daily personality. It is a picture of who they are.

So perhaps there was something in the RN and crime scene that caught the profiler's eye.

IDK. Again just speculating of course.

BBM - I think this is an interesting theory. Something like "say XYZ if you want to send us a message that you are willing to make the payment"

 

[TheDinks]

NG’s car had damage to the front, not knowing if that was there previously or something happened recently? She could have been transported in it and driven to a remote area that was rocky and it was damaged if it hit something? Maybe they drove without any headlights? Another thing, were any tools missing from her house or SIL’s, shovel, rope, tarps? Were they returned, but had evidence of being recently used and had DNA on them? Same with her car, door handles, steering wheel etc?

Interesting news about damage to the car.

 

[birdbox]

On the garage door topic: Does anyone know if she has pets? Each night I have a cat that likes to come in through the garage door for bedtime. We let it up and down for her quickly. But then again, I have a really weird cat.

 

[tkcrockett]

I don't know. I think he's a bit engrained in this because his show was on at NBC.

I just realized Savannah used to be at Court TV. I used to get her and Kimberly Guilfoyle mixed up because they may have been on at the same time. (Not because they looked alike..LOL) I often wouldn't pay attention to the reporter's names and I would see Kimberly on there and think her name was Savannah Guthrie.

ashleigh banfield was also there

 

[Cassie P]

If NG and her SIL entered through the garage door, which closed 2 mins later, it could be because it was easier for her to enter the house that way. Doesn’t mean he left through the garage door before it closed. He could have accompanied her through the house and left through the front door.

Yes usually it is easier to go from the garage to the house. There are no stairs or maybe one or two. Front porches usually have more stairs.

So yes NG and SIL could have come in through the garage and then he left via the front door.