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

[LRinCA]

I'm continuing on with this strange Silence of the Lambs theme. The van in Silence of the Lambs was, I believe, a white van.

"A neighbor of missing Nancy Guthrie said he saw a suspicious white van on their street in the days before NBC host Savannah Guthrie's mother"

 

[gitana1]

I'm pretty sure it was someone who knew her.


Another WS member was saying how a kid kept coming by their mother's house because she paid them for chores one time. Eventually the kid wasn't so nice.

I can see Nancy paying a down-on-their-luck person for some odd chores, then that person wanting more money, but she refused and it boiled to a head. We've seen this with the elderly numerous times.

All MOO...

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 behind the scenes that we are unaware of. MOO.

I was discussing this case with my elderly mother today and going through the possibilities. The possibilities I think of are:

1. Stranger abduction/sexual predator - I have never known one of these cases involving s victim that age. Predators/thrill killers leave their elderly victims in the home.

2. Home invasion/in-home burglary - they do not typically take their victims from the home.

3. Abduction for purposes of robbery- we have heard of no attempts to force her to take money from an ATM or anything like that.

4. Cartel activity - despite the hype, I have heard of no cases of a cartel kidnapping stateside, especially not of someone who is not Mexican. Those involve wealthy Mexicans south of the border. And no ransom has been published that included an avenue for payment.

5. Other abduction for ransom- we haven’t had a ransom case in how long? Do we know of any? Regardless, ransoms require avenues for payment. I have heard of none.

6. Someone who has had contact with her, like a service worker of some sort or criminal neighbor- again, typically in those cases, either we would hear of ATM activity, there would be evidence of a robbery or, a body would be left behind.

7. Political violence - those types are injustice collectors who can’t hide their hatred and are typically caught quickly. Also, targeting the mother of a newscaster, who lives apart from them, for the newscaster’s perceived politics, seems a bit of a stretch. Possible, though.

8. Someone who knows her well - this is the most feasible to me. Someone knew her well enough to know where her cameras were and that they were not linked to the cloud. Someone knew what security measures she had.

But, although the most feasible to me, it still doesn’t tell us why. Was she going to change her will? Was someone demanding something she was unwilling to give? Did someone have a grudge? Where did they take her?

 

[missy1974]

Here is the entire clip of the anchor from KOLD talking about receiving the second message. I do not get the impression from the anchor that the message said Nancy was deceased. (And the FBI says in this response that SG's video was a response to yesterday's message received by KOLD.)

I agree, and I can't even imagine she would do any interviews yesterday at all if there was even a hint of that. At least I would hope not. Remember, they didn't say anything about the 1st letter until TMZ got a copy too and broke that news.

 

[Sakura2Sophia4Lucia]

Taking a moment because this isn't Season 4 on Netflix. A real family, a real Grandma, a real nightmare. Whether this was one crime or two, this part is twice ruthless. IMO no one intended to hold her hostage nor return her. Whoever is behind this, it's the rawest clash of good and evil, playing on heartbroken people's emotions. Extortion of the highest order. Or lowest.

Sometime I wonder if we're even the same species.

JMO

Well-said

 

[scaredtopost]

Am I the only one who just told their daughter not to pay ransom for my body if the kidnapper kills me? Just wondering... I told her to save her money. I've also negotiated with my husband to login to websleuths to start a thread for me if i go missing since he refuses to do a dateline. He said the husband's always guilty, or portrayed that way, and I can't really argue with that. But for real, I can't imagine what her family is going through and I wish them peace and answers soon ♡

 

[maskedwoman]

It’s entirely possible the ransomer is not the same person as the perpetrator. They could be completely unrelated.

But if thats the case, how does the ransomer know things about the scene?

 

[emigrate]

oh Lisa Frank....that's a whole other ball of wax....

Lisa Frank factory? What is this about? I have been trying to catch up and go back to see things I have missed, this is moving so fast I can't get caught up

 

[MCB1151]

There don't seem to have been extensive searches in the area - which I thought was weird. They've gone out in the desert a few times but not for very long and it hasn't semeed like an in detail search.

Just seems odd. It is HARD to find a body in the desert because it's just wide, barren land. Even with K9s it's difficult to find someone. But one would think if you have a suspicious disappearance of an elderly person, you might at the very least bring in a tracking k9. Grid searches for evidence. Something.

 

[K.jill]

The author of the ransom notes appears to me to be bold, arrogant, confident and likes the media attention. Very bold. If this is also the abductor do they have experience in breaking and entering, stalking?
Editing to add: heartless, cold blooded.

 

[Puzzles8]

It appeared to me that SG was reading a script.

I noticed this time SG didn't have a sheet of paper in front of her. SG spoke softly and a delivered a well rehearsed message.The three sat closer together and struggled to look at the camera. They all looked utterly exhausted and defeated.

Prayers up for their family, they look to be at their breaking point.

JMO

 

[MadCowWisco]

I think the words in the video were chosen very carefully in order to account for a number of possibilities which is why some of the language isn't natural. I think they believe she's likely dead since no proof of life was given and maybe something threatening was shared. I think they wanted the word "celebration" to have two possible meanings - if she's still alive then you can return her, we will pay, and will celebrate with her (this gives them an opportunity to still return her alive while also signaling it will be happy for them not a moment where they will seek "justice" - they will celebrate!) on the other hand, they recognize she is likely dead and they also want the person to know they can return her for a celebration (of life) if so. Either of those outcomes is valuable to them.

Sorry. I hope I'm wrong but I think they just want her back so they get closure on all of this. Finding who did this should be the next focus.

 

[moonglow123]

I feel like it's a power move. If only the ransom demanders see them plead for their mother, that's all well and good, but if the world watches them essentially beg the ransomers for their mother, THAT is control.

Yep. It really strikes me as some sick person that's giddy they're causing so much suffering for the family, and loves having it aired out publicly. And probably gleeful they've outsmarted law enforcement thus far.

 

[LRinCA]

Am I the only one who just told their daughter not to pay ransom for my body if the kidnapper kills me? Just wondering... I told her to save her money. I've also negotiated with my husband to login to websleuths to start a thread for me if i go missing since he refuses to do a dateline. He said the husband's always guilty, or portrayed that way, and I can't really argue with that. But for real, I can't imagine what her family is going through and I wish them peace and answers soon ♡

You are not. I just told my husband, as we left the gym, never ever pay ransom for me unless you have proof of life and he said "that goes for me, too."

 

[K.jill]

I'm continuing on with this strange Silence of the Lambs theme. The van in Silence of the Lambs was, I believe, a white van.

"A neighbor of missing Nancy Guthrie said he saw a suspicious white van on their street in the days before NBC host Savannah dbm

Dbm.

 

[InspectGadget]

This is how I interpreted the family video. I think the supposed abductor is telling the family that Nancy has died. He/they might not want to return the body because it could contain clues or DNA. The family is offering to pay. I immediately thought "celebrate" meant a "celebration of life", as funerals are referred to in some Christian denominations, such as my own, the Catholic church.

I am catholic and grew up in a very catholic area and there are not celebrations of life. At least not before there would be a wake and funeral. Presbyterians tend to have memorials. Again a time to grieve.
After such an event there usually is a celebration but I have only attended ones for folks who were not very religious.

This is only my experience. I do feel that one thing that can be said is that celebrations of life do occur but as equally as memorials followed by them.

I saw and heard exhaustion and trauma. I don’t personally believe the message was for us-they were responding to things that were said in the letters. Imo

 

[su5ie]

It's not strange if you look at the comment that was being replied to. A poster asked if this was a distraction from the super bowl performance tomorrow. The person I replied to said this could be an idea and asked who was performing. I answered the question.

Sorry if I caused confusion , I was just curious as I don't watch TV but I know super bowl is a massive event .

Thank you

 

[judithannegg]

Just seems odd. It is HARD to find a body in the desert because it's just wide, barren land. Even with K9s it's difficult to find someone. But one would think if you have a suspicious disappearance of an elderly person, you might at the very least bring in a tracking k9. Grid searches for evidence. Something.

Exactly. They kept assuming she was taken and went far, but she could just be in the desert under some brush or makeshift grave. It seemed at the beginning that with the open back door it could have come across as she just wandered away. Then the media turned it quickly into a kidnapping. I think she was taken to the desert, killed, then left out there. Aerial searches but not many boots on the ground.

 

[Aquabot13]

Honestly at this point LE had BETTER know way more than they're letting on. It's alarming that someone can get away with this for so long despite all the resources of SG/the FBI.

LE hasn't made any real comment about public safety, but if they don't get a handle on this ASAP I would consider the revelation of this vulnerability a huge public safety issue.

MOO

 

[TheDinks]

Celebrate with her... in other words celebrate with her body present.

Although Christians firmly believe the body is just the vessel, when it's your own beloved family member it's different.

 

[missy1974]

This is very valuable to us.

maybe the "this" is coordinates to where she is located?

Maybe the note yesterday was about the urgency and that the ball is in the family's court? the longer you take... the worse the outcome type of message.