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

[Trino]

Hey Everyone.
Tonight at 10:30 PM Eastern, I'll be going live on our Websleuths YouTube Live channel to discuss the case.
We would love to have you join us. Click HERE or click on the video below.
Thanks,
Tricia

 

[Moonstrawbs]

Early on i heard someone report that the family had been alerted by someone who said she did not show up to church. i then read that she does not physically go to church. I assume nobody actually said this or they would be a suspect

She attended online which was something she transitioned to during COVID times. I'm at work so can't find a link so I'll add, jmo.

 

[MollyHarps]

I just don’t believe the ransom theory - I feel for the ransom to be true the deadlines would’ve been much quicker.

This is an 84 year old women we are talking about with a heart condition - I doubt in these stressful conditions with no medication that time is really on her side.

 

[Trino]

Sure seems like the abductor is real, and the ransom demand has enough info to convince that it's real. So, isn't it time to profile? (Assuming SIL is not involved.)

Here's my take:
Male
Educated
Smart
Ages 25-55
Single
Bitcoin very experienced. Must know how to delink from his identity.
Financial advisor? Corporate?
Has spent time researching property, NG, habits
Is familiar with the property w/o anyone knowing
Familiar with Tucson
Did not take NG far from Tucson, maybe Phoenix
Would he leave immediately after gaining ransom? Big mistake on his part. Mistake maybe to stay too.

 

[shonyakay]

That's my question, too. Why did she go other there? If she told LE that it was for the purported reason we've heard that a family member said (eg church member called her because she was concerned mom wasn't at church), that's a huge red flag.

And AG would know that her mother didn't go to church in-person so this adds to the strangeness. Doesn't make sense she would have said something that even she knew couldn't be true. Unless family members were so got off guard coming up with a reason why they were at NG's that they just blurted out the first thing that came to their mind.

LE reported that it was obvious immediately that this wasn't a missing person's case and that it was the scene of a crime. MO

You stated previously that NG's pastor stated that she attended church online. Can you please provide us with where you obtained this information?

@HoveringWombats shared the DC arrest complaint and it states, "On the morning of February 1, 2026, a friend of N.G.'s contacted the victim's family and notified them that N.G. had not attended church that morning." https://www.justice.gov/usao-az/media/1426976/dl?inline

 

[Trino]

I just don’t believe the ransom theory - I feel for the ransom to be true the deadlines would’ve been much quicker.

This is an 84 year old women we are talking about with a heart condition - I doubt in these stressful conditions with no medication that time is really on her side.

We don't know her heart condition. Surgery? Previous heart attack? Heart disease? Depends on medication. Probably on beta blocker and blood thinner as basics. If she is on Eloquis (blood thinner) and now off it, that is definitely a problem.

 

[simlyme]

That doesnt even look like a septic tank to me, it looks like a grid top with no lock and it looks like it’s open to the air,(it would smell wouldnt it) thats not even safe. Compare to the other one which is a septic tank. Or look here for Tucson About Us ( 3rd picture)
The one hes poking in looks like it’s to catch rain or do they have flash floods?

I think this is some sort of water catchment system. They are very popular in Tucson and all desert areas , used for watering plants and trees.

 

[shonyakay]

I was just re-reading the DC complaint. It's a short document. Everyone should read it to have first-hand information rather than just relying on recaps from others.

I don't find this to be compelling evidence that DC was working with AG or TC. I think it's just clumsy wording of a demand for bitcoin. This does not look like a smoking gun to me at all, IMO.

Also, I notice that it says, "On the morning of February 1, 2026, a friend of N.G.'s contacted the victim's family and notified them that N.G. had not attended church that morning." Criminal complaints are of course not perfect documents, but I'd be somewhat surprised if this detail was included without them being fairly sure it's true as of the time of writing (Thursday, Feb 5). I continue to be somewhat skeptical of the church member phone call, but this is evidence in favor of it having happened, and being left off of the sheriff's timeline for some other reason. MOO.

Thank you. So not only the NYT (which is quite reputable) has stated this as recently as yesterday, we have an "official" document dated (February 5) relaying that a church attendee called Nancy's family when she was noticed to be absent.

It makes sense that a church attendee would call family if they noticed Nancy was unusually absent. That is just being a good fellow perishoner checking to see if all is well.

 

[Happyfrog111]

This case has had me puzzled and I’ve only read but not posted to this point but I just woke up with an idea. What if the second video by the family was not in response to any letter at all? “We got your message”. Maybe message doesn’t refer to either of the supposed two letters from the “kidnappers”. But rather “message” refers to the heinous act of murdering their innocent loved one? I.e- someone “sending a message”. I have no clue what that message was or why it would have been sent and won’t speculate. But the family is stating to whatever person/entity out there like “hey we got your message, message understood” (paraphrasing). But this theory may better explain why LE went back to the homes of NG and AG and basically re-canvased, re-investigated each location (as potential homicide scenes as opposed to NG’s house as the site of a kidnapping as previously thought). It may also explain the shift in tone and wording between the two family videos. By the time the second video came out, family and LE no longer believing any of the ransom notes were legitimate and instead the case was more likely a murder than a kidnapping.

 

[threeflight]

New poster and hello everyone. I have followed this since the beginning and the entire thing has always struck as very odd. There is just no logical reason for anyone to 'kidnap' NG.

I am a big believer in Occam's razor and to me the simplest explanation is whoever saw NG last either knows something or is directly responsible. What are the odds that some random guy would just happen to abduct/hurt/kidnap NG an hour or 2 after she got home from being out to dinner with family members? Seems very unlikely to me. And from what I know of the situation, her son in law is the last person to see her. Which I also understand is he is in a situation where he and his wife (NGs daughter) were in debt and financial distress.

Everyone should watch the video of Anthony Aiello on youtube. 90 year old man who murdered his daughter in law inside her home....for money. The pizza murder. This situation with NG completely reminds me of that.

I really have a hard time believing any of these ransom notes are serious. IMO they are coming from someone who is trying to buy time. IMO probably the son in law. IMO he tried to get money from NG, she refused, he ended up hurting/ending her.

I really hope I am wrong but it seems pretty clear to me.

 

[flakesofsnow]

Not going to lie, have had the same thought for the last hour. Could be nothing/wrong but I just don't want to risk it. JMO.

why post about not posting. just say nothing.

 

[flakesofsnow]

She attended online which was something she transitioned to during COVID times. I'm at work so can't find a link so I'll add, jmo.

that’s what i said

 

[Chainspell]

why post about not posting. just say nothing.

Running on little sleep admittedly (but can't go to sleep just yet, waiting for something unrelated) and the post lined up with my thoughts at the moment regarding this case. My bad.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

New poster and hello everyone. I have followed this since the beginning and the entire thing has always struck as very odd. There is just no logical reason for anyone to 'kidnap' NG.

I am a big believer in Occam's razor and to me the simplest explanation is whoever saw NG last either knows something or is directly responsible. What are the odds that some random guy would just happen to abduct/hurt/kidnap NG an hour or 2 after she got home from being out to dinner with family members? Seems very unlikely to me. And from what I know of the situation, her son in law is the last person to see her. Which I also understand is he is in a situation where he and his wife (NGs daughter) were in debt and financial distress.

Everyone should watch the video of Anthony Aiello on youtube. 90 year old man who murdered his daughter in law inside her home....for money. The pizza murder. This situation with NG completely reminds me of that.

I really have a hard time believing any of these ransom notes are serious. IMO they are coming from someone who is trying to buy time. IMO probably the son in law. IMO he tried to get money from NG, she refused, he ended up hurting/ending her.

I really hope I am wrong but it seems pretty clear to me.

Excellent post. Reasons why I'm skeptical of him - doing this for money makes no sense. Without a body there could not be a payout for a long time, longer than if they just waited for her to pass (sorry to be indelicate).

So that leads me to an argument of some sort - if it was spur of the moment and he removed the body, there would likely be traces of it somewhere and cell phone evidence, and the FBI would surely have recovered that by now. I think we'd see him in custody or at least being held for lengthy interviews.

I can't see him setting up the ransom. FBI is probably all over his tech and would discover it. Plus he'd have no way to explain his sudden cash infusion were it to be successful.

 

[MollyHarps]

New poster and hello everyone. I have followed this since the beginning and the entire thing has always struck as very odd. There is just no logical reason for anyone to 'kidnap' NG.

I am a big believer in Occam's razor and to me the simplest explanation is whoever saw NG last either knows something or is directly responsible. What are the odds that some random guy would just happen to abduct/hurt/kidnap NG an hour or 2 after she got home from being out to dinner with family members? Seems very unlikely to me. And from what I know of the situation, her son in law is the last person to see her. Which I also understand is he is in a situation where he and his wife (NGs daughter) were in debt and financial distress.

Everyone should watch the video of Anthony Aiello on youtube. 90 year old man who murdered his daughter in law inside her home....for money. The pizza murder. This situation with NG completely reminds me of that.

I really have a hard time believing any of these ransom notes are serious. IMO they are coming from someone who is trying to buy time. IMO probably the son in law. IMO he tried to get money from NG, she refused, he ended up hurting/ending her.

I really hope I am wrong but it seems pretty clear to me.

Very good first post. I am with you on your most likely theory.

 

[Cardgame]

It is showing up that you have to watch it on YouTube.
Try CLICKING HERE and see if you can watch it.
It is one of the Sheriff's press conferences.

Awesome. It's working now, thank you!

 

[Kemug]

Won’t it look very suspicious if SIL suddenly “comes into a large amount of money” (far above what the inheritance is (and LE would be monitoring for that I’m sure). Again this implies that AG is in on this.

It seems improbable that AG would be in on this as well.

RSBM
If SIL suddenly came into a lot of money, and used it to pay off a lot of secret dodgy debt, I doubt if anyone would know.

 

[shonyakay]

I was just re-reading the DC complaint. It's a short document. Everyone should read it to have first-hand information rather than just relying on recaps from others.

I don't find this to be compelling evidence that DC was working with AG or TC. I think it's just clumsy wording of a demand for bitcoin. This does not look like a smoking gun to me at all, IMO.

Also, I notice that it says, "On the morning of February 1, 2026, a friend of N.G.'s contacted the victim's family and notified them that N.G. had not attended church that morning." Criminal complaints are of course not perfect documents, but I'd be somewhat surprised if this detail was included without them being fairly sure it's true as of the time of writing (Thursday, Feb 5). I continue to be somewhat skeptical of the church member phone call, but this is evidence in favor of it having happened, and being left off of the sheriff's timeline for some other reason. MOO.

The same date this complaint was filed was the same day of the Presser when Sheriff Nanos left out the church attendee call from the timeline, Thursday February 5th.

Maybe LE's goal was just to share the most crucial details of the timeline with the public.

Why add a phone call from a church attendee that they are the ones to alert the family, which in turn led the family to go to Nancy's home where they discovered Nancy missing - when the same point is made with the simple detail that the family discovered her missing from her home?

Sidenote: I do think it would have helped quell various public speculations about the church attendance if LE did clear this up and wished they would have.

 

[Kemug]

What could they be looking for in a septic tank? A body? The only other thing I can think of is if the “kidnapper” said that they left something in there that would confirm that they’re telling the truth. I’m still thinking they were looking for a dead body. Can anyone else think of another reason they would have been looking in it?

Because it would be remiss not to search everywhere?

 

[Nikynoo]

why post about not posting. just say nothing.

Just adds a further layer of confusion imo.