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

[BrittMontero]

I could still see it being someone who is obsessed with/wants attention from/wants to hurt or inflict pain on SG. They are local to Tucson and can't reach SG in New York, so they decide to target her family. Maybe they've been stalking both her sister and her mother for a while now. They pick last weekend ahead of SG leaving for Italy and abduct NG.

Sending ransom notes to TMZ ensures maximum publicity of SG's pain. If they really wanted money, they would've contacted her privately and told her not to involve LE. But the way they went about it (TMZ and two local stations) feels like the person wants attention that they can watch on TV and they also want SG to make videos pleading for them to let NG go. It's not really about money--its about spectacle and control and inflicting pain on a person they've become fixated on (the reason could be quasi-political, romantic, or some kind of delusion we couldn't guess).

This makes sense.

If it were a premeditated actual kidnapping, why buy a printer, create a ransom note, trash the printer so it can’t be traced, leave tge glove-handled note on the premises with instructions for a drop?

All of this delay & sending of multiple messages to media is just putting the perps at risk. Who does this if money is really the object?

 

[SlimPickens]

You don’t send a ransom days after the fact and add that you won’t hear from them again. It makes no sense. A robbery gone wrong doesn’t make sense as nothing, that we know of, was taken. Even if you had a serial killer, they’re not going to take the body with them.

There are some serial killer kidnappers, but your overall point is valid. The only distinction here that makes me think that a kidnapping for ransom is a real possibility is simply the fact that there is a celebrity involved who has the means to pay a sizable ransom. Said celebrity is also viewed as attractive and likeable by many, so a deranged person could certainly plot and scheme against her as some kind of attention-seeking exercise that only he/she understands.

One also has to consider that an elaborate kidnapping/ransom scheme with proxy IPs and cryptocurrencies as a diversion tactic by someone in the immediate family is as unlikely as an actual kidnapping/ransom. An opportunist could insert themselves into the fold, as we have seen in a subsequent arrest, but the FBI isn't going to use a grief-stricken family as bait to catch a suspected opportunist/extortionist. There had to be compelling information in those demands that lead not just the FBI, but the family, into believing that they were authentic. Grieving family members, particularly ones with infinite media exposure at their disposal, aren't just going to focus all of their resources and efforts on a hail Mary. And it's not a hail Mary when the FBI is clearly involved in the family's coordination and messaging to this purported kidnapper.

JMO.

 

[Athos65]

I am so surprised they waited almost a week to start what sounds like serious canvasing of the neighborhood.
Apologize if they did do some earlier surveys and I didn't see the post -- I've had to skip a lot of pages since this thread is moving so quickly.
OMO.

Oh, dear me, an aside...another Vera Stanhope! I see you've had her long er than I've been here, and if you feel I should back out of the Vera Stanhope-ness, I will gladly do so. My apologies, I'd not seen yours.

 

[annie1038]

Could they be waiting until after the deadline for an arrest - indicating that they have a suspect, but no location on Nancy?

 

[maskedwoman]

Maybe "this" is "this information that only our living mom would be able to answer"

I read it to mean that "this" is peace. They ask that she be returned because it's the only way they will have peace. This (peace) is very valuable to us and we will pay.

 

[HoveringWombats]

You don’t send a ransom days after the fact and add that you won’t hear from them again. It makes no sense. A robbery gone wrong doesn’t make sense as nothing, that we know of, was taken. Even if you had a serial killer, they’re not going to take the body with them.

BBM

It was not days, was it? It was the next day (reported missing Sunday, ransom note sent to TV station Monday). At the latest, because we have no way of knowing if it was sent some other way before they sent it to media. It was two days before it went to TMZ, which is when we heard about it, but that was not the initial time it was sent.

Sources:

Overall timeline - A timeline of the disappearance of and search for Nancy Guthrie
Additional detail on ransom letter timing - What we know about the ransom notes in the Nancy Guthrie case

 

[moonglow123]

Is there a good chance at this point they never identify any suspects or make any arrests for this?

It's wild because Nancy lives right off of a major road. Whoever did this couldn't have disappeared into the ether. They must've been caught on camera at some point. I just hope LE can slowly narrow down suspects on that basis... the person would have to be extremely lucky to fully get away with it.

 

[investigatoroffacts]

You don’t send a ransom days after the fact and add that you won’t hear from them again. It makes no sense. A robbery gone wrong doesn’t make sense as nothing, that we know of, was taken. Even if you had a serial killer, they’re not going to take the body with them.

Plenty of serial offenders have transported, hidden or stored bodies. Ted Bundy Transported victims, moved bodies, revisited sites, Jeffrey Dahmer - kept victims/bodies in his residence, John Wayne Gacy concealed victims on his property...Robert Pickton concealed victims on his property. These are just a few.

In this situation anything is possible. Otherwise, what is considered the norm, would have already been determined.

 

[tbgo]

That whole message is off.

"We received your message and we understand," Guthrie said in the brief video posted to Instagram. "We beg you now to return our mother to us so we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay."

Why send a message that you're going to pay instead of just paying? Why refer to your mother as "this"? This is very valuable to us. What is "this"? It's distancing language, which is a little bizarre.

Savannah Guthrie in new video pleads for mother's return: 'We will pay'

"Today" show host Savannah Guthrie and her siblings released a new video saying they have received a message and begged for their mother's return.

abcnews.go.com

They want her body.

 

[shonyakay]

maybe it’s time to throw in another poll? i wonder what we’ll know by the end of this day..

react to this post with a
if you expect that it will become clear(er) what has happened
if you expect that it will only become more confusing
if you expect radio silence today
if you really don’t know what to think

Still on the fence and still wondering why the Sheriff said there wouldn't be another press conference until Thursday (unless there was a need for one).

 

[SMK777]

Could they be waiting until after the deadline for an arrest - indicating that they have a suspect, but no location on Nancy?

That thought has crossed my mind.
Also: Wanting to find the body.

 

[tbgo]

Robbery to me makes zero sense on any level. Why rob someone when they are home? Why not wait until she was away? Like say, at her daughter's home for dinner literally a few hours before whatever happened?

Not all robbers know a person’s schedule.

 

[Love Never Fails]

Honestly if you have lived in Tucson for 30 years and know how to spell it correctly, you know that there is not a “pretty good presence” of cartels in this city.

What a rude reply. Tucson is such a hard word to remember spelling for anyone typing in a hurry. I was first there in 91, more than 30 years ago and I still get confused and I am a good speller. No need to treat people this way. None at all.

 

[SRWCF]

So.... SG could have been referring to a birthday celebration when she used the phrase "celebrate with her" in the message. Makes sense.

I don't know why, but I strongly feel like saying that word "celebrate" was because it was a code word that the kidnappers provided SG with to use in order to answer some sort of question (or to make some sort of choice). NO ONE uses the word "celebrate" given these harrowing circumstances, not even in regards to a possible "celebration" of life. I could be wrong, but whenever I hear "celebration of life" it's supposed to be a happy time vs. a sad funeral. And, besides, we know NG was a regular church goer, and there are plenty of news stories out there saying SG has been "leaning on her faith", which makes me think if they were referring to having NG back in order to plan a funeral, it would be a solemn mass and not a "celebration of life."

 

[HoveringWombats]

Still on the fence and still wondering why the Sheriff said there wouldn't be another press conferences until Thursday (unless there was a need for one).

I'm not sure that allowing this sheriff (who I have a lot of empathy for, btw) to fill time with no new info, and answer a bunch of questions off-the-cuff, would lead to additional clarity anyway. Probably for the best that they don't have press conferences until they are ready to share new substantive information, IMO.

 

[dogmom805]

I don't think they are going to pay.

What does everyone else think? Yay or Nay? Reply with an icon
(also, if they pay or not they may not release this, because what if they pay publicly and later learn it's a scam?)

 

[SMK777]

Still on the fence and still wondering why the Sheriff said there wouldn't be another press conference until Thursday (unless there was a need for one).

Either because they are moving in on something and are not yet quite ready....
OR:
There's nothing to report.

 

[dogmom805]

dbm

 

[tarabull]

 

[mikeshanty]

That thought has crossed my mind.
Also: Wanting to find the body.

They might also have geolocated the perp and be waiting for the last minute before rounding in.

Honestly, if the USA can locate and kidnap the leader of Venezuela in the dead of the night, they can absolutely locate a kidnapper on home turf.