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

[Sleuthster]

I have been trying to think what is the item she WASN'T wearing that was mentioned in the note. I know watch has been thrown around, but I don't know. Is there something else that would be very obvious to those who knew her that she wasn't wearing? It couldn't be a specific piece of jewellery unless they knew her well and she usually wore it. Family might be able to confirm this.

I doubt its a piece of clothing, but did she wear a wig or hair piece?

Apple watch

 

[Cottonn]

I have been trying to think what is the item she WASN'T wearing that was mentioned in the note. I know watch has been thrown around, but I don't know. Is there something else that would be very obvious to those who knew her that she wasn't wearing? It couldn't be a specific piece of jewellery unless they knew her well and she usually wore it. Family might be able to confirm this.

I doubt its a piece of clothing, but did she wear a wig or hair piece?

Perhaps its dentures?

 

[thefragile7393]

Reward money.....maybe law enforcement advised against offering one based on their profile of the criminal.

Another topic....if this was my mom's house and it was released back to me, I would have cleaned up. I'd hose down the blood and clean up the debris. I wouldn't want it all sitting there. But maybe LE wants all of that broadcast to the criminal?

That,,,does not make sense. By now they know LE knows something happened. Leaving it there won’t say anything

 

[thefragile7393]

Exactly. Different start up cryptos will do “coin drops”. People will post their wallet addresses on reddit posts to get coin drops etc. The wallet address could be ran through reddit or different crypto chat threads to see if a username could be traced to it. Or wallets that have transferred to/from that same wallet on the network. I will add, it would be really dumb of that person to use a wallet they regularly use but crazier things have happened before.

Fascinating. I know little about bitcoin and this has been interesting

 

[squareandrabbet]

Let's say this is a legit ransom note. Do they have Nancy's life-saving medicine? If so, then it has to be someone with intimate knowledge of her needs. (Like a close friend, or a housekeeper) If the kidnappers are giving until Thursday for the money, then they have means of keeping her alive.

That sounds nice and comforting, but I've heard several tales of ransom where the kidnappers got the money and/or asked for money after the kidnappee had already died.

Usually this tends to involve underaged children, but not always.

 

[Kemug]

Re the "necessary medication" - it may not be the case that she will die if she doesn't have it, but that she needs it if she happens to have an attack of whatever it is.

 

[Mauritius]

The sheriff clarified that he was sometimes speaking figuratively rather than literally, so we don’t know if she was “literally” taken from her bed or just that she was taken when she would normally be in bed.

Or that she wouldn’t walk more than 50 yards unassisted.

 

[curiouscatinoc]

Reward money.....maybe law enforcement advised against offering one based on their profile of the criminal.

Another topic....if this was my mom's house and it was released back to me, I would have cleaned up. I'd hose down the blood and clean up the debris. I wouldn't want it all sitting there. But maybe LE wants all of that broadcast to the criminal?

I doubt the family wants to go back to the house at this time even to clean up. I’m sure there are dozens of reporters outside and they would be hounded.

 

[turaj]

Quoting my own post because I just realized in the article it says that mahjong is a 4-player game.
So I wonder who else made up the foursome.
It sounds like mahjong was her last activity of the night vs. dinner.

JMO.

probably Annie's husband and maybe her son?

 

[Magic8Ball]

That sounds nice and comforting, but I've heard several tales of ransom where the kidnappers got the money and/or asked for money after the kidnappee had already died.

Usually this tends to involve underaged children, but not always.

Lest we forget, there was a "ransom note" in the JBR case.
She was dead before that note was even written.
Body in the basement of the home.

JMO.

 

[Vegasgrl]

I would guess that she had a lot of help with her lifestyle. Probably housekeeper, gardener, nurse (hygiene help), handyman, and various others now and then for property upkeep/maintenance. And there's all the deliveries. Maybe ride services to medical appointments? Family chips in, but with a wealthy daughter she probably had more people in and out of the house than the average senior. The detectives will check everyone of them. I think they will find a connection to someone she knows. Not necessarily a disgruntled employee or an angry relative, but a criminal that only cares about the money. An opportunist. Nothing seams random to me about this crime. How many home invasions include taking an elderly victim and leaving valuables? Not many.

 

[BenjaminJAndersonAlly]

That sounds nice and comforting, but I've heard several tales of ransom where the kidnappers got the money and/or asked for money after the kidnappee had already died.

Usually this tends to involve underaged children, but not always.

My opinion only … Just a thought I had … PeRHaPS it may be possible (though maybe not likely) they may have possibly gone over and.or taken her over the Mexican border where medication she needs may be more easily obtained (to keep her alive whilst they wait for payment).

They could have easily gotten this accomplished before she normally would have shown up to church & been determined missing since Tucson is so close to the Mexican boarder.

 

[Mauritius]

Wasn't it reported that she needed medication on a daily basis, and it would threaten her life if she did not have it. How are they keeping her without her medication? I haven't read anything specific about the note yet, about to go look. Did they give a day, time for the drop off? How many days?

That might have been a bit figurative by law enforcement as well?

 

[annemc2]

What is that psychological disorder where a person thinks someone on TV or a celebrity is sending you messages or talking to you? Could be a looney who was obsessed with Savannah.

ideas of reference

 

[ssarahbg]

Fascinating. I know little about bitcoin and this has been interesting

I went through a weird crypto phase years back around COVID shutdown. I learned too much and used reddit all the time to learn about new crypto’s to buy back then. Once you have a wallet address, you can search it on whatever network it uses and see all its transactions. They may be linked to specific coins or transfers to other wallets. If it had a lot of activity, it would be hard to trace back. If they plan to use bitcoin for purchases or withdrawal at a bitcoin machine, I would think those machines have cameras like an atm for anti-Theft reasons and wallet transactions could be traced to a specific machine. I don’t enough about that nowadays to know how those machines are managed.

But again, the nature of Bitcoin or crypto in general is the unbanking/anonymity of using it. So I have no idea if Bitcoin machines allow for that much detection to be traced.

 

[aafromaa]

I’ve got a lot going on right now and I can’t keep up but I peek in here at the thread when I can or see a news clip or something. I am puzzled by so much about this case but here are just a few things I’m wondering now…
1. Do we know who in the family went to the house when they learned she had not made it to church? The daughter or the son or a grandchild or someone else?
2. How did the family not notice the blood on the walkway near the front door? And if they did notice it - why wait an hour to call 911? Did the family enter the house some other way than the front door and therefore not see it?
3. If the front door was unlocked but LE found signs of a break in - was that at the front door or elsewhere and why didn’t the family notice it. And if they did - why wait an hour to call 911? Was it just not obvious to non-LE?
4. Even if the ring doorbell was taken down by the perp before the house was broken into, they should still be able to access the events it recorded. Even if the person hid his face it should give them an idea of the time it was removed. And the time the pacemaker lost sync with the iPhone should also give some info regarding a timeline. Why does the sheriff seem so opposed to narrowing down the timeline?
5. I don’t put a lot of stock in that ransom note to TMZ and not sure how describing what she was supposed to be wearing would verify anything if they thought she was taken from her bed in the middle of the night instead of shortly after being dropped off by her family because if she changed who would know what she was wearing? And how would LE be able to determine whether the person who sent that to TMZ knew anything if LE doesn’t know? And who would use TMZ anyway? Wouldn’t you think if they were going to make contact via the press they would contact NBC?

I think LE knows more than they are sharing but I don’t know what. I do think that the blood likely indicates she was alive when taken from her home. And I can’t help wondering if LE shouldn’t be sharing more info to possibly help locate her. I get wanting to protect the case and even the family’s privacy but I am worried that not releasing what they know may cause someone to ignore something they saw in the neighborhood.

 

[Interested Torontonian]

Someone from Arizona wrote a comment on the daily mail website that she had mobility issues and her walker was still at home.

It seems really risky abducting an extremely elderly person from her home.

I'm leaning towards her being killed in the house (strangulation?) and then her body removed for disposal.

 

[diggndeeperstill]

Just a question for any computer person. Will they be able to track the IPS address from the ransom emails?

Possibly. But it’s also possible to use a VPN and hide that. Specifically why I was curious what email provider was used with ransom notes.

Something like an encrypted proton mail with VPN wouldn’t be traceable as far as I know.

 

[Strangeworld]

Perhaps its dentures?

That could be it!

 

[Ghostwheel]

I have been trying to think what is the item she WASN'T wearing that was mentioned in the note. I know watch has been thrown around, but I don't know. Is there something else that would be very obvious to those who knew her that she wasn't wearing? It couldn't be a specific piece of jewellery unless they knew her well and she usually wore it. Family might be able to confirm this.

I doubt its a piece of clothing, but did she wear a wig or hair piece?

Glasses or a ring maybe?