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

[Aura]

One thing nagging at me— they kept her disappearance quiet at first. I wonder if there was in fact a ransom demand early on. The sheriff was adamant that something was off, that it wasn’t a simple “missing person.” Something very blatant gave him that feeling, IMO.

I didn’t see a news story until Monday afternoon. NG had already been missing over 24 hours at that point. Anecdotally, I have seen missing person cases local to me where there is a huge civilian search party on the ground within hours. This case was kept very hush hush though and that makes me pause.

It was reported here Sunday. I cant remember if it was the 5 oclock news or 6, but I do remember seeing it on KGUN9

 

[Van Helsing]

It sounds like the medications she needs are likely common. Many older adults take blood pressure medicine and or a diuretic. I think a diuretic would be vital if she's taking that. My mom started retaining fluids in her final months and that could be the medicine that could be fatal if NG doesn't have it.
Purely my speculation and opinions based on life experience

That's true. My dad had heart failure and managing his meds, including the diuretic, was crucial.

 

[auburnmomof2]

The Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-1981. Many high profile cases involving children occurred in 1970s to 1990s.

Atlanta Child Murders

Between 1979 and 1981, approximately 29 African-American children, teens, and young adults—mostly boys—were kidnapped and murdered. A majority of the killings shared common details. The FBI joined the multi-agency investigation in 1980. In our files, the major case is called ATKID, short for the...

vault.fbi.gov

I wonder how often elderly people are kidnapped like Nancy Guthrie.

I'm clearly showing my age lol. I'm curious about elderly kidnapping statistics as well

 

[mpnola]

If this ransom letter is fake (I still am on the fence about it), then the actual abductor is loving life right now. He better not get too comfortable!!! His time will come!!!

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2019619454125240744

 

[auburnmomof2]

WOW never heard of that, sorry about that. I did have a guy try to break in my bedroom window when I was 4 and my neighbor saw it and went after them with a shotgun. I have always been a person who is up all night and sleeps all day, you got me thinking it might be from that incident. I go to sleep around 5 or 6am, when the neighborhood gets active with people leaving for work.

We probably need some childhood trauma therapy. My older sister would sleep between the window and me and she sleeps covered up like i do

 

[Bluewing3102]

I'm seeing reports of neighbor reporting seeing unmarked white van a couple days before her disappearance. Can anyone find an approved link ?

 

[HMSHood]

If this ransom letter is fake (I still am on the fence about it), then the actual abductor is loving life right now. He better not get too comfortable!!! His time will come!!!

I would not be surprised if the kidnapper has accomplices.

 

[BenjaminJAndersonAlly]

Doubtful things are going the way the kidnapper imagined. Guessing he didn't imagine the publicity and now doesn't quite know what to do.

Or, maybe Nancy died in perp’s custody, & that was not his intention (making providing the proof of life that would once have been possible now impossible).

 

[ab01]

A lot of human traffickers have lost their income stream lately. They would definitely have the means to pull this off. On the plus side, they could probably release her somewhere down there without too much risk.

Oh boy here we go

 

[Vegasgrl]

There are such things, they are bought on Amazon, small, not great quality, connectable to the internet.

I don’t trust Nancy Grace much, but she may be right here.

Only, if there were such cameras, I doubt that Nancy Guthrie bought them herself. More likely, someone else recommended and installed them.

Who, then?

Also: they could be used to monitor Nancy’s movements, too…

I have them added to my Blink system (wireless outdoor and wired doorbell). No installation needed. Just add them to your app, they connect to your router. Mine plug in any outlet. I move them around. They're tiny. You can see details, it's a good picture. During Black Friday they were only $15 each. They have subscriptions like the other brands mentioned. I did another post explaining how easy they are. I was wondering if NG had one. You can easily arm/disarm them with your phone.

 

[MassGuy]

I'm seeing reports of neighbor reporting seeing unmarked white van a couple days before her disappearance. Can anyone find an approved link ?

Yes. It’s super dubious, not even sure of the day. The ubiquitous “white van” strikes again.

Nancy Guthrie’s neighbor reported suspicious white van parked on block days before 84-year-old went missing

Neighbors of Nancy Guthrie reported spotting a suspicious white van parked on their street in the days before the 84-year-old vanished.

nypost.com

 

[SRWCF]

If there is an auditor website it should have the measurements and room locations

My local one is called the county assessor site.

 

[HoveringWombats]

If we assume that the ransom note is real and was sent by a person or persons who kidnapped NG, I can easily imagine a line of thinking that results in this lack of communication.

Their priority obviously is not getting caught. They asked to be paid in Bitcoin (which, as has been discussed is not actually untraceable, but many people think it is, and in any case it's less easily traceable than some other payment methods. And it's mainstream enough that the kidnapper could reasonably assume that the family could understand what's being demanded and make payment that way). They apparently sent the letter in a way that's not quickly traced. And they seem to have gone out of their way to write the letter such that they expected to get paid without any further back-and-forth. They made it clear that this was their plan all along.

Every message they send exponentially increases the chances that they will be caught. They will slip up in something they write, or mess up however they are anonymizing their sending, or whatever. Each new communication is a risk, and they surely know this. Opening up two-way communication is an even bigger risk. Setting up some private way for the family or LE to contact them is almost sure to get them caught, so they're not going to do that. And sending any pictures or videos also opens up huge risk of some inadvertent detail causing them to get caught.

If avoiding capture is even more important than getting paid, I can easily see them refusing to communicate further. And I can also see them assuming that getting NG back is more important to the family than money is, which would suggest that once they get desperate, they will pay even without proof of life.

I just don't think it's that hard to imagine a scenario where a kidnapper convinces themselves that they can and will get paid without sending any proof of life, especially if they are going to great lengths to stay untraceable.

 

[PaulaDC]

The Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-1981. Many high profile cases involving children occurred in 1970s to 1990s.

Atlanta Child Murders

Between 1979 and 1981, approximately 29 African-American children, teens, and young adults—mostly boys—were kidnapped and murdered. A majority of the killings shared common details. The FBI joined the multi-agency investigation in 1980. In our files, the major case is called ATKID, short for the...

vault.fbi.gov

I wonder how often elderly people are kidnapped like Nancy Guthrie.

We had a woman in our town in 2001, not far from my house kidnapped. Lillian Martin and her Grandson. They found his body but never found hers.

 

[Van Helsing]

Oh boy here we go

I don't know why that should be a problem, but I'll try to delete. Edit - done.

 

[SaraSmile]

If the kidnappers are real, they would not have shown their faces to NG. But that does not mean they will release her either. Any exchange is just all dicey. And I bet they would like to leave the country as well. IMO.

I think, if Nancy is still alive, making a video( recorded), sending it for proof of life could be traced to the sender, so unlikely. Even more so, I highly doubt they would do a Live chat with Nancy, so questions could be asked, to be sure it’s her, she is alive. Too much of a risk, I would think.

I pray for Nancy, but don’t see how she can be returned, slim hope. Sadly, I don’t see a viable way forward for Nancy, which is so sad. With FBI, so much heat, I suspect the perps still want the money, but they have No respect for human life, will not return Nancy. Just thugs that want money, and they likely won’t even get it!

As far as leaving the country, the abductors can collect $( if they are paid by the Family), from anywhere, its deposited online. They may have crossed the border right after crime, I doubt they would go now,( car might have been be identified). If they are already in MX, they may head as far South as possible, huge country.

Mexican police are very good at finding criminal Americans near the border, sending them back to USA for justice.
Just a few thoughts.
MOO

 

[MassGuy]

My local one is called the county assessor site.

Right here: Pima County Assessor's

 

[HoveringWombats]

yes I hate to admit but Nancy Grace was right. I saw the Sheriff say there are other cameras inside the home that are now being analyzed.

I guess it was never officially said before, but all along I've been assuming that there were indoor cameras and that the "person" alert came from one of those. The doorbell camera was disabled, and then one of the indoor cameras detected a person (and probably recorded a video clip, which was then not retained because of the lack of a cloud storage subscription). I'm not sure this is new information? But again maybe I was just making assumptions about things that were never directly said by anyone official......

 

[txsleuth70]

<snipped for focus>

Yes, I saw that mentioned, too. That NG's phone was charging and she wasn't wearing it. IIRC, it was early on in the reporting.

Makes sense for those things to be charging since it appears she had gone to bed as possibly evidenced by them not being able to identify what she was wearing and her day/dinner clothes possibly being found in room/hamper. MOO