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

[Interested Torontonian]

How the heck did he get her number? Everyone has cell phones it isn't like the old days when you could get peoples home phone numbers, man I am old.

It's actually very easy to get people numbers and addresses online from various websites if you know how to search for them. Scary, I know.

 

[tbgo]

Fox News at Night spent the entire hour on this case.

Two things stood out to me. One, because this crime occurred during the late evening, early morning hours there will be devices, such as cell phones, going to and leaving the area of her home. This is how they found Kohberger. The number of vehicles would likely be a few because of the time of day and the remoteness of the area. There is a 45-47 minute window when it would have occurred.

The other is that after the first deadline of 5pm on Thursday, the person/s making the ransom demand would have likely checked their Bitcoin wallet. That is traceable, too.

I think they are going to have this figured out pretty quickly.

I think I caught some of it. Harvey Levin said that the note had perfect grammar. That it was written and set up perfectly. No mistakes. He doesn’t think that it’s a stupid person. I hate to think what the two deadlines entail.

Anyone wanna take a guess as to how much money the person is asking for? I wonder if it’s an outrageous amount, like $100 million.

 

[Absoluterubbish]

clearskies1, Oh definitely true....IF the parent/spouse or in this case children contact police. How many would not contact LE if told not to, by the kidnappers? I can only go with "my personal choice".... I would pay the ransom in a heartbeat and I wouldn't even try to negotiate one dime less than they requested, stall or ask for proof. (That alone makes me shudder.) And if my loved one wasn't returned, at least I tried. I can always make more money...I would rather live in a tent with my loved ones, instead of a mansion filled with regret.
I can discern the "prank callers" from a real life event....especially if Mama is missing and a ransom note was left on the dining room table.
Might be a good topic to discuss.....at another time.

I agree. What I find weird about this situation is if legit, they waited at least 24 more likely around 36 hours before sending the first ransom note (the one sent to the local newstation who didn’t report on it). They knew that by leaving it that long LE would already be heavily involved.

 

[CaliforniaBurrito]

Hopefully LE has access to cameras on roads leading into and out of the area that may provide a clearer view of cars driving by at that time of night.

They certainly do have access to the Flock Safety cameras on the roads. t looks like there are around 2 ways to get away from the area that pass by license plate reading cameras and 3 ways that don't pass by them. License Plate Reading Camera Locations

 

[Charlot123]

no, i actually think the ransom note that they're still pursuing is legit and the person that took her did send it. i know i'm kind of an outlier for that lol

but the copied hoax ransom note is a settled issue so i don't think it needs to be posted about here anymore. it's just clogging up the thread, especially when policy is not to start another one (which i actually don't mind).

Well, I hope that the writer of the hoax note will be prosecuted. It is a crime.

 

[SaraSmile]

The ransom note that Ashleigh Banfield held up a few nights ago with a QR code on it, was that the fake ransom note? I would think that it was since they’re now talking about another note that had specifics that they won’t let the public in on.

The original ransom note was the “ real” one. Investigators are likely investigating, trying to identify sender.
The ransom note send yesterday, was a “fake” one, opportunist. This sender has already been arrested and is not involved in Nancy’s disappearance.
My understanding at this point!

 

[Absoluterubbish]

The ransom note that Ashleigh Banfield held up a few nights ago with a QR code on it, was that the fake ransom note? I would think that it was since they’re now talking about another note that had specifics that they won’t let the public in on.

Did she show a ransom note?

 

[Interested Torontonian]

This is bizarre

That's what I can't get over.

This crime involves her being taken from her home without the hallmarks of a violent assault or obvious robbery within the home.

Are there other well known cases like this - where someone was effectively "removed" from their house without leaving obvious tell-tales behind when they're Nancy's age and physical slowness.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

Today’s deadline was for payment from the family, not for communication from the kidnappers.
I hope they are just trying to figure out how to contact the family again without being identified, and that’s the delay. It doesn’t have to be by email.
The fear is that if the kidnappers cannot show proof of life, that they just walk away and the family never hears from them.

 

[tbgo]

I agree. What I find weird about this situation is if legit, they waited at least 24 more likely around 36 hours before sending the first ransom note (the one sent to the local newstation who didn’t report on it). They knew that by leaving it that long LE would already be heavily involved.

I wonder if tempers flared. She was hit and killed and they panicked and decided to make it look like a kidnapping. This may turn out to be a really stupid plot on behalf of the person. You would think that they would have at least attempted to make it look like a robbery.

Why wasn’t the son-in-law part of the family’s video message? That, to me, looks really strange. It sticks out. It would have helped in making him look less guilty.

 

[Absoluterubbish]

I wonder if tempers flared. She was hit and killed and they panicked and decided to make it look like a kidnapping. This may turn out to be a really stupid plot on behalf of the person. You would think that they would have at least attempted to make it look like a robbery.

Why wasn’t the son-in-law part of the family’s video message? That, to me, looks really strange. It sticks out. It would have helped in making him look less guilty.

I did wonder that myself about the video but none of their partners were in it so I think they just wanted it to be from her children.

 

[tbgo]

Today’s deadline was for payment from the family, not for communication from the kidnappers.
I hope they are just trying to figure out how to contact the family again without being identified, and that’s the delay. It doesn’t have to be by email.
The fear is that if the kidnappers cannot show proof of life, that they just walk away and the family never hears from them.

Then what’s with the second deadline on Monday? If you ask for money by 5pm Thursday, wouldn’t you say that you intend to kill her if payment isn’t received? Why would you add 4 more days? It sounds like to me that they probably said that they would rough her up on Thursday and then kill her on or after Monday for failure of payment. They also said that they would not be communicating again. The ransom note will be it.

Honestly, the entire thing sounds goofy.

 

[Interested Torontonian]

Today’s deadline was for payment from the family, not for communication from the kidnappers.
I hope they are just trying to figure out how to contact the family again without being identified, and that’s the delay. It doesn’t have to be by email.
The fear is that if the kidnappers cannot show proof of life, that they just walk away and the family never hears from them.

Maybe i'm naive - but I feel like someone who has taken someone hostage with the intention of extracting a payoff and releasing the individual would be trying to engage with the family and showing proof of life for the hostage.

If a kidnapper is just tossing of a "letter" and won't show the inviidual is alive, i think that tells people what they need to know

 

[tbgo]

Did she show a ransom note?

She held something up with large text and a QR code in the middle. This was a few nights ago. Maybe it was a prop. Ashleigh irritates the hell out of me sometimes.

 

[boredetective]

Just read a crazy take from a former FBI agent:

he said at one point in sibling video savannah's sister says "Mama, we need you to come home" so she's talking to directly to Nancy as if she has control of coming home herself, and he said that was interesting to him that it seemed to leave the door open a little bit for this not to be a kidnapping.

This is obviously very confusing to me, is it possible she left on own accord? Maybe a psychotic break? or had someone pick her up? Angry at family. Seems far fetched.

 

[whitelilac]

Then what’s with the second deadline on Monday? If you ask for money by 5pm Thursday, wouldn’t you say that you intend to kill her if payment isn’t received? Why would you add 4 more days? It sounds like to me that they probably said that they would rough her up on Thursday and then kill her on or after Monday.

Odd that there's a weekend in between......as if the perps are otherwise occupied on a weekend.

 

[maamager]

dbm

 

[tbgo]

Odd that there's a weekend in between......as if the perps are otherwise occupied on a weekend.

Well, you know, they probably have other 80 year old woman to kidnap. /s

The entire thing reads amateurish, that all of this came to the perp after the fact, that it wasn’t planned out. They did something to her/with her, and then it occurred to them to write a ransom letter and stage a kidnapping plot.

 

[whitelilac]

Well, you know, they probably have other 80 year old woman to kidnap. /s

The entire thing reads amateurish, that all of this came to the perp after the fact, that it wasn’t planned out. They did something to her/with her, and then it occurred to them to write a ransom letter.

I've been thinking the same, and mentioned it a few pages back. Spending 41 minutes in the house, trying to get what he wanted from Nancy, financial info, passwords, safe contents whatever, threatening her....he didn't succeed, in anger he may have killed her then, took her away with a new ransom plot in mind.

 

[Strangeworld]

She held something up with large text and a QR code in the middle. This was a few nights ago. Maybe it was a prop. Ashleigh irritates the hell out of me sometimes.

It was the Sheriff's press release, not a ransom letter. It had the QR code on it