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

[Cardgame]

That's the issue though. It's not established that she was taken alive by force, just because there are blood drops.

Blood drops alone can't tell you if she was alive as she was being removed, nor can they tell you she was dead at the time.

Calling it a kidnapping is putting out a theory of the crime, and theories need to follow the evidence, not get ahead of it.

I thought the pacemaker was the reason they think she was alive, as well as the blood?

I know they say they can't identify a vehicle, but there must have been one. Maybe they have headlights leaving which helps confirm that notion. Ie pacemaker disconnects at exact time headlights pass a certain camera a certain distance away?

I just think it would be odd for LE to 'jump' to a conclusion that she was still alive when it's more likely she was not. I think they've got stuff about that they aren't telling us. jMO.

 

[PacoElFlaco]

Regarding the blood evidence at the front door. Could it have gotten there when Mrs. Guthrie answered the door and was immediately struck to disable her? A punch or blow to the face, perhaps?

 

[Cardgame]

Wish we'd see a photo or video of Nancy as proof of life.

The fact that we haven't seen this bothers the heck out of me.

JMVHO.

In this link they state that the note expresses that "this will be the only contact".

Presumably the crooks know FBI are standing by to trace any communication, and will rely on public pressure to encourage the family to pay. (If big if the note is real!)

This is why it might have been better for the FBI not to reveal the deadline. Now we are all waiting and watching alongside the family.

Kind of surprising no one has started a go fxxx me. Altho I guess FBI would have to look pretty closely at whoever did that!

ETA the actual link https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/savannah-guthrie-missing-mother-investigation-02-05-26

 

[LadyL]

That's the issue though. It's not established that she was taken alive by force, just because there are blood drops.

Blood drops alone can't tell you if she was alive as she was being removed, nor can they tell you she was dead at the time.

Calling it a kidnapping is putting out a theory of the crime, and theories need to follow the evidence, not get ahead of it.

oh yes good point
I didn't think that one through

 

[Tealgrove]

MOO

I do not believe family is involved however, it could be someone family adjacent.

I would hope that LE is looking at friends, colleagues etc of ALL family members.

NG may not have “known” her assailant but whoever took her knew her.

I do not believe this is random.

 

[MassGuy]

I thought the pacemaker was the reason they think she was alive, as well as the blood?

I know they say they can't identify a vehicle, but there must have been one. Maybe they have headlights leaving which helps confirm that notion. Ie pacemaker disconnects at exact time headlights pass a certain camera a certain distance away?

I just think it would be odd for LE to 'jump' to a conclusion that she was still alive when it's more likely she was not. I think they've got stuff about that they aren't telling us. jMO.

The pacemaker would stop transmitting as soon as she got a certain distance away from her Apple Watch (like 30 feet from what I can gather). Blood can be there even if she was carried out badly injured, or even dead.

I've seen law enforcement say "we believe so and so is alive" in countless situations, despite their actions telling us that they believe someone is dead.

In no universe do I personally believe she is alive.

 

[MassGuy]

oh yes good point
I didn't think that one through

It's not to say she wasn't alive, and thus abducted. But I've seen similar cases, and law enforcement was much more careful not to use that phrasing.

Something I didn't think about until now though, is that by treating it this way, it allows them to get certain warrants much faster (a life may literally be hanging in the balance).

So it may be a tactical decision.

 

[Friday Fan]

My wife follows Mexican news closely, and she says a standard tactic among Mexican Cartel kidnappers is to address the ransom note to employers, rather than family members. It's established that Savannh Guthrie's employer, TMZ, received the Guthrie ransom note. This, along with the fact that Tucson is close to the Mexican border, could point to Cartel involvement.

They could simply abduct the family member of another cartel member. Cartel members don't go to the police if they think a cartel kidnapped a family member.

That's why I'm pretty sure there is no cartel involvement in this case. Their crimes in the US tend to be against other cartel members or down-on-luck migrants.

Mexico has a high kidnapping rate because law enforcement doesn't enforce laws against kidnapping like we do in the US. The cartels know this. They can get away with it there.


I really do not think there is cartel involvement.

 

[Deepinthought52]

As in where has she worked? She’s Canadian
. Ashleigh Banfield - Wikipedia

I didn’t know if she had an educational background in crininology or related field or only a you tuber interested in true crime

 

[Kemug]

Even if Nancy is returned alive (which I hope and pray) I'm afraid she won't be the same woman she was. She would probably be affected mentally and emotionally, as well as physically. Would probably need to enter a care home, and be too scared to live alone anyway.

 

[ttjo]

I didn’t know if she had an educational background in crininology or related field or only a you tuber interested in true crime

Actually she has a BA in political science.

 

[Friday Fan]

I didn’t know if she had an educational background in crininology or related field or only a you tuber interested in true crime

She's a real journalist. Got involved with investigative journalism and documentaries and found a niche in true crime. She was with Court TV and CNN for quite awhile.

 

[clearskies1]

I can think of one kidnapping for ransom in which the person was returned alive. It happened here in Vegas in either 1993 or 1994. Casino mogul Steve Wynn's daughter was kidnapped. I just googled the incident, so I'll copy and paste. As you'll see, his daughter was returned quickly.

Yes, Steve Wynn's daughter, Kevyn Wynn, was kidnapped at gunpoint from her Las Vegas home in 1993 by two men who held her for a $1.45 million ransom, which was paid from The Mirage casino's vault, and she was found unharmed but tied up at the airport hours later, leading to the perpetrators' arrests.
Key Details of the Incident:

• Date: July 26, 1993.
• Victim: Kevyn Wynn (then 26), daughter of casino mogul Steve Wynn.
  
  
• • Abduction: Two masked men confronted her in her garage, tied her up, taped her eyes, and forced her to disrobe for lurid photos to prevent her from contacting authorities.
  • Ransom: They demanded $1.45 million in cash from The Mirage casino, which Steve Wynn paid.
  • Rescue: She was left bound in her car at McCarran Airport, where her father's security team found her unharmed.
  • Perpetrators: Ray Cuddy (ringleader) and Jacob Sherwood were arrested and convicted of kidnapping and extortion. A third accomplice, Anthony Watkins, cooperated with authorities.
  • Outcome: The men were convicted, with Cuddy serving significant time before his release in 2015, and Kevyn Wynn was found safe.

More than 30 years ago. Kidnappings for ransom are definitely rare in the US.

 

[Friday Fan]

I'm pretty sure it was someone who knew her.


Another WS member was saying how a kid kept coming by their mother's house because she paid them for chores one time. Eventually the kid wasn't so nice.

I can see Nancy paying a down-on-their-luck person for some odd chores, then that person wanting more money, but she refused and it boiled to a head. We've seen this with the elderly numerous times.

All MOO...

 

[clearskies1]

Regarding the blood evidence at the front door. Could it have gotten there when Mrs. Guthrie answered the door and was immediately struck to disable her? A punch or blow to the face, perhaps?

To me the blood drops look like a drip, not a spray/high velocity from a blow. But I'm not an expert. JMO.

 

[Trino]

Bitcoin prices just crashed. NG's value just depreciated. Now what for the perps that took NG?

 

[lucegirl]

1. She is dropped off at 9:48 PM by T. It is not clear if Annie was part of the drop off. If it were my mom - I would go with my husband just because I am her daughter, and I feel responsible for her comfort and safety. If my partner or husband was being thrown under the bus in the media as the “last person to see her” - I would definitively confirm publicly I went with them. So my assumption is Annie did not go with her mom and T. Why would she let T blow in the wind as a suspect if she could just state she was with him and observed her mom go into the house? Or, does Annie feel tremendous guilt for not accompanying T, and it is a safer space for her to exist in the ambiguity of whether or not she was at the drop off?
2. My assumption is T dropped her off alone. What happened at dinner? Were people having wine? Did Nancy overstep and say something critical about T or Annie or their relationship? They have referred to T as Annie’s partner. I have not seen any evidence of marriage. The Guthrie family is religious. Perhaps marriage is a source of conflict in the family. My mom who lives 5 minutes from me is very opinionated at 82, and when she has had a few glasses of wine she has let loose all kinds of insults that are glossed over the next day. I am not saying Nancy may have been intoxicated- I am saying that families - especially ones that live in close proximity and spend a lot of time together - have occasion to see the interworkings of their children’s family life and may feel they have standing to opine about personal issues. Sometimes a parent cannot help butting in. It could be the dumbest thing - like - “why did your husband wear that tattered t-shirt to dinner?” I am using that as an example as something my mom just blurted out one night. She regretted saying it. Apologized. But on repeat it can fester.
3. T drops her at 9:48. What are the odds that a random person disables her Ring camera within a 4 hour window of T dropping her off? Was there a slight made at dinner that set T off. Did he get to a point where he was resentful of her omnipresence or tired of catering to her. It’s like care-giver fatigue where you can’t be present in your own life because someone else is dependent on you or your significant other is pressuring you to take on care giver responsibility you feel is a burden.
4. While there is blood and signs of foul play - this doesn’t look like a murder of passion. It is fairly ambiguous and unremarkable as far as murder crime scenes. It has the appearance the victim just evaporated. It’s hard to assign a motive where there is no overkill or obvious financial gain. Maybe a person just wanted her to quietly go away.

This is all total speculation on my part and based on my own family dynamics. I am just grasping for the Occom’s razor theory that doesn’t involve improbable ransom and celebrity obsession theories.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

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

Maureen O'Connell said she has a theory but didn't want to say yet. But reading between the lines it sounded like she might agree with what AB has been reporting.

 

[tricia]

Really would like a new thread!!

We used to start new threads when a thread got to 1000 posts because there were people who had dialup and older computers which made a long thread hard to load. Today we shouldn't be having that problem but I could be wrong. Keeping one thread and not starting a new one helps us with some techie crap I don't understand.
If you could @bestill come to the Give Us This Day Our Daily Thread and tell me why you want a new thread.
In fact, if anyone feels a new thread helps them for some reason, please CLICK HERE AND JOIN THE DAILY THREAD and let me know.
Thanks.
Tricia

 

[GooseyPie]

Take a look at Annie’s breathing in the video.