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

[maine2016]

Has there been a single source for this element of the story other than the Daily Mail article? Serious question. Maybe there has and I missed it, but that's the only source I have seen. And if it is the only source, I think we might be putting way too much energy into a piece of information from a borderline trustworthy source. Maybe it's right, but it is surprising to me if it hasn't come up via any other channels if it's true.

Interesting. The call to the family was NOT included in the listed timeline yesterday... it jumps from Pacemaker App disconnect to Family checks on Nancy. now, MOO Perhaps they were actually alerted some other way? Or it wasn't a churchgoer who called but the kidnapper/assailant - it's not unreasonable to think they assumed she went to church, or perhaps she told them "people will miss me if i am not at church".

 

[TravelingBug]

Nancy may have used Uber, we are getting mixed signals about her abilities. She was in pain daily, in fragile health, with limited mobility. I use Uber fairly regularly, but I won’t Uber alone if I’ve had a cocktail. We grew up taught never to get in a car with strangers, and now we pay to get picked up by a stranger. I get that she was a capable woman, but could she remove herself from a bad situation easily? Did she share her Uber location, yet not pay a subscription fee for cameras?

I think it's worth keeping in mind that apart from the limited mobility, which was noted from the start, that much of the emphasis on her degree of pain and health came from the family in the ransom address.

Those are usually intended to be specific type of messaging to humanize the victim and often, also, to emphasize vulnerabilities to make them seem less of a threat, more like a potential captor's relative, etc.

Not saying those things aren't true, but family isn't going to want to paint her as overly strong and able to endure an extended captivity (if she really is being held) they want to play on sympathies and make someone more inclined to release her sooner!

 

[Friday Fan]

The plant is purple trailing lantana. It's a very common plant and will grow where other plants won't grow. (Like Tucson) No one who grows it picks it. It's ubiquitous, utilitarian and it stinks. Doubt if she would pick it. I grow it next to my sidewalk.

I’ve attached a photo of NG’s front door, which shows the flowers bordering the walkway. To my eye, JMO, they look like the same plant that’s lying close to the door. It’s a silly detail, but I don’t think it’s insignificant.

Photo from MSN, cropped by me.

Yes, the plant at the door also looks like lantana. Doubt it was part of an arrangement.

It's weird that they're so close to the door and not next the the sidewalk. It would seem "juvenile" "immature" to cut a few lantana stems and pass them off as a "gift". Yet, there are people who do this with lantana. (There are little kids who pick mine) I wouldn't expect Nancy to do this. I wouldn't expect another homeowner to do this.

It's almost as if someone came to the door with these in their hand to lure someone out. MOO MOO

Thanks for your observation....

Image source: https://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/5275540/guthrie-home-01/

 

[diggndeeperstill]

Very respected profiler speaks: Mary Ellen O’Toole

Low risk victim, low risk environment - belief is the offender knew the home, familiar with technology and targeted attack. Would require recon and preplanning.

Says video by brother changed tone and was a transactional message. Was smart, and puts ball back on ransomers. Says we are willing to meet your demands but here’s ours. But we still don’t know if offender is ransom letter writer. Not likely for ransomer to walk away with nothing.

Kidnapping cases are unique.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Yes. That i find strange too. Why would someone high up in LE want this info out? That part i don’t get. Do they disagree with how they’re going about it? Very odd for someone to leak to a reporter. It’s not like the wife or husband of a high up agent/officer is leaking. She said the officer/agent him or herself

This could be technically correct but based on nothing. They searched the sisters car- well they probably did do that and should do that. The SIL may be a prime suspect- well they should look at him, and will look at the last people to see the victim every time.

These are two facts you would expect to be true as a civilian.

 

[MinnesotaMary]

Maureen .... finds the Sheriff Nanos strange (or some similar words) ie I can tell she is not a fan of how he is handling the crime.

I've only seen a couple minutes of the sheriff's press conferences, but they're downright painful to watch IMO - IMO the sheriff seems to get a massive burst of hormones (probably 'The Runner's High' type of hormones) about this. He seems all revved-up. Like a helium balloon headed off the Mars.

 

[Jade]

I’ve attached a photo of NG’s front door, which shows the flowers bordering the walkway. To my eye, JMO, they look like the same plant that’s lying close to the door. It’s a silly detail, but I don’t think it’s insignificant.

Photo from MSN, cropped by me.

Good work! Thank you!

The plant debris is out place right there at the door and along with the blood like maybe something wide was brought up to the door perhaps to aid in carrying something clipping those plants in the process.

all imo

 

[Diddian]

If you believe the second ransom is a hoax, what was the motive for removing NG from her home?

Possibilities:

• Access to something valuable that NG keeps offsite or has access to somewhere else (in a storage unit, ATM, safe deposit box, in a refillable prescription).
• To hide the viciousness of the injuries inflicted upon NG.
• To minimize the perpetrator's crime - prefers that NG remain a "missing person" rather than a known victim of assault or murder.
• To secret NG away where the perpetrator has complete control over her, for physical or sexual assault or to extort something from her.
• Because the perpetrator has left DNA on or in NG and the perpetrator knows his DNA is in CODIS, or the perpetrator has committed similar crimes that are unsolved and doesn't want them connected.

 

[Starkville]

It was reported Nancy was playing Mahjong at Annie's house that evening. There is a picture of Nancy sitting at a table with the game right in front of her. I am unsure of the date of that picture but would be interested to know when it was actually taken. Something interesting to note is that Nancy has a big band-aid on her right forearm in that picture. Only reason to wear a band-aid is if a wound is/was bleeding.

Yes, I saw that photo on CNN. The bandage was a lot bigger than a regular band-aid, and there was bruising that wasn’t covered by the dressing. I agree the reason for the covering is a wound or broken skin.

Would be great to know when that photo was taken. She looks happy in it!

 

[MinnesotaMary]

We don't know what triggered an alert, but we might deduce what didn't. If NG was not attending church in person, as DM claims and BE is also now claiming, and the online stream does not show who is viewing, the story of the concerned parishoner falls flat. IIRC, the story about the alert came from AG. Why would she lie?

Even if Ms. G attended church remotely, I bet she would have had the habit of stating who she was to all the other remote-attendees, and she probably had pals and they'd Private Message one another during the time they were online for the church service.

 

[Van Helsing]

I wonder if AI apps like Chat GPT keep any kind of records of use. Based on Harvey Levin's analysis today, I had the thought that the perp may have used AI to construct the ransom letter. I also wonder is they used AI in planning the crime and if LE could determine that from the AI vendor. If I was one of these companies' leaders I would love to help solve this crime. I would also be very disappointed if the FBI is behind on using this tactic in the broader sense already.

 

[No it's not]

72 hours has been repeated on the thread at least a couple of times now and it seems like it is supposed to represent 3 full days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday x 24 hours = 72 hours). But if NG disappeared from her home at 2:12 am Sunday, her disappearance was learned by LE at 12:15 pm Sunday, and TMZ (and others) received the ransom note sometime midday Monday or so, then only around 24-34 hours passed between her disappearance and LE's learning of her disappearance (assuming the ransom note came in Monday afternoon).

I do agree that one would expect a note demanding ransom within the first 24 hours and it is weird that it arrived later than that. As much as Harvey at TMZ believes the note was well written and constructed (suggesting it is possibly genuine), it seems like the abductors were a bit sloppy in getting their ducks in a line after taking NG. Maybe they are intelligent at writing, but not so much at crimes involving elderly ladies.

Sadly, I would not be surprised to hear, if *the* ransom note was asking for a ridiculous high amount of money ($ MIO 100..?), knowing it would never be paid and knowing the victim did not survive the initial attack/abduction. The ransom note as an after-thought/cover up?

Hopefully I am wrong.

Cheers,
Nin

 

[Friday Fan]

Years ago an Exxon executive was kidnapped and held for ransom in Florham Park, NJ. He was held in a storage unit, and sadly died due to lack of heart meds. I wonder if they've checked local storage units.

I don't think they would hold someone in a storage unit in Tucson if they expected to return them alive.

I know it's winter, but.....

 

[Herat]

This could be technically correct but based on nothing. They searched the sisters car- well they probably did do that and should do that. The SIL may be a prime suspect- well they should look at him, and will look at the last people to see the victim every time.

These are two facts you would expect to be true as a civilian.

Yes, heavy searches of the last person (people) to see her, to include the last place she was in, and vehicles that were known to be used in transporting the missing person would be proper and standard LE procedure.

As we have seen for the last 100 pages of this thread, the initial stories of who was last to see her or the the exact moments when she was identified as missing were not correct and were misleading when first reported.

 

[Wsimm]

With the,case blowing up in the media makes it much worse for her IMO-- i dont
Think they expected, such intense media coverage

Very interesting. Funny thing is I feel just the opposite and that part and parcel of the intent here was just that…..intense media coverage! That’s why I love reading on this site and seeing other’s opinions and thought patterns. Definitely thought provoking.

 

[Starkville]

Good work! Thank you!

The plant debris is out place right there at the door and along with the blood like maybe something wide was brought up to the door perhaps to aid in carrying something clipping those plants in the process.

all imo

You make a good point. The plants were

The purported call from a fellow churchgoer to the family is starting to bother me more and more.

LE left it off the timeline completely in their most recent press conference.
I don't recall any reference to it being made at all in the presser, either.
Just "11:56 a.m. - Family checks on Nancy."

I find that weird.

I have a TON of questions about this call:

• Does NG normally attend church in person or virtually?
• Does NG attend the first (9:00) service or the second (10:30) service?
• Does NG attend church faithfully every week?
• If she attends in person, does NG normally drive herself to church or get a ride from a fellow churchgoer/family member?
• Did the person who called family to report her absence from church attempt to reach NG by phone/text before reaching out to the family?
• How often did NG and the caller have contact with each other? How close were they?
• Had the person who contacted family to report NG's absence ever done so before, or was this a one-off?
• Prior to the call, had a family member reached out to the church/someone from the church to inquire about whether NG was there?
• Had NG and the church caller had recent contact in which NG had expressed something like "see you in church tomorrow" or "let's do lunch after church Sunday" or what specifically raised such red flags to the caller that they reached out to family?
• What family member did they speak to, how often did they communicate that morning, and what did they say to the caller during any and all conversations?
• What time was the call placed?
• What was the caller's location when they made the phone call?

JMO.

You’ve summed it up perfectly. I think it’s an important, pivotal event in the timeline, and it was omitted entirely.

 

[TravelingBug]

The plant is purple trailing lantana. It's a very common plant and will grow where other plants won't grow. (Like Tucson) No one who grows it picks it. It's ubiquitous, utilitarian and it stinks. Doubt if she would pick it. I grow it next to my sidewalk.

And not only does it grow everywhere here, but between javelina eating it or trampling through it, then with the strong winds thru our deserts, it's not at all uncommon to see bits of it strewn all over, in other plants, along curbs or drains, etc. because it's just everywhere

 

[IQuestion]

How about, SIL was out and had one car. Maybe one of the kids had another car.

Instead of Nancy waiting at home, AG called an Uber to go pick her her up and bring her over.

I’ve done that multiple times for a senior relative.

I’m not sure why so many are hung up on Nancy taking an Uber.

TEALGROVE (I have to temper my thoughts on this.) I have had nothing but bad experiences with "gig ridership." I know how it is "supposed" to work....even though I am old/older. There are "gig industries" today that literally didn't exist as main stream businesses 10 years ago. AirBNB's, Uber, Lyft, edited to add DoorDash, Grocery Delivery...all "side gig" economies involving what a person already owns or controls...their vehicles & property. Was the "small building" on the property ever used for a tenant or guest house????

Still though, why take the body?

For a lot of nefarious reasons.... and I just can't make my fingers type them....

 

[October]

Yes, I saw that photo on CNN. The bandage was a lot bigger than a regular band-aid, and there was bruising that wasn’t covered by the dressing. I agree the reason for the covering is a wound or broken skin.

Would be great to know when that photo was taken. She looks happy in it!

Not sure when the photo was taken, but I'm 99% certain it was taken at Nancy's house, so I assume it wasn't taken on Saturday.

 

[heli]

Yes, I saw that photo on CNN. The bandage was a lot bigger than a regular band-aid, and there was bruising that wasn’t covered by the dressing. I agree the reason for the covering is a wound or broken skin.

Would be great to know when that photo was taken. She looks happy in it!

I am on a blood thinner & have tissue thin skin. I have to have bandages that big all the time as it will bleed forever it seems.