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

[shonyakay]

I am squarely on the fence, but admit I'm starting to discard the ransom-letter theory. Why didn't the perp send the ransom note right away? When did the first news station receive it?

jmo

From my understanding the first of the ransom notes were sent Monday evening to two Arizona television stations. If it was an abductor they could have waited to send these ransom notes until they were long gone out of the area with Nancy.

 

[stmichael]

Read through all threads. Here’s what I’m thinking:

• FBI and sheriff haven’t confirmed call received from church—if they had, it’d be included on official timeline.
• I’m assuming no outdoor security cams in front of house besides doorbell camera. Otherwise it would have activated upon NG return home thru garage. Since she entered thru garage, no alert besides garage door open/closed.
• I’m guessing flood light was in back of house. This could be same device that alerted after 2am. Maybe not.
• Smart devices in and around home likely installed by family member.

We don't know who got the live push alerts. We do know there was no sub service so no cloud (no video saved, no replay, no monitoring) Honestly we don't know if the other cameras were even charged or hardwired. It's possible given the other context that some of those may have been dead battery and non-operable.

Unfortunately a case of lax security and not being on top of what you have, which in a residential scenario with a single elderly occupant is not uncommon. Seems like a lot of elderly people living in the illusion of a "safe neighborhood'. The neighbor interviewed who saw the white van said he has "metal doors" so he's not worried but he'll carry a pen and pad now to write strange things down LOL (like take a picture with your phone)

 

[Diddian]

NG's pacemaker disconnected at 2:12 am according to the timeline provided by LE in the recent press conference.

Family did not learn of her disappearance until around 11 am.

I'd be curious to know whether there is typically any activity at NG's home around 6 pm. To a perpetrator who KNEW that the NEST cameras only recorded for 3 hours and wrote over after that time passed, it would be important to have left the home with the camera a good 3 hours before anyone else shows up who might raise an alarm of any kind. Activity early in the day might include delivery of a Sunday newspaper to NG's front door, arrival of a landscaper or pool cleaner or window washer (although since it was Sunday, probably not likely and 6 am is also a fairly early time to begin work in a residential neighborhood).

 

[txsleuth70]

I wonder how long her medication is good for before she runs out. When was it refilled? If it’s close to when she was abducted that might coincide with somebody knowing her. But then again what’s the end game? If the ransom letter is legit, how come the abductors aren’t following up with communication?

There is nothing to indicate her meds were taken with her.

 

[Magic8Ball]

I bet the caller has been adamant that their name not be released. Their life will turn into a living nightmare when the press gets a hold of that name.

Yes, and I'm also confident LE has strongly, strongly, strongly urged this church person not to speak with anyone about anything related to this case.

Its a good thing the fellow church-members, clergy and LE have all kept a lid on this person's identity; otherwise, you know there'd be all kinds of media knocking on her/his door.

Hopefully, the media doesn't descend en masse to her church on Sunday...if they do, at least have the decency to wait out in the parking lot until services have ended before trying to conduct interviews.

Of course, asking the media to have some decency is like asking Sheriff Nanos to keep his foot out his mouth.

JMO.

 

[Alkali13]

I'm sticking by my initial gut feelings:

• This wasn't a kidnapping and the ransom note isn't real.
• This wasn't committed by the family.
• This wasn't financially motivated.
• NG was removed to destroy evidence.

 

[DizzyB]

It is reported that it was the Ring doorbell cam that was taken off the mount on the front door. All articles including the latest show that in their stories and the Sheriff said it was the same camera, agreeing it's confusing it went offline first (removed) then detected a person. She also had Nest cams.

From experience having Ring cams on two houses and my parents (as well as POE hardwired 4k cctv), Ring cameras can push a "person detected" for taller animals (deer), large motion (flags flapping in wind in the frame) etc. They can also be somewhat glitchy. The big thing here is there was no subscription to the cloud so no footage was recorded or could be remote viewed (by daughter, police monitoring etc.)

Camera snatched off Nancy Guthrie’s house could have been kidnapper’s ‘test’ to see if cops responded, NBC crime expert says

“What’s with that 20-minute gap? The camera gets ripped off the doorbell, but then there’s motion seen on the camera outside, you know, 20 minutes later,” NBC National Law E…

nypost.com

Could alerts have gone to Nancy’s phone, which was left behind? First alert could be the “offline”/went dark one, perhaps second was after it had been removed? Maybe the perpetrator/s triggered something while removing the battery or destroying it?

that is the set up that my relative has..straight to doctor and if something is wrong they are alerted and call patient or contact.

The app on the Apple Watch replaces the bedside unit-my question is, what happens when out of range of the unit or app?

 

[tbgo]

It is reported that it was the Ring doorbell cam that was taken off the mount on the front door. All articles including the latest show that in their stories and the Sheriff said it was the same camera, agreeing it's confusing it went offline first (removed) then detected a person. She also had Nest cams.

From experience having Ring cams on two houses and my parents (as well as POE hardwired 4k cctv), Ring cameras can push a "person detected" for taller animals (deer), large motion (flags flapping in wind in the frame) etc. They can also be somewhat glitchy. The big thing here is there was no subscription to the cloud so no footage was recorded or could be remote viewed (by daughter, police monitoring etc.)

Camera snatched off Nancy Guthrie’s house could have been kidnapper’s ‘test’ to see if cops responded, NBC crime expert says

“What’s with that 20-minute gap? The camera gets ripped off the doorbell, but then there’s motion seen on the camera outside, you know, 20 minutes later,” NBC National Law E…

nypost.com

Aren’t Nest cams the same as Ring? Both are doorbells? This is so confusing.

 

[academyrd]

So if the church phone call thing is something that the FBI is unwilling to verify, doesn't it prove that they don't trust what Annie/SIL are telling them? If no church call to Annie, how did they know to check on her at 11:56?

All in all, we have SIL as the last person to see her alive supposedly dropping her off at 9:48, we have Annie the first person to check on her (for reasons unknown).... seems like the two of them are squarely involved in the entire 14 hour range when things went down....

 

[tbgo]

I'm sticking by my initial gut feelings:

• This wasn't a kidnapping and the ransom note isn't real.
• This wasn't committed by the family.
• This wasn't financially motivated.
• NG was removed to destroy evidence.

What do you think it was then? Someone simply killed her and removed the body? What do you think the motivation was? Why was she targeted? The person just didn’t like her? I mean, a robbery gone wrong could technically be financially motivated.

 

[allboys]

not yet......from is seen. However there's no evidence completely of a home invasion similar to the scottsdale incident, or anything like that. Teens aren't as smart as they think they are necessarily with stuff like this, they are usually in over their heads and get themselves caught rather easily IMO

Agreed. I did hear a retired FBI profiler profile perp in Nancy’s case as being a male in his 20s. That may have been before the ransom notes came in. I’ll try to find a link.

Edited to add: I couldn’t find a link. I believe it was in interview with a female profiler. But it was a few days ago, so I don’t put much weight into it.

 

[gammagirl]

I'm sticking by my initial gut feelings:

• This wasn't a kidnapping and the ransom note isn't real.
• This wasn't committed by the family.
• This wasn't financially motivated.
• NG was removed to destroy evidence.

What evidence?

 

[cspotrun]

So if the church phone call thing is something that the FBI is unwilling to verify, doesn't it prove that they don't trust what Annie/SIL are telling them? If no church call to Annie, how did they know to check on her at 11:56?

All in all, we have SIL as the last person to see her alive supposedly dropping her off at 9:48, we have Annie the first person to check on her (for reasons unknown).... seems like the two of them are squarely involved in the entire 14 hour range when things went down....

Exactly. This would be easily verifiable, yet it is not.

 

[turaj]

Latest from Brian Entin....."something else in the letter"

I think something could be happening behind the scenes with this ransom situation.

 

[SaraSmile]

border really likely isn't playing a part here, IMO. It's true it's not that far but it's a couple hours at least, depending on where you're going

The criminals might go down there, or be there right now. I agree, I’m sure they didn’t take Nancy to MX, would not return her from there. Too risky.

 

[Moonchime]

Question: Other than Banfield, has anyone said anything corroborating a vehicle was impounded?

No one else seems to be reporting this. I watched Ashley Banfield’s video this morning, where she interviewed Brian Entin and asked whether he had seen or heard anything about the car being towed. He said he hadn’t and mentioned that, with people camped out there around the clock, you would think someone would have witnessed it.

 

[GailAnne]

A family member or close friend could find much easier ways to obtain money from her, and maybe they have in the past. It merits an examination of who might have money problems. Nonetheless, my speculation is based on someone who is frequents the property and is aware of her circumstances and wealth. Someone who doesn’t have wealth and wants to hit the lottery.

Elderly are so vulnerable to financial predators. A cautionary tale to all. A good fiduciary is essential to elder years.

Amateur opinion and speculation only

My brother "scammed" $165,000 from our parents, who were in their upper 80's, before I became aware that it was happening and put and end to it. He told them scary, sad stories that pulled at their heartstrings (dog needed expensive surgery or it would die, he needed money for attornies as he was being unfairly sued, electricity shut off in winter, busness failings...) Looking back, I wish we had monitored their monies closer, but, I never in a million years thought my brother would do such a thing. It was a live-and-learn situation for sure.

 

[ly502]

So if the church phone call thing is something that the FBI is unwilling to verify, doesn't it prove that they don't trust what Annie/SIL are telling them? If no church call to Annie, how did they know to check on her at 11:56?

All in all, we have SIL as the last person to see her alive supposedly dropping her off at 9:48, we have Annie the first person to check on her (for reasons unknown).... seems like the two of them are squarely involved in the entire 14 hour range when things went down....

It was literally this being removed from the timeline that swayed me in that direction.

 

[Sarahlou]

What evidence?

I know it wasn't me you asked, but if she was killed in the house then the perpetrators DNA might be on her body. Hence why someone would want to remove the body.

Personally I tend to think she was injured but alive when she left the house.

 

[TIGER0822]

I'm sticking by my initial gut feelings:

• This wasn't a kidnapping and the ransom note isn't real.
• This wasn't committed by the family.
• This wasn't financially motivated.
• NG was removed to destroy evidence.

Why? And evidence for what?