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

[KBlackRabbit]

Having flip-flopped a hundred times, my feeling now is that this was a robbery/home invasion gone wrong.

If it’s a robbery goes wrong, they‘ll knock the victim out, unless they can identify the perp then it increases the chances they’re killed. You don’t break in to steal jewelry and iPads and leave with a human being that’s going to put intense heat on you and keep it there with an ongoing crime. Robbery is in-and-out then done.

I think kidnapping was the plan.

 

[moxiemom]

I found this article. The company whose studies they cite is located in Guernsey. It seems that both Southern AZ and South California are pretty high risk for abductions to Mexico

Kidnapping for ransom—A fateful international growth industry 05/11

This was surprising & scary! "But, probably the most disturbing fact is that "Phoenix, Arizona, has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City," according to Griffin Underwriting. Investigated kidnappings in Phoenix are estimated to have topped out at 200 in 2010."

 

[Charlot123]

What could be in NG's car that shouldn't be? Someone's DNA? There'd be a plausible explanation for any family member, imo, so not looking for evidence of one of them. Data showing it went somewhere on that night?

DNA can be in or on the car. If the garage is narrow and the abductor entered through the garage, he/they could have rubbed this body/arm against the car door, for example. Skin cells shed easily.

 

[Charlot123]

This was surprising & scary! "But, probably the most disturbing fact is that "Phoenix, Arizona, has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City," according to Griffin Underwriting. Investigated kidnappings in Phoenix are estimated to have topped out at 200 in 2010."

Nigeria, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Afghanistan are the highest in kidnappings for ransom.

(Other countries’ data are hard to interpret as often, countries where bride kidnappings are common are also included.)

 

[Oiseaux]

This was surprising & scary! "But, probably the most disturbing fact is that "Phoenix, Arizona, has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City," according to Griffin Underwriting. Investigated kidnappings in Phoenix are estimated to have topped out at 200 in 2010."

But that’s for a city of nearly 1.5 million people at the time; 4+ million people if you count the entire Phoenix metro area.

Edit: Also keep in mind that this is an article from 2011 - 15 years ago - written for an insurance magazine by a guy who just happens to sell insurance for kidnapping.

 

[MassGuy]

This was surprising & scary! "But, probably the most disturbing fact is that "Phoenix, Arizona, has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City," according to Griffin Underwriting. Investigated kidnappings in Phoenix are estimated to have topped out at 200 in 2010."

I looked into that and the study is flawed.

That aside, the overwhelming majority were criminal on criminal kidnappings (drug dealers, human traffickers, extortion, etc).

These are not low risk victims being abducted.

 

[auburnmomof2]

Also a giant headache and massive brain fog, but that could also be perimenopause

Exactly!! Glad to know I'm not the only one here constantly wondering if symptoms are perimenopause or something else lol

 

[katydid23]

Per Sheriff Nanos 9:48 p.m. - Family drops Nancy off at home & garage door opens.

9:50 p.m. - Garage door closes.

So they just pulled up in the driveway, watched her go into her garage, and when door closed they drove off?

 

[SlimPickens]

If the predominant LE suspicion was that an ol' black sheep SIL went rogue on a popular media personality's Mom, I doubt the President of the United States of America (think "office" not the man) would be regularly briefed by federal law enforcement at the highest levels of government, and then comment, while clearly parsing some fairly intimate knowledge, on the investigation's intensity, direction, resources, and prognosis.

But I suppose anything is possible at this point.

JMO.

 

[Charlot123]

You know what I paid attention to while watching a piece of News Nation?

The house is huge. It is over 3000 sq.feet but a one-story one, very spready. I thought that Nancy had limited mobility. It is possible that someone did enter the house through the garage (some household help? Someone knowing the code?) and stayed in the house till 2am. They could have opened the door to the second person.

Thinking that in a large house, Nancy probably did not move into all areas of it, or would she?

 

[boredetective]

dbm

 

[katydid23]

Woah, I didn’t realize her phone was found in the car? I cant find - could you link?

It wasn't in the car:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/05/us/timeline-nancy-guthrie-disappearance-missing-person

Guthrie’s pacemaker app data shows it disconnected from her phone at 2:28 a.m., Nanos said.

Guthrie’s cellphone was left behind at the home, a detail which may help narrow down the timeline for investigators, CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Andrew McCabe said on “News Central” Wednesday.

“Likely, she was taken far enough away from (her phone) that the connection cut off. That could give us an indication of the moment she was taken from the home,” McCabe said.

 

[TheDinks]

So they just pulled up in the driveway, watched her go into her garage, and when door closed they drove off?

Well, that hasn't been confirmed... just the opening and closing times that corresponded with the time she was driven home.

Watching camera footage when Agents were in the garage, we could see it's a double with enough room for a car to drive in (beside the car inside). I would assume the car drove in and, if I were driver, I'd have at the very least hopped out and walked Nancy in through internal access door, considering what we know about her limited mobility.

If it happened this way, it offers an opportunity for someone to slip into the garage and thus access the house.

 

[Charlot123]

So they just pulled up in the driveway, watched her go into her garage, and when door closed they drove off?

A very common behavior if they live close by and take her out rather frequently. They are used to the area being safe, mom, for all mobility issues, being “with it”, and visits being similar. TBH, even now, we don’t understand the true reason for abduction. Her family probably couldn’t imagine it ever happening.

JMO.

 

[MassGuy]

If the predominant LE suspicion was that an ol' black sheep SIL went rogue on a popular media personality's Mom, I doubt the President of the United States of America (think "office" not the man) would be regularly briefed by federal law enforcement at the highest levels of government, and then comment, while clearly parsing some fairly intimate knowledge, on the investigation's intensity, direction, resources, and prognosis.

But I suppose anything is possible at this point.

JMO.

He spoke to Savannah and then surged resources to the area, this was likely done prior to law enforcement having a clear picture of what happened.

So you would expect him to be receiving regular briefings, as he wants to show results.

If it's some random dude or group, I wouldn't expect a statement like what we heard to day.

 

[KonaHonu]

If the predominant LE suspicion was that an ol' black sheep SIL went rogue on a popular media personality's Mom, I doubt the President of the United States of America (think "office" not the man) would be regularly briefed by federal law enforcement at the highest levels of government, and then comment, while clearly parsing some fairly intimate knowledge, on the investigation's intensity, direction, resources, and prognosis.

But I suppose anything is possible at this point.

JMO.

All politics aside...if the families of major media personalities are being targeted, that's a big deal. I looked into published media and see no reason to think Trum is a fan or friend of Savannah. And I'm certainly not a Trump fan. But I applaud him for reaching out to her as a former interviewer.

 

[Spectrix]

I have similar cameras and they have SD cards. We do not subscribe to a cloud service. When there is motion we get a notification on our phones which then we can go watch the time that motion was captured and recorded to the SD card. We can also watch the camera live through the app. So when they keep saying "there is no cloud camera footage" that may be true, but these cameras MIGHT have SD cards in them actively reco

Sadly the sheriff was right, they are Google Nest cameras which are designed to rely on cloud services. They can't be fitted with SD cards.

 

[MesquiteO21]

If it’s a robbery goes wrong, they‘ll knock the victim out, unless they can identify the perp then it increases the chances they’re killed. You don’t break in to steal jewelry and iPads and leave with a human being that’s going to put intense heat on you and keep it there with an ongoing crime. Robbery is in-and-out then done.

I think kidnapping was the plan.

I’m not sure how often people are killed in robberies gone wrong — I do know it happens — but just anecdotally there are people in my family who have been home when someone broke in. In both instances (very different circumstances, roughly 50 years apart and in different states), they both just kept calm and sat down and didn’t move while the person went through the house and then left. Same thing also happened to a friend of a friend. A resident being home obviously isn’t ideal for a burglar but if you don’t try to stop them or get in their way, you probably won’t get physically hurt since their motive is valuables not murder.

I know NG has been described as “feisty” but still given her limited mobility I really don’t think she would’ve tried to physically take down an intruder. And in any case even if she did end up being killed, I completely agree with you that her body would’ve been left. You create a world of new problems for yourself taking a body when you just wanted money or electronics or whatever.

Moo

 

[TravelingBug]

Now that websleuths doesn't open new threads it's hard to read possibly a hundred pages that build up. I wish there was a way to go back say 20 pages instead like we used to be able to do by putting in a page number. I feel like I miss the entire thread when I go to work. Just moaning and groaning a bit......

You still can.

Click the ... at the bottom by the second to most recent page number (I tried to mark it in red)

Then type in whatever page you want to go to in the blue highlighted area that pops up.

 

[katydid23]

Well, that hasn't been confirmed... just the opening and closing times that corresponded with the time she was driven home.

Right, which was a 2 minute time span. And that's why I thought they just pulled up and watched her go into the garage.

Two minutes does not seem like enough time to help an 84 yr old with mobility issues, using her walker or cane.

You'd have to pull into the garage, allow time to go open her car door and help her get out of the car and grab her belongings and cane or her walker, and then slowly walk w/her into her home, turn on the lights, and say good night ... then the driver needs to walk back to their car and pull out.

Can that be done in under two minutes time?

Watching camera footage when Agents were in the garage, we could see it's a double with enough room for a car to drive in (beside the car inside). I would assume the car drove in and, if I were driver, I'd have at the very least hopped out and walked Nancy in through internal access door, considering what we know about her limited mobility.

Right, but 2 minutes is not much time to get all that done with an 84 yr old with mobility issues, imo. And I took care of my mom for several years and I know that everything takes longer when helping an 84 year old move around, etc

If it happened this way, it offers an opportunity for someone to slip into the garage and thus access the house.

Yes, however the most recent timeline by Nanos said "family members' dropped Nancy off. So I'd think maybe one was driving and the other would be helping her inside if they did help her inside.


Or possibly, the just drove up, used the app to open the garage door, and watched as she entered the doorway into her home...






Per Sheriff Nanos 9:48 p.m. - Family drops Nancy off at home & garage door opens.

9:50 p.m. - Garage door closes.