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

[Moonchime]

i'd love your opinions on which of these scenarios, A or B is more likely:

A: LE was completely incompetent in releasing the house as a crime scene so quickly, neglecting flood light/camera/vehicle evidence and g-d knows what else

B: LE purposely lifted the crime scene tape early on to see who would taint with possible evidence, take item(s) from the home that had evidential meaning beneath the surface, or replace/leave items with potential importance

Hopefully, it is Scenario B. I'd like to think they surreptitiously hid tiny cameras in every room.

 

[dogmom805]

We discussed earlier that Silence of the Lambs was released on 31 Jan and 1 Feb

OMG. Chilling.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Maybe the perp was hiding in her car, in the garage from an earlier time?

Could have been someone who had a key to her place, or had one briefly and duplicated it.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[Chainspell]

Why would NG enter her home via the garage and not the front door? This has been bothering me. The entire garage situation is bothering g me.

Convenience/might be easier to walk in, especially if it's brightly lit and requires less steps. From footage we've seen, there would be enough room to pull another car in, putting her very close to the door from inside the garage into the house.

 

[Strangeworld]

To me the proof is that it went to TMZ, assuming since they are the ones that broke that story I dont think L/e would send it to them .

Regardless of whether the person/s who sent the ransom letters have Nancy or not, its interesting that they took the public route - and TMZ get attention worldwide. IMO if they did kidnap Nancy, they maybe wanted this to fuel the fire to pay the ransom.

If they aren't legitimate, or its a distraction by someone who has committed a separate crime against Nancy, is also worth pondering that they went so public.

They could have just sent the letters directly and only to LE and/or the family. Instead they went the media route.

it speaks to motivation and intention

 

[turaj]

Why would NG enter her home via the garage and not the front door? This has been bothering me. The entire garage situation is bothering g me.

many people do that..nothing noteworthy about it in my opinion.

 

[tbgo]

According to Google, Bitcoin can be trace by the government. If the family paid the ransom, they could arrest the person and retrieve the money.

 

[Cardgame]

I'm not the person you're asking, but I do think it's important to understand that there's a whole range of ways to hide your origin on the internet. Even under the umbrella of "VPN" there are a lot of pretty different things that the term encompasses. Long before there was ExpressVPN and all these consumer "privacy" VPNs, VPN was used to securely connect networks together. And today, yeah, if sign up through a reputable VPN service based in a Western country, and use that to commit crimes, it's probably not going to go well for you. Another step down the line is a VPN service based in, say, Russia or India. Maybe not impossible to trace, but it's going to be a bit harder. Now, do multiple hops through multiple sketchy providers. A bit harder still. Next, maybe set up your own VPN, hopping through cloud providers (maybe in compromised accounts). Or route your traffic through compromised PCs on residential networks, or a series of rogue proxy servers.

Imagine this scenario. I park somewhere in the parking lot of a mall. I use a high-gain antenna to connect to an open wifi network that some store or restaurant in the mall is running. I proxy through Russia, India, back to a different Russian proxy, and finally exit through a compromised windows computer in some innocent person's house in Michigan. The only thing I do through that proxy is open news station tips forms (NO access to an email account or anything else), and submit a plain text tip through the form. Yeah, this takes some work to do, but you don't have to be a genius. There's a lot of information out there on these things and it's not that buried. This would be quite difficult and time-consuming to track down. And honestly you probably don't need to make it this convoluted to hide effectively.

While it's 1000% true that many people get caught while doing things that they think are untraceable, it's also true that it isn't that hard to make it pretty difficult or potentially impossible for investigators. I know it's comforting to believe that the feds can trace anyone, it's not true. They can trace a lot more than most people think, and most criminals make enough mistakes to get caught, but it's not rocket science to hide.

MOO - I know I am not verified as an expert and I don't really know exactly what the boundaries of the rules are on this, so let's just say this is my opinion and leave it at that.

This is extremely helpful and informative, thank you so much!

 

[Skully7100]

Why would NG enter her home via the garage and not the front door? This has been bothering me. The entire garage situation is bothering g me.

I never use my front door, only enter thru garage.

 

[Cardgame]

According to Google, Bitcoin can be trace by the government. If the family paid the ransom, they could arrest the person and retrieve the money.

Yes I've seen a few interviews now with cyber experts who say Bitcoin is the most traceable crypt currency. The problem will come when/if they try to liquidate.

That's why some people think it might be a troll..

 

[ttjo]

many people do that..nothing noteworthy about it in my opinion.

Did she have a walker? A lot more room going in through the garage?

 

[Laura Avery]

Is there blood splatter analysis? Is it leading up to the door or away from it? There seems to be more at the front of the door, as if she stopped or was stopped there there also seems to be a gap between two parallel tracks.

 

[No_Stone_Unturned]

Did NG have housekeepers and/or nurses who visited her regularly?

 

[rosesfromangels]

Why would NG enter her home via the garage and not the front door? This has been bothering me. The entire garage situation is bothering g me.

A lot of people do. They store supplies in the garage, use that entrance as a “mud room” to change out shoes, etc. Maybe just habit for her to avoid mussing the main part of the house. Doesn’t seem odd to me.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[thefragile7393]

DBM

 

[redflag71]

Did she have a walker? A lot more room going in through the garage?

Is her cane missing?

 

[Emerald1328]

I AM REPOSTING my comment and will check back later this afternoon to see your responses, still hoping that LE will have something new to report later today.

SO -- I've waited before making any comment because I felt we were all rushing to judgement. It's a human reaction to pin the crime on one of the nearest relatives, but it can also backfire. I know Savannah personally, and the last thing I want to do is bring more pain to the Guthrie family. Imagine if your mom was abducted and the public was pointing the finger at you. The sting would be that much greater. All that said, as of this AM, they have collected the elusive white van and as you all know, a second note was sent to KOLD yesterday which has been verified as coming from the same encrypted server. This note apparently made contact with the family, responding to the videos made by Savannah and her siblings. We now have President Trump indicating that officials are close to identifying the abductor or abductors. The horrible thing now, of course, is that we have no proof of life. I PRAY that Nancy is alive after being without her meds for 7 days. It is totally possible. Let's remember that. In fact, billboards are now being put up in AZ and surrounding states asking for the public's help. The hard question now is: WOULD YOU HIT SEND to give millions in crypto to this abductor before the deadline on Monday? If no one is caught this weekend, Savannah will be struggling with the possibility that non-payment could mean death for her mom... MY HEART IS BREAKING FOR HER...

I actually don’t know if I would pay. I think I’d be worried that by paying without an iron-clad return of my mom in place, it would end her life faster than if I hadn’t paid yet. At least there is some incentive for the kidnapper to keep her alive if we haven’t paid yet, which would give LE more time to hopefully solve this and find her alive. Once paid, what incentive is there at all for the kidnapper to release her? The minute that money is in their account, they’re off to a different continent, not even pausing for a second to hit enter on an already written email containing her location.

I can’t even get my husband to keep his promise to wash dishes in exchange for me making his favorite dinner. It’s almost preposterous to think a kidnapper would even have an ounce of integrity to fulfill their end of the deal. IMO.

 

[cady]

Why would NG enter her home via the garage and not the front door? This has been bothering me. The entire garage situation is bothering g me.

I'm guessing closer access to house from her car, or relatives car. Uber probably to and from front door...longer walk for her, but manageable.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Did NG have housekeepers and/or nurses who visited her regularly?

Service providers to her home would be the very first place I would look.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[submarine7]

I'm not the person you're asking, but I do think it's important to understand that there's a whole range of ways to hide your origin on the internet. Even under the umbrella of "VPN" there are a lot of pretty different things that the term encompasses. Long before there was ExpressVPN and all these consumer "privacy" VPNs, VPN was used to securely connect networks together. And today, yeah, if sign up through a reputable VPN service based in a Western country, and use that to commit crimes, it's probably not going to go well for you. Another step down the line is a VPN service based in, say, Russia or India. Maybe not impossible to trace, but it's going to be a bit harder. Now, do multiple hops through multiple sketchy providers. A bit harder still. Next, maybe set up your own VPN, hopping through cloud providers (maybe in compromised accounts). Or route your traffic through compromised PCs on residential networks, or a series of rogue proxy servers.

Imagine this scenario. I park somewhere in the parking lot of a mall. I use a high-gain antenna to connect to an open wifi network that some store or restaurant in the mall is running. I proxy through Russia, India, back to a different Russian proxy, and finally exit through a compromised windows computer in some innocent person's house in Michigan. The only thing I do through that proxy is open news station tips forms (NO access to an email account or anything else), and submit a plain text tip through the form. Yeah, this takes some work to do, but you don't have to be a genius. There's a lot of information out there on these things and it's not that buried. This would be quite difficult and time-consuming to track down. And honestly you probably don't need to make it this convoluted to hide effectively.

While it's 1000% true that many people get caught while doing things that they think are untraceable, it's also true that it isn't that hard to make it pretty difficult or potentially impossible for investigators. I know it's comforting to believe that the feds can trace anyone, it's not true. They can trace a lot more than most people think, and most criminals make enough mistakes to get caught, but it's not rocket science to hide.

MOO - I know I am not verified as an expert and I don't really know exactly what the boundaries of the rules are on this, so let's just say this is my opinion and leave it at that.

There are also dark web ways to communicate that can conceal your identity. For instance using the Onion server concealed your location/identity but I don't much keep up with this topic anymore, but there have always been ways to conceal your identity.