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

[whowy]

Yes that is what we are discussing. It was a coded message as instructed by the kidnapper.

Maybe not so coded. I imagine SG was conveying what the family would consider sufficient proof of life - i.e. they wanted to "just talk to her".

 

[Laura Avery]

My husband, who isn't really following the case, has broached the subject that perhaps her captor/s were in the house waiting for her before she got back home.

Yes this is my belief too. Hence why if they saw her car thought the family was away on holiday perhaps and maybe didn't know who she was, and omce they took her or killed her on purpose or by accident, they now have dug themselves into a huge mess!

 

[CandyKiss]

Note: this is off the cuff … and just my opinion.

In addition to evidence, I’m sure LE has searched everything in Nancy Guthrie’s immediate life to determine a motive but one has not been established. I do not believe this kidnapping was due to Nancy Guthrie’s personality and or lifestyle.

Motives to kidnap:

Financial (ransom): to date the two messages they’re working on have not been confirmed to be from the kidnapper or another hoax.

Power/control/other motives: no supporting evidence to date, such as ‘proof of life’

Personal/emotional: many have targeted Savannah Guthrie’s career even citing some of her work from 2019 ~ carrying a grudge that long would be a motive: revenge.

If we’re discussing Savannah’s, why have we not discussed Colonel Charles ‘Carmron’ Guthrie’s 26-year career in the military?

I’ll preface this by stating; I do come from many generations of military men and women and do not want to attack the Colonel. Matter of fact, based on the information I’ve found this man had a stellar career … and in my opinion his career choice is top notch, but it also comes with ‘cons.’

We’ve seen in the past; military misfits trip offline so I’ll ask ‘If someone was demoted; and later removed from the military to return home but their life continued to unravel – would they take responsibility for their screw-ups and turn their life around or blame another? “

What if that screw-ups home is Arizona, and on an off chance he saw Nancy Guthrie on Savannah’s show two months ago … and he questioned the last name; researched a little bit and began to plan.

Yes, I realize this is completely out of the box but … criminals are that sick.

 

[su5ie]

For the thought exercise I got a list of professions: LE, cybersecurity, intelligence, journalists, also dissidents and whistleblowers. But the person can have any job and be a tech nut.

Levin says he thinks the person is local to Tucson, is intelligent, sophisticated, possibly connected to KOLD, and knows of Nancy from around town and believes the person started with Nancy and extrapolated from there, “hey, she has a famous daughter that’s probably rich” rather that starting with Savannah and drilling down for relatives.

He also said the letter is thoughtful, layered, and grammatically correct. Journalists should be well-written and well-spoken. So should teachers and poets.

Have LE searched nearby houses prehaps there is one that was recently rented ?

 

[Moonchime]

The more I think about the kidnappers not providing proof of life, the more it seems to me that the kidnapping for ransom was likely a ruse to purposely misdirect the investigation.

IMO: Sad to say but NG may well have been killed in the initial hour and everything else has been a panicked coverup.

Don't know if others are feeling this as well; but isn't this ransom/proof of life scenario being stalled like this a bit strange?

I agree with you. If this were truly a kidnapping for ransom, it raises the question of why it took so long for a ransom letter to appear. I can’t help but wonder if she may have already been killed before anyone realized she was missing, because the timeline just doesn’t seem to add up.

 

[MassGuy]

This case is driving me crazy yall!! Surely they are closing in on Nancy's location and what happened right? I refuse to even look at this case on social media because I know there's going to be speculation and randomness!
Few cases have ever had me feeling so helpless!
Anyone else struggling with this too?

I've never followed a case this complex, but I have followed countless cases. In doing so, it's easy for me to gauge where law enforcement is with an investigation.

Not only am I not seeing an indication that they are lost, but I'm seeing the opposite. We're not seeing all the things we usually see when that's the case.

Press conferences have become more sporadic, no regular press releases, and they're not asking for tips about vehicles or persons of interest.

I see a focused homicide case.

 

[boredetective]

I wonder if they're looking into a car repair man, since Nancy's car was damaged in the front? It's also possible she gave him car keys that might've had her house key attached or garage door opener inside.

 

[Cassie P]

Right now it's looking like whoever is behind this is a criminal mastermind. I can't believe there are no traceable clues or leads. JMO

But it appears they do not yet have the money. If this was a business crime, kidnapping for money, they have not achieved their goal. They have taken a big risk for nothing at this point.

So yes they have been good at evading detection. But they have not closed the deal. And perhaps could end up facing the death penalty or life in prison.

 

[Nikynoo]

I have an exercise for those of you who wish to try this. Ask your favorite AI or even internet query the demographics of someone who uses bitcoin, follows TMZ, and knows how to use tools to hide their identity on the internet. Then ask what occupations frequently use those tools. Then be creeped out like I am.

Amateur opinion and speculation only

Well, I had the age range right. I didn’t really think about their occupations, just thought generic gamer. Which actually brings me to another theory, what if a child of the family, gamed and was groomed online and gave family information out?

I have experience of this, my then 12 year old received an expensive gaming keyboard in the post. Turned out to be from a 48 year old man who the child had met whilst gaming online. Reported to police asap and online activity of 12 year old was severely limited to those known personally to our family. This was about 15 years ago and I didn’t realise at the time that gaming communities could be accessed by anyone.

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

This is along the lines of where I am. I am thinking NG cut them out of her will or was planning to do so. I think they were counting on this money as neither has high paying or even medium paying jobs. For the siblings you’ve got a fighter pilot, a famous news anchor, and a…. poet? A poet married to a teacher? That type of disparity sticks out to me… what were they doing? How did they live? How much resentment did that cause over the years and some kind of money disagreement with NG could have been the last straw.

Another sheer speculation is that NG may have always bragged about her "famous" daughter, SG. I'm sure that she was very excited about SG being part of Winter Olympics' coverage and probably told everyone at church and in the community to make sure and watch! It's natural for any mother to be proud. Perhaps, AG, who felt that she has always physically been there for her mother, never got any credit. Plus, it is very hard being the middle child sandwiched between two successful children. Just trying to speculate on possible family dynamics.

JMO.

 

[Simply Southern]

Harvey Levin did an interview with Mark Geragos an A Lister defense attorney. He knows how these guys think. He said family just needs to pay the ransom and hope for the best...without proof of life. I tend to agree. Otherwise nothing may happen at all...NG is killed and the kidnappers may never be found. She might be dead but I don't think they have much choice.

Harvey is also an attorney

Harvey Levin - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[su5ie]

Note: this is off the cuff … and just my opinion.

In addition to evidence, I’m sure LE has searched everything in Nancy Guthrie’s immediate life to determine a motive but one has not been established. I do not believe this kidnapping was due to Nancy Guthrie’s personality and or lifestyle.

Motives to kidnap:

Financial (ransom): to date the two messages they’re working on have not been confirmed to be from the kidnapper or another hoax.

Power/control/other motives: no supporting evidence to date, such as ‘proof of life’

Personal/emotional: many have targeted Savannah Guthrie’s career even citing some of her work from 2019 ~ carrying a grudge that long would be a motive: revenge.

If we’re discussing Savannah’s, why have we not discussed Colonel Charles ‘Carmron’ Guthrie’s 26-year career in the military?

I’ll preface this by stating; I do come from many generations of military men and women and do not want to attack the Colonel. Matter of fact, based on the information I’ve found this man had a stellar career … and in my opinion his career choice is top notch, but it also comes with ‘cons.’

We’ve seen in the past; military misfits trip offline so I’ll ask ‘If someone was demoted; and later removed from the military to return home but their life continued to unravel – would they take responsibility for their screw-ups and turn their life around or blame another? “

What if that screw-ups home is Arizona, and on an off chance he saw Nancy Guthrie on Savannah’s show two months ago … and he questioned the last name; researched a little bit and began to plan.

Yes, I realize this is completely out of the box but … criminals are that sick.

I share this opinion someone in the brothers background with military expierence

The focus is on savannahs status but wouldn't a military person be better at avoiding detection

 

[serenebee23]

Sometimes people want "an advance" on the will and it gets denied. If she was going to cut someone out of the will and tell them that .... that would basically be a severance of the relationship. Probably other family members would know about some or all of these things. Just speculating. JMO

So I work in this area and odds are (with SG's knowledge/wealth and NG's wealth and age) NG may have a trust, not a will. A will is basic and has to go through probate, a time-consuming, expensive, public process. A trust would manage more assets, do so privately, and can set things up financially for grandkids, charities, etc. People would still be beneciaries and get money when she passed away. It would also manage the money that NG lives on and protect it in case nursing home care is needed, etc. But it would all be managed by a trustee. A trustee can be a family member, friend, or a bank/corporation. How this factors into a financial motive may still be the same as if it were a will. I just wanted to clarify in case it matters!

 

[Laura Avery]

There were 2 locks visible in the video's of the front door. That looked to me like a screen door and I'm guessing here that there is a steel door behind that one with a minimum of 1 lock, possibly 2 (door handle and a dead bolt). Unlocking 4 locks takes time. The garage was the easier way.

But then again, why is there blood at the front door? I get she couldn't probobly couldn't access the front, And as there is blood there the person would haven't have known that and possibly taken her out the front, but then they would have had to unlock the doors. Is there a lock on the outside? Was this door also locked? Would they have had to walk round to unlock it? Where are her house keys? Id have thought they are with the car keys..Id think they would need fingerprinting/dna testing. This bit is a little perplexing!

 

[Walela]

In the press conference the sheriff said AG's car was impounded through a search warrant. He said something like that was normal or usual to do that. But I feel like it's not normal or usual to do that because the search warrant needs to state a very good reason to have suspicions for taking the car. Obviously theyre searching for evidence/DNA, but the question is why? Obviously NG's DNA would probably be in the car from being driven around by her daughter. So the search warrant had to have specified something more than that. Just my opinion/thoughts that that doesn't seem routine.

It's possible that the car was taken to pull data from the onboard computers that would confirm the route the car was driven when the FM took NG home and the route driven when the FM returned to the FM home. I forget from the Kaitlin Armstrong trial if the auto data also had the time along with the route she drove the night she murdered Mo Wilson but I think it did. I didn't know cars did that until that trial.

 

[Cottonn]

And do we (i.e. - You all) know if she actually ever made it into the house after being "dropped off"?

rsbm.

AFAIK there is zero independent confirmation that she ever made it back to her house. Period.

moo.

But didn't they say her pacemaker disconnected from app/ Bluetooth like 2:30am which means she was in the home up until that time?

 

[Starkville]

How far is the next home to hers? Hitting things with rocks or bricks would make a lot of racket, bringing a lot of attention to themselves. They’d really be taking a risk doing that.

Here’s a screen cap of an aerial view that shows how close the houses were.

 

[Sadi]

How far is the next home to hers? Hitting things with rocks or bricks would make a lot of racket, bringing a lot of attention to themselves. They’d really be taking a risk doing that.

Maybe wrap a towel around a bat or golf club would muffle the noise?

 

[Trish51]

I hope i'm extremely wrong but it seems like the Sherrifs department dropped the ball on the investigation and possibly if things were looked at more thoroughly to begin with we wouldn't be nearing day 7 with not many developments.

I truly hope this investigation is a lot further than LE is letting on. For Nancy's sake

JMO

There may be. One of her early jobs was at KVOA, another local station here in Tucson. The local news family is small.

I don’t think we can be sure.

Did KVOA receive a ransom letter? If not, it’s interesting because she worked there and at one point and they are our local NBC station. I wonder if they were left out intentionally?

 

[auburnmomof2]

I've never followed a case this complex, but I have followed countless cases. In doing so, it's easy for me to gauge where law enforcement is with an investigation.

Not only am I not seeing an indication that they are lost, but I'm seeing the opposite. We're not seeing all the things we usually see when that's the case.

Press conferences have become more sporadic, no regular press releases, and they're not asking for tips about vehicles or persons of interest.

I see a focused homicide case.

I think it's very focused on what they're not telling us verses what they are saying. For example...the garage door opened at approximately x time and closed at y time...did it open or close any other times?
Just my opinion and overthinking everything here