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

[whitelilac]

Sometimes, when a crime is carefully thought out, in detail, with all sorts of deflections to hide actual facts, the perpetrator(s) can be identified because of a simple mistake.
oops

In this case, (maybe) the churchgoer call. So simple for LE to discover it never happened....no record of the call, or text, or whatever communication, on either of the subjects' phone.

We see this often. A small thing throws a wrench into the whole well plotted crime and leads to the culprits.

 

[moonglow123]

Is there any innocent reason they could’ve spent hours taking photos in and removing items from AG’s house yesterday? It’s all so confusing.

 

[HoveringWombats]

So by saying " yes I'm sure we have " means at that moment he did not know personally and based his answer off of assumption imo

IMO this very much sounds like a situation where it would have been better to say "I'm don't have that information" than "I'm sure we have" but I also don't envy his position having to speak extemporaneously in a stressful situation, so I understand some poor choices of words and mistakes.

 

[mikeshanty]

Guys, this is the earliest press conference I found. Well worth a watch:

 

[mickey2942]

Who thinks that this elderly lady is still alive?

Honestly, my husband is 85, and requires a pretty much routine life. Any change, completely messes up his sleep, bowels, mood, multiple medical conditions. I mean, we are talking, maybe going to a medical appointment. That completely messes with his routine and schedule. And he is still pretty sharp.

So, this...I don't see a happy ending. And I go back, to my original opinion, is that the perpetrator, never expected this over saturation on news. MOO, is that the news wants more than the ICE situation in Minnesota, and the weather. Slow news week, I guess.

 

[Friday Fan]

Can you prove this?

She hasnt surfaced. They have received ransom notes. There would be no point in murdering her or holding her without getting money in return. The ransom notes are real. What if she suddenly turned up before the money was paid? She hasnt. The ransom notes are a direct result and authored by the kidnapper or his collaborators. jmo

 

[Sadi]

Mat

so strange to me. Yes, why would he not have memory of such a critical and absolutely necessary piece of information

Maybe because that call never took place? He avoided saying yes or no for a reason. IMO

 

[TheDinks]

I have made a post that explains things more clearly. We have been announcing to use initials only. Here is the latest post that hopefully clears things up once and for all.

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

Today at 6:45 PM

Considering a million or so people are suspecting or outright accusing him of murdering his mother in law for money, he’s smart to maintain privacy.

Everything he did would be discussed incessantly online, as this thread demonstrates.

It’s not the norm for Websleuths to allow it.

Let me address this.
There is nothing normal about this case. The son-in-law may have been the last person to see Nancy alive. The sheriff has not cleared anyone, and he has also stated there are no “prime suspects” at this time.

Because no one has been cleared, discussion is allowed...

• tricia

• 
• 
• 

Thank you Tricia, I did read it when you posted.

I watched "Live" where you invited people to come to Websleuths and join the discussion... sure does add to the Mods' work though!

 

[Trino]

I really don't think she left her house alive.

Maybe an accidental murder.

 

[Gemmie]

Is it possible that the Sheriff is meant to appear "bumbling" on purpose? Sounds like a long shot, BUT if he sounded confident in knowing what happened, that might spook the perp and cause quicker/further destruction of evidence, running, etc.

My vote goes for actually bumbling and not faking it. JMO!

 

[Luna20]

A poster in here just posted a New York Times article that stated a churchgoer did call the family when they noticed Nancy wasn't in her pew. NYT is fairly legit.
I would believe them any day over DM.

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

 

[Fargo]

I probably missed it, but has it been definitively said that the son-in-law took her home alone? I thought they changed it to "family" which had me confused because originally I thought they did say it was the son-in-law? It keeps changing and I can't keep up on the thread so any clarification would be so appreciated!!! TIA.

From the New York Times Feb. 8, 2026 Updated 3:52 p.m. ET:

"They lived near each other, in the unincorporated desert communities north of Tucson, Ariz., and Ms. Guthrie arrived by Uber just after 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 31. The family spent about four hours together before Ms. Guthrie was driven home by her son-in-law, who watched to ensure she made it safely inside, the police said later."

7 Days, No Suspects: The Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie

The mother of the “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie has not been heard from since an evening of dinner and games with family members.

www.nytimes.com

 

[MissLaura]

I'm sorry but I am not here to engage in a discourse about MK. I am here to discuss the case.

Right, me too. But the subject came up, so I posted my thoughts. Hopefully there is a quick resolution and Nancy is somehow alive.

 

[lonetraveler]

Hi there, I checked the NYT article you mentioned. It was last updated today at 3:52 pm ET. Here is a gift link so you can read the article yourself.

Here's the relevant part about the church member:

According to this info, she was expected to be seen sitting in the pew at church.

 

[Vegasgrl]

Anybody know if LE had talked to the church person who had contacted the family? I have never heard that LE had talked to the church person but could may have missed it.

This notification was removed from the official timeline. Don't know why. I have asked several times, so assume unknown to public.

 

[Curiousraccoon]

Like others, i realised quickly that the Sheriff was a little scattergun in his phrasing and probably wasn't meaning some of the things he was saying as literally as a) the media and b) the public would read them. But even if you toss the detail about a bit, the comment about the alert and the church can't really be interpreted in any way other than "the family received an alert from someone connected to the church which set this whole thing off in the morning".

Either Sheriff made it up entirely (improbable), he didn't get the detail quite right (hard to see how the relevant substance of the comment would change in a significant or meaningful way with a little tweak to detail), the known details of the church service or event she was planning to attend that day are simply wrong, or that's what they believed at the time but investigation revealed something which made them snip that right out of timelines and avoid further discussion for some reason.

I can't believe anyone would just make that story up knowing very well that these things would be checked by LE. There's something to it though, and I really want to know what it is.

I do have one theory but it's out there and I myself think it's not what happened. But it could be a potential explanation:

What if the kidnapper (assuming they are real and not an extortionist) called and told the family about the kidnapping or something else alarming that made them go check NG?

In this scenario, the sheriff may have made up the church story in order not to tell the truth to the public yet.

 

[CSIDreamer]

KOLD is the local CBS affiliate in Tucson, AZ. They are owned by Gray Media, based in Atlanta, GA. Am I misunderstanding your question?

Nope. You understood.

 

[Lawnguylander1964]

Doesn't have to be a body, but you have to convince a court that the person is more than likely deceased & have them declared dead.

We have a murder trial coming up this year with no body. He has a great public defender (IMO), but he was also pretty sloppy so I think there's a good chance of conviction (his google searches on his federal government work laptop included).


Still Missing - VA - Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, mom & pediatric nurse, 'involuntary missing,' husband reported her missing Aug 5, Manassas Park, 31 July 2024 *Arrest* #2

 

[txsleuth70]

"Church member called family because she was concerned NG wasn't in church" is no longer on the LE timeline. Agree with Masked Woman that we are totally dependent on AG and TC for this critical part of the timeline.

It was never on the timeline from the press conference on day 2.

 

[JKathryn]

Does anyone know if the investigators/police were seen today at any other home besides the one they were knocking on for 20 minutes in the video posted earlier? (apologies I can not find that post)