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

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**Summary of statements made by the Sheriff in the first press conference on Monday 2 February.**

I am posting rough notes to show how the picture looked back then, as I think it might be of interest to a lot of us. Key points in bold. I truly feel the early press conference offers clues:

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- NG's home is a crime scene and "we know that"; LE saw things that concerned them; saw things at the site suggesting she did not leave alone. "Circumstances on scene that were suspicious in nature".
- NG suffers from "physical ailments" and needs daily medication; risk of things becoming fatal without access within 24 hours
- NG is of sound mind; nothing dementia related.
- Sheriff appeals for public to call 911 if they have seen anything; quite persistent messaging for information
- The investigation is at a stage where they need to depend on tech, including license plate readers.
- The homicide team was involved at this stage as well as a search and rescue (including drone systems, heat sensors, infra-red).
- "All of the family have been very cooperative with us"
- No comment on forced entry
- Not sure whether it was targeted or random
- Confirmed there were cameras on the property and "we're looking through some of that".
- NG had house staff who come by, but NG otherwise lives alone.
- Does not think there is an active threat to the public
- "Right now, we don't see this as a search mission as much as we do a crime scene"

- Refers to a map on screen that shows the search patterns by LE. Confirmed the map is used by search teams when they need to reassess search areas (i.e. might explain why we saw the map again this weekend).
- They have NG's cellphone and they are looking at it.
- Believes at 9.45PM her "children" left her off. Then later in the morning they got a call from "someone at the church saying your mom's not here". "The family went to the house.. they spent some time looking themselves before calling us; maybe they got there around 11AM". They did some searching and realized they needed some help and called 911.

- Declined to comment on the time NG was taken from the home.

- Told neighbours to go through their Ring cameras.
- Sheriff makes a political statement about the benefits of new technologies.

12:34 - 13:16 is quite interesting.
I never understood why it wasn't a search mission as much as a crime scene
 
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Is there any chance kidnapper is mailing them riddles that say "shes close to home" or something?
 
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I'm sorry, I try not to do this in threads, but I am struggling to catch up since I was on last night (its morning here, I'm in Australia). Have I missed anything significant in the last 12 hours other than the septic tank been searched? I know about the events at AG's place with the flashes. Thank you :)
not really
 
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Does anyone fact check anymore? It feels like if a mistake is made, all they have to do is update it online. No need to even issue an explanation. Online news outlets also contribute to incorrect information.

This lines up with what he said in the first PC. He walked it back in the next PC and removed it from the timeline.
 
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😄 I love doing things like this, my day job is an investigator so parsing through contemporaneous statements is quite fun for me haha.
You are hired, if you can figure this one out! Haha
JMO
 
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If the family is no longer asking for proof of life in the last video and says that they will pay, then what are they waiting for? There must be some strategy behind this. They aren’t asking for more communication. They’re not asking for anything in this latest video. They have the bitcoin account. Creating another video was redundant. Can anyone guess why they did it?

They know what the alleged kidnapper wants. They know where to send the money. They’re not asking for proof of life… so, what’s the point of the video message then? They already seem like they’ve accepted that she’s no longer alive. Is this a final plea before sending the money - that the “kidnapper(s) do return the body and not just disappear after they’re paid? Or is there some bigger strategy here?
Same question I keep asking. Why make a video saying they will pay the ransom when they could just quietly pay it?

I think the purpose of the video is to tell the kidnappers they will pay for their mother dead or alive. They want a proper burial.
 
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I never understood why it wasn't a search mission as much as a crime scene
There is also something interesting in terms of what the sheriff said on Monday versus the timeline presented later in the week. He says the family (implying AG and SIL since SG was out of state) got there at 11AM. The slide deck timeline presented later in the week says they called 911 at 12.03PM. That is an hour before the "realized" they needed to call. No accusation here, but the timing is quite interesting. Perhaps sheriff was speaking generally at the earlier conference.
 
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If it's a group that abducted Nancy, they are probably fighting over the bitcoin.
 
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Things to ponder. Strong theory of scenario.

Having worked a decade in psych hospitals, a bit in forensic,

I could certainly see extreme compartmentalization happening, to where it would be possible to sit with distraught family and not give up the ruse. Not necessarily the case here.

You’re a bigger person than me re: the forgiveness part (re: accident)! But I guess it also depends on one’s definition of forgiveness.

I would perhaps try to release my deep acrimony to a higher power for survival’s sake, but would sever all ties. Haven’t been in that situation, though.

Thanks for your thoughts.

MOO

Never heard of an accidental murder ?
Murder definition: the crime of unlawfully and unjustifiably killing a person
Accidental: didn't mean it to happen.
 
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Honestly, I have a really hard time believing the family is involved at all, but maybe I'm just naive.

I think AB may have been given information that she should have sat on for a bit. And I also think the world just latched on to her words as truth, and it got out of control (as the drama is bound to do). It seems like a lot of people are taking everything that any source of authority says at face value, and it's causing a lot of unnecessary harm.

But I get it. The circumstances are so strange, and LE is trying to keep things so close to the vest, that it's bound to set the rumors and speculation flying.

IMO.
Agree. I find AB's claims much less relevant than LE's return to AG's home last night (I watched the livestream of it). The length of time they were there, evidence collection gloves, photos being taken in the garage and home, etc. I am just not sure what it means. It could be circumstantial (collecting evidence on NG's perhaps shoe imprints, clothing worn, biological evidence like that), or if there were others there that night that are relevant, timing of things, etc. Or it could be more related to an actual crime. I think those are the only two options? Unless I'm missing something.
 
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Same question I keep asking. Why make a video saying they will pay the ransom when they could just quietly pay it?

I think the purpose of the video is to tell the kidnappers they will pay for their mother dead or alive. They want a proper burial.
It could have been a required condition made by the Perp(s).

Unrelated, Super Bowl 2nd Q the Seahawks lead 6-0.
 
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Two things here:

1) I think the comment about church was genuinely just causing a lot of confusion and potentially causing a bunch of headaches for LE from well meaning people. IE the anonymous source to Daily Mail who said she only attended virtually. “Missing from church” is an accurate statement whether she attended virtually or physically.

2) Their “official” timeline seems focused just on verified, concrete timestamps. Yes it’s meaningful that she wasn’t at church (hence the phone call to family) but it technically isn’t when her disappearance was discovered. If that makes sense?

IMO - there is zero reason the sheriff would bring up the phone call in multiple press conferences unless he felt confident that was the truth. OR I would think LE would be on top of the sister/brother in law much more than we’ve seen so far. SG would also be very concerned and it seems like they’re very much still a united front. It’s been long enough for the story to have been debunked if they lied.

I believe the initial alert is important enough to be included in official timeline... it's the tiny snowball that gets things rolling.
 
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Can someone research major crypotcurrency portals and see how many business days it would take a person to transfer $6 million? I cantvthink of a single bank that woukd allow a $6 million transfer

Right? How was hoaxes found so fast? Id love to know. Hoaxes didnt have a VPN?
This is a special case. I’m sure the bank would be aware this is a high-profile ransom and to do what SG and LE asked them to. If she has to wire funds from one institution to another it may take some time, but if all parties know it’s an emergency and to follow LE direction it can happen faster.

If SG already has enough money in a crypto wallet, it would be less than a minute to input the address and hit send. It might take a few minutes for the transfer to register on the blockchain, but once you hit send it’s gone.

The speed of which she can pay depends on where and how much of her money is kept in the bank, in investments, or in a crypto wallet.
 
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The 11 AM thing is not verified. LE didn’t include that.

Right. So why wasn’t this call to family from church member in the timeline from police? Should be easy to verify
Thank you. I totally missed this, I honestly don’t remember hearing she attended in person. I appreciate your sharing this.
 
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Please let her NOT have been placed in a septic tank. It was bad enough that Chris Watts dumped his daughters in an oil tank, but a septic tank? Please no. Don't be in there.
One of my first cases here was a cutie little 6 year old named Noah Thomas. He was found in the septic tank. I was destroyed and it was reported that the septic tank cleaning man was struggling with taking a little human out of it. Noah will never be far from my mind.
 
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not really
Thanks so much Vegasgrl! I appreciate you letting me know. I was so hoping to wake to an arrest, regardless of who it might be.
 
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