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

[arielilane]

This feels like a hoax. Adult kidnappings are rare for the most part. When is the last time we heard about an adult or child being kidnapped for ransom?

Here are two I can recall and Wikipedia link:
Patty Hearst
Lindbergh baby

List of kidnappings - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bodhi]

@CStewartNews


An interesting part of this is that the account set up to receive the alleged ransom payment of Bitcoin is visible.

1:34 PM · Feb 9, 2026

https://twitter.com/x/status/2020913363794936130

Almost unimaginable that TMZ is inserting itself into this horror. This "reporting" could have tragic consequences for the victims (Nancy and her family). Completely unethical in my very strong opinion.

 

[Napoli]

I have been wondering if the videos from the family, spread out like they are in time, is a delay tactic to keep the kidnapper occupied while they do the needed legwork on the messages.

Something else that is bothering me...

The language is off, "We understand..." why would you need to say that? Both SG videos use that language. According to people who have seen the letters they are very well written and organized, why would you need to confirm understanding but not mention what it is you understand?

The ransom letter may have prompted them to say "We understand" as a way of showing agreement and acquiescence. IMO, they are following directions from the ransom note and sticking close to parameters the perps may have set up. MOO

 

[SlimPickens]

This feels like a hoax. Adult kidnappings are rare for the most part. When is the last time we heard about an adult or child being kidnapped for ransom?

Here are two I can recall and Wikipedia link:
Patty Hearst
Lindbergh baby

List of kidnappings - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Rare indeed, but each of these examples have something in common - wealth and celebrity. This case has both too, which makes it harder to discern.

JMO.

 

[thefragile7393]

I wonder what happened to ABanfield and her commentary on this case ?
I looked for updates to her last statement
that she made on youtube with Megyn Kelly and found nothing.

AB's last statement was on Thursday Feb 5th.

Wouldn't you think she would be having updates... there was a new family video etc and much to report on.

I also looked to see what Megyn Kelly was saying in her updates. This morning In her NG update on youtube - there is no mention of suspects - in particular there is no mention of the SIL

They are both independent journalists/ but MSM credentials ...so were they pressured to stop talking about SIL and by whom? Or did they find out that he is no longer the "prime" suspect? Did the Guthrie family file a cease and desist (sp?) order- see link below ?

Or... have I just missed the fact that they still are talking about him being the "Prime" suspect.



JMO

excerpt from article written fri feb 6th link below

Reporter doubles down on 'reckless' claim that Savannah Guthrie’s brother-in-law 'may be prime suspect'

Ashleigh Banfield is standing by her claim — even after the local Arizona sheriff on the case said there are zero suspects, calling the reporting “reckless.”

nypost.com

Ashleigh Banfield is standing by her claim that Savannah Guthrie’s brother-in-law “may be the prime suspect” in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie — even after the local Arizona sheriff on the case said there are zero suspects, calling the reporting “reckless.”

Banfield told the Status newsletter on Thursday that she is sticking to her reporting, which cited just one unnamed law enforcement source and aired on her podcast, despite repeated public denials from Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

“We don’t have anybody here listed as a suspect,” Nanos said at a press conference Thursday, stressing that investigators also have no persons of interest.

megyn kelly am update from today - NG info is from approx 2:00-7:12

guthrie family explores suing AB
Savannah Guthrie's Family 'Exploring Taking Legal Action' Against TV Host Ashleigh Banfield for Claiming Missing Nancy's Son-in-Law is a 'Prime Suspect' in Case"

"Other reporters are said to be perturbed by what Banfield's putting out, with one telling Status: "We all understand that 'influencers' engage in wild speculation and rage bait to chase clicks. But at a certain point building audiences on the back of a missing 84-year-old woman who is the mom of a former colleague is not only disgusting, it’s literally hurting the family and the investigation."

Honestly if you look online- Tuscon and Phoenix are huge drug routes for the Sinoela/ cartels along with trafficking of guns etc. They use stash house and do have a pretty good presence
Google search below shows many sources for info on that.
I think the cartels tenacles are far reaching in this country. They just don't advertize lol

Google Search

They do, however they’re not going to be involved in this case in my opinion
There’s no ties to a cartel or to drugs.

If you have ties to drugs or have family or close associates that are, then we would have an issue. Drugs, drug trafficking, human trafficking are often all tied in together, and are often related to who you know who you associate with or who you happen to be related to.

None of this is going to be happening with this particular case. The reality of cartels and human trafficking are very different than a lot of the sensationalist things that are published online..

 

[SMK777]

As far as I know, it's never been clarified. I wish LE would just clear this up once and for all. I feel like we're beating a dead horse. It's such a trivial piece of info to include in the timeline. No identification needed - just NG wasn't at church (zoom or otherwise) so a person contacted the family at such and such a time. Unless one or both of these things didn't happen, it seems very basic.

It's a trivial piece of information unless it was lied about. Then it becomes significant. JMO

 

[missy1974]

What would be the reason for the FBI/LE to be at AG”s home two to three times removing items and taking pictures inside the house if they’re not involved?

It was deputies from the Sheriff Dept that were there on Friday night. Not FBI. As for why they would be there? Because they still have no clue where NG is and they are leaving no options off the table. If they didn't and they find/arrest/charge a perp, a defense attorney would have fun with them not looking at all angles. JMO

It should be noted that the only thing we saw them leave with was 1 brown paper bag, and that doesn't even mean it was evidence, it could have been their own garbage that they made sure to clean up and remove.

 

[submarine7]

Almost unimaginable that TMZ is inserting itself into this horror. This "reporting" could have tragic consequences for the victims (Nancy and her family). Completely unethical in my very strong opinion.

To be fair, the ransom letter inserted TMZ into the equation.

 

[HoveringWombats]

Having said that it would definitely be a red flag if someone under investigation was using TOR browser at the time the ransom note was received.

Yup, I totally agree with this, and I think it's a key point.

If the messages were sent using TOR (unconfirmed, just speaking in hypotheticals and opinion here), and LE was simply starting from that fact, with no particular person of interest, it's going to be a real slog to go backward through that and find the source. However, if there is already a person or persons who they think might be involved, checking if that person has been using TOR (or some VPN service, or another method of hiding) is much more straightforward.

 

[Nikynoo]

Thank you! That explains a lot!
It would have eliminated confusion had the portion of the doc referenced in the post been included.

Sorry, I was in a rush!

 

[desert-blue]

It's a trivial piece of information unless it was lied about. Then it becomes significant. JMO

Exactly.

 

[NoeticSoul]

Just as an aside, BTC wallet addresses can be generated, and regenerated (changed) for the same account especially if the people's who's wallet the ransom going to, is directing the funds to a personal Ledger wallet (flashdrive) and NOT an online exchange. So the BTC address demand could have changed at any time, and nobody knows but the Guthrie family. js/moo

eta.. so the BTC wallet address given in the note, might not be the same now, thus, still empty.

 

[Wsimm]

Agreed and the timing lines up perfectly if the church friend attended the Modern Service at 10:45 a.m. The service lasted approximately 60 minutes ending around 11:45 a.m.

LE says the family began looking for Nancy at 11:56 a.m.
I think LE knows that time to the minute because that is the time the friend contacted the family.

I’m thinking it would have had to be the earlier service. I thought the church call occurred at approximately 11am? I’m imagining after several calls from AG to NG gone unanswered, AG headed over to her mom’s to check on her. It’s my understanding that AG arrived at NG‘s at approximately 11:56 and then called 911 at 12:03.

 

[snoopy100]

This feels like a hoax. Adult kidnappings are rare for the most part. When is the last time we heard about an adult or child being kidnapped for ransom?

Here are two I can recall and Wikipedia link:
Patty Hearst
Lindbergh baby

List of kidnappings - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

sometimes something has never happened before and then it does

 

[JoeFromLB]

If the deadline passes and she's not returned safely, I fear she's gone.
This thread might have 50,000 posts weeks from now with zero new clues to her disappearance. Frustrating and incredibly sad.

 

[LAborn]

I started to listen to this, but realized it’s almost an hour long. Did the FBI Agent explain why he doesn’t believe the family is involved? TIA

The FBI agent said it's likely someone who had worked on the house/in the house and knew what she had. Most people are very kind to workers, offering a cold drink, or bathroom use. Gives them a chance to case the house while the homeowner is unsuspecting. They went to rob her, and she woke up and that's when the original plan went sideways. He thinks it was a moronic split decision to take her and hatch the kidnapping plan. They didn't want to leave a witness, but maybe weren't prepared to murder her.

As far as the AG and SIL he said (starting at 23:00m approx). He said the focus on her house has to do with gathering evidence (digital info) about help AG hired for Nancy, all the electronics would be on Annie's stuff because she would have been the appointment maker since she's been doing this years and years. LE would view their house as almost an extension of Nancy's house because they were helping her, and why they were gathering info/evidence from there. He also said most people who are accused "lawyer up" and shut up. Elizabeth Smart's dad was a suspect, they look at and rule out the closest to the victim, and then move to the next ring of connection. Deep dive on Tomasso, he's a long time 6th grade teacher in the sciences, no criminal record and he said, "If they were hard up on money there would be a hell of a lot easier ways to get it, like robbing a bank than to do this. If you were really trying to get money from your 84 year old mom? Just wait a couple of years." The family doesn't fit the profile, he said.

 

[LAhiker]

That whole message is off.

"We received your message and we understand," Guthrie said in the brief video posted to Instagram. "We beg you now to return our mother to us so we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay."

Why send a message that you're going to pay instead of just paying? Why refer to your mother as "this"? This is very valuable to us. What is "this"? It's distancing language, which is a little bizarre.

Savannah Guthrie in new video pleads for mother's return: 'We will pay'

"Today" show host Savannah Guthrie and her siblings released a new video saying they have received a message and begged for their mother's return.

abcnews.go.com

I think "this" refers to the return of their mother. It's a very sad message. To me, it implies that they understand that NG is dead and are willing to pay to get her body back. But it also may be odd, especially if they don't know whether they're talking to the actual kidnappers or to some scammer...

JMO

 

[submarine7]

Yup, I totally agree with this, and I think it's a key point.

If the messages were sent using TOR (unconfirmed, just speaking in hypotheticals and opinion here), and LE was simply starting from that fact, with no particular person of interest, it's going to be a real slog to go backward through that and find the source. However, if there is already a person or persons who they think might be involved, checking if that person has been using TOR (or some VPN service, or another method of hiding) is much more straightforward.

I do think they have managed to reveal Tor identity in the past, but a seemingly impossible task that perhaps AI can assist in cracking?

 

[SMK777]

The FBI agent said it's likely someone who had worked on the house/in the house and knew what she had. Most people are very kind to workers, offering a cold drink, or bathroom use. Gives them a chance to case the house while the homeowner is unsuspecting. They went to rob her, and she woke up and that's when the original plan went sideways. He thinks it was a moronic split decision to take her and hatch the kidnapping plan. They didn't want to leave a witness, but maybe weren't prepared to murder her.

As far as the AG and SIL he said (starting at 23:00m approx). He said the focus on her house has to do with gathering evidence (digital info) about help AG hired for Nancy, all the electronics would be on Annie's stuff because she would have been the appointment maker since she's been doing this years and years. He also said most people who are accused "lawyer up" and shut up. Elizabeth Smart's dad was a suspect, they look at and rule out the closest, then rule out. Deep dive on Tomasso, he's a long time 6th grade teacher in the sciences, no criminal record and he said, "If they were hard up on money there would be a hell of a lot easier ways to get it, like robbing a bank than to do this". The family doesn't fit the profile, he said.

They definitely don't fit the profile of something premeditated.

I'll say no more....
MY OWN SPECULATION ONLY.

 

[moonglow123]

It was deputies from the Sheriff Dept that were there on Friday night. Not FBI. As for why they would be there? Because they still have no clue where NG is and they are leaving no options off the table. If they didn't and they find/arrest/charge a perp, a defense attorney would have fun with them not looking at all angles. JMO

It should be noted that the only thing we saw them leave with was 1 brown paper bag, and that doesn't even mean it was evidence, it could have been their own garbage that they made sure to clean up and remove.

Yeah. If he's not involved, I'm assuming they're still trying to rule him out and determine whether anything could've happened to Nancy in their home. If something did happen to Nancy in their home, I'm assuming they would've figured it out. Luminol etc.

If SIL is involved, I'm shocked that they still haven't been able to pin him down after a week+ of investigating him (if AB was correct.) Kidnapping, potentially murdering and hiding your own MIL in a short window of time and you do it so seamlessly 3 separate investigative bodies can't easily prove it? An accomplice wouldn't appear out of thin air and be untraceable, I assume there would be some digital or otherwise indication if he was planning something with someone.

It is possible they're still investigating him, but it would seem unusual to take this long if he was involved. But who knows.