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

[vereb]

My leading theory

my leading theory is still that they wanted her to withdraw or transfer a large amount of money and were ignorant of her medication needs and she died while in their possession.

I've been thinking about something similar, that perhaps they meant to take her to an ATM, but something happened and she passed away, then they dumped her and only learned the next day that she was the mother of someone rich and famous, hence the delayed ransom note which would only have been an afterthought. But this theory doesn't explain all the LE activity on the streets near AG's home, so maybe some piece is missing still.

 

[armchairagatha]

My leading theory

my leading theory is still that they wanted her to withdraw or transfer a large amount of money and were ignorant of her medication needs and she died while in their possession.

What are her medication needs? Other than blood thinners?

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I want to have faith in the talented women and men of the FBI but lord it seems like Kash is bungling this.

I am wondering the same thing....
I am trying to read as many "breaking news" reports as I can.... TRYING to find the WHY of this detention.

Was this done, specifically, by FBI?

 

[Bobban]

Yeah there’s just not enough information for the general public to make an ID.

If it’s a successful tip it’s going to have to come from someone that knows the person intimately.

And maybe that tipster that called in did have a close relationship with the person detained. Could just show how hard it’s going to be to ID this guy

The kind of tip they're probably hoping for would be something like "A guy I work with has a backpack like the guy in the video and he hasn't come in to work for a week."

 

[ly502]

Source confirming that Uber driver was female:

CNN.com - Transcripts

 

[connie9030]

Calling in a tip doesn't mean the FBI should run out and arrest someone. It's called INVESTIGATE.

Amen sista! Not too long ago I saw the same conclusion drawn about tips received in another high profile case. Some felt the police should arrest the person based on the tip. That's not how "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" works.

 

[Strangeworld]

iMO some people are stating to let this case get to them

Honestly, the case got to me the minute I heard about it. It is tragic that they still haven't found Nancy

 

[The OG]

I want to have faith in the talented women and men of the FBI but lord it seems like Kash is bungling this.

I'm not a fan of Patel, but I've seen no evidence that he is bungling this particular case. I liked the communication from the sheriff, but he has really crapped the bed with the CSI. Missed cameras, prematurely releasing the scene, etc.

 

[elliefant]

I am wondering the same thing....
I am trying to read as many "breaking news" reports as I can.... TRYING to find the WHY of this detention.

Was this done, specifically, by FBI?

The official statement said it was local LE detained him (I’ll try to find it). But they wouldn’t do it without FBI knowing would they?

ETA : https://xcancel.com/PimaSheriff
“Earlier today, Pima County Sheriff's Department deputies detained a subject during a traffic stop south of Tucson. The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy
Guthrie investigation.”

 

[GlobeFireCandle]

I don't think we should assume she was home at 2:28am. It is common for pacemakers to transmit data only once per day and usually in the middle of the night according to this pacemaker monitoring company: Remote Monitoring: Frequently Asked Questions - PaceMate®

So the pacemaker monitor reported that it was not able to connect at 2:28 am because that's the standard time each night that the monitor tries to connect with the pacemaker. She could have been gone much earlier.

It said ‘lost connection’ at 2.28am so that implies they have data that shows connectivity up to this point, which is probably based on the Bluetooth connectivity history on the phone.

 

[Bobban]

He lives in that area . 'Uh oh, that guy someone said had too pretty of eyes for a delivery driver just turned south!"

They're checking every tip and on the day they releas images one is on the move south, not difficult to think they're gonna want to check it out in a bit of a panik.

 

[connie9030]

Calling in a tip doesn't mean the FBI should run out and arrest someone. It's called INVESTIGATE.

That's right. Detained and released was the correct protocol. Released doesnt' mean "cleared".

 

[vereb]

Source confirming that Uber driver was female:

CNN.com - Transcripts

Thank you!
Bringing the relevant quote from the transcript here for reference:

LAVANDERA: And Jake, we spent some time this afternoon speaking with the sheriff. He told us that Uber driver had been interviewed. It was a female driver, that they had seen video from inside the car that everything appears to be fine. It does not appear that driver is going to be a suspect in any way.

 

[HoveringWombats]

Yes. A true crypto “expert” would not have a BTC ransom sent to an address where it sits for more than milliseconds. News reports indicated a small deposit was made into the wallet and had not been moved. That’s a rookie move. Tells me this person doesn’t understand that art and speed of remixing crypto. A true expert would have already written a program to instantly move any deposit made into wallet A into a crypto remixer (such as Monero) where decoy transactions are used to confuse the trail. Or… so I’m told

Right. I just want to be clear about one thing here, though. There are two possible conclusions people could take from "you'd have to be a real expert to pull off a successful crypto ransom."

One is, "well, then an expert must have done this. We're dealing with someone super sophisticated."

The second is, "this is not how an expert would do this, therefore we are not dealing with someone super sophisticated."

I believe the second, and it sounds like you do too, but I worry that people are seeing mildly technical explanations of what would be required, and jumping to the conclusion that it's the first. I just don't think that's the case. Thinking of bitcoin and having a bitcoin wallet address to put in a ransom note does not suggest that the person is an expert. I will believe that they're an expert only if and when they receive funds, move them out of that wallet, and get away without detection. Until then, I'm assuming this could be any fool who googled how to use bitcoin.

 

[BurnerForDaddy]

Such a wild pendulum swing here from “the dude police say isn’t a suspect is totally the guy that did it!” to “They only went off of his eyes???”

We have no idea what police have or don’t have, and breathless speculation is not fact.

JMO

To be clear, while it was happening there were major news outlets saying police believed there was a major break in the case and that they don’t want to say more to jeopardize the investigation. NBC broke into the Olympics to report on it. It seems like LE indicated to media off the record they thought they had something big. It’s not necessarily our fault for believing something big was occurring.

 

[m00c0w]

Amen sista! Not too long ago I saw the same conclusion drawn about tips received in another high profile case. Some felt the police should arrest the person based on the tip. That's not how "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" works.

Probable cause is the standard for an arrest, not BARD.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

@thefragile7393 , are you local?

If so, are you aware of this newscaster, Ford Hatchett??? I feel he is conducting a good interview here.

HIS interview with the detainee is the best to me, because it was immediate, fresh and more authentic (Before this fellow starts talking to all media for his 15 minutes)

Ford Hatchett ABC15 Tucson

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021489057495478375

 

[subaw0067]

Interesting. That would explain why it took so long to send any ransom demand (if it was the same people, ie not the hoaxer one) - it was Plan B.

This is exactly my thought.

 

[Spectrix]

I don't

What are you basing that the kidnapping took so long on?

The door nest camera disconnects at 1:47 a.m.
A figure (person/animal) is registered as being on camera at 2:12 a.m.
Nancy and her phone (which was found at her home) part ways a distance enough for her pacemaker app to show a disconnect at 2:28 a.m.

That is lightening fast considering Nancy had mobility issues.

Going by the timestamps, it appears as if the fellow in the ski mask was still wandering around the outside of Nancy's house 25 minutes after the door camera disconnected, and that was after spending god knows how long fumbling around the front porch trying to cover the camera with flowers.

This is not a seasoned kidnapper, and yes, 41 (plus) minutes to retrieve an old lady from her home is a very long time.
For goodness sake, did they stop and have a cup of tea together before leaving?

 

[cady]

I question whether it was really a "tip".....I think it was probably a result of the tower/phone dump and he happened to get caught in it because his phone pinged that tower (he may have been delivering Door Dash nearby). But the tower pings dump is really an important tool, especially since it "appears" that the creep who broke in to NG's was carrying a cellphone. JUST MY OPINION