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

  • #22,461
I went back and listened to the new conference from last Monday Feb 2nd last night! link in THIS post

I am not sure if it was the same one, but listening to it now with what we know, I feel like they felt she was taken, and was alive when it happened but JMO

In the Feb 2nd SO News conference: One thing that struck me as odd was, it was at 9am local Arizona time and they were not going to continue to search the area. They had searched the day before and he said overnight too, and even had a map of the areas they searched close to the home. Is that odd to stop the search that early in? He said that if you think you see her, take a picture, take a video and send it in <<< I didn't find this is a normal thing to say if they believed she was killed in the home? It's been awhile since I have followed a 'missing' person though, so maybe it's just me.
bbm

IMO, it's highly likely she left the property in a car. and if you assume that, i think it means the immediate vicinity of the house is no longer a particularly high priority search area relative to anywhere else. she could be anywhere.

why a car? my understanding from news reports is that the trail of blood starts at the door, continues down the walkway, and then has not been detected (or at least not reported) beyond that. if it stops at the driveway or sidewalk, IMO an obvious possibility is that the bleeding person entered a car. besides, how far are you going to carry a 150 lb person on a sidewalk in plain view. and/or how far will you make a person with mobility issues walk under duress? again, in plain view on the sidewalk. ... what logical possiblities are left? helicopter? tandem bike? zip line? hard to picture anything but a car.
 
  • #22,462
Yeah I know this horse has been beaten to a flat-line, but it seems some of the younger posters don't get this.

My MIL will not drive at night. I am pretty tired of having Sunday dinners at 2pm, but it is what it is.

Also a lot of elderly people are fiercely independent and stubborn and do things their way. She could have insisted on taking the Uber as her daughter and SIL were making dinner. Maybe she had a coupon she wanted to use. Maybe she just loves taking Ubers. People are people and have a ton of motivations/quirks others may not understand but they do.


Anyhoo, interesting to see the MSM narrative asking more about AG, I mean it's hard not to get curious why brush searches, neighbor questioning, and investigators coming and going gloved up with evidence bags are happening there.
Thank you for this wonderful explanation. And, it’s not just elderly people who take uber/cab. I don’t like to drive and will frequently take cabs to/from events or sometimes just to an event to meet my friends and then one of my friends will drop me off back home. So, this is not at all unusual for NG to Uber to daughter’s house and then for SIL to drive her home later.
 
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  • #22,463
They did not target this man b/c of his eyes. IMO

Maybe just think a little about how ridiculous it is to say that. They had a warrant and investigated a tip. Then questioned and released a poi. Nothing to do with his eyes. IMO
Is it ridiculous? He was a package delivery man in the Tucson area and the tip was likely he resembled him. What else is it? Obviously they had nothing else so he was released.

A lot of about this case is absurd. How about a Domino's guy being able to just walk up and deliver a pizza to the door step of a crime scene while Sheriff's and Fed agents surrounding the home didn't even notice?? lol
 
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  • #22,464
It has been suggested Nancy may have
a) had brain-fog or been groggy if she was woken up at 2am.
b) thought the man knocking was coming to collect her to take her to the church gathering

Alternatively, maybe Nancy didn't even think to check the cameras before opening.
Maybe, if she was half-asleep and answered on reflex. But there are full sidelight windows on each side of the door. I'll be very surprised if we find out that she opened the front door.
 
  • #22,465
Great line of thought, here.

This photo shows the porch a little bit closer up.

About 4-5 tile rows down from the front wall and 5 tiles over, there might be some slight shoe prints, but it's hard (for me) to tell.

I'd expect there to be more smearing and footprints considering the amount of blood and the chaos of an abduction. If it was a straight march to a vehicle, I'd expect a more linear pattern. Was NG struck just outside the door, or was she delayed here for some reason before moving/being moved toward the road?

Carrying someone over your shoulder is really hard to do, though obviously not impossible. The masked man doesn't seem particularly big or strong, so I have my doubts he'd be able to do that. Now, with a partner - one holding the legs and the other the feet - it would seem more doable to me.
Fantastic thought!
 
  • #22,466
Too hazy to really tell from those shots. However, I'm pretty sure there's something larger/bulky sticking slightly out of his right jacket pocket. ~0:14-ish. Right hand puts things into right pocket, so... 🤷‍♂️

Whatever it is, it seems distinct from the bag strap and doesn't look like a zipper pull or something else attached to the jacket as it seems there is mass/form to it within the pocket when looking from other angles and it is heavy/bulky enough to hold the pocket open a bit.

Looks like a knurled or striated surface, a tool or something. I could be completely wrong and it's the zipper pull or something soft, but it looks dense and I didn't see one on the other pocket.

Could be a no frills burner (trac) phone, but looks more like a low profile walkie talkie/scanner to me.

JMO.
 
  • #22,467
Iranian sleeper cell - that is the only thing that makes sense at this point.

It sounds crazy to me as well but this is obviously bigger than what any of us originally thought.

I think there are negotiations going on behind the scenes and Nancy is still alive.

The non payment of the bitcoin ransom and Savannah's solo plea makes sense now.
IMO-no. This makes the least sense along with cartels. iMO there is no logical reason an Iranian sleeper cell (especially with the turmoil going on in Iran right now) is going to target a random American celebrity’s mom with zero ties to to the Middle East. IMO I don’t see how that is logical
 
  • #22,468

What we know​

  • A man who was detained last night for questioning in the disappearance of “TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother was released after several hours, authorities said.
  • The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has yet to confirm his release.
  • The man, who identified himself as Carlos Palazuelos, told Telemundo that his house in Rio Rico, south of Tucson, was searched as part of the investigation. Telemundo is part of NBCUniversal, as is NBC News.
  • The FBI yesterday released security photos and videosof a potential subject in the investigation showing a person wearing gloves, a mask and a backpack who appeared to tamper with the camera at Guthrie’s front door the morning she disappeared.
  • Guthrie, 84, was dropped off at her home outside Tucson, Arizona, the night of Jan. 31 and was reported missing about noon Feb. 1.
  • On social media yesterday, Savannah Guthrie said she and her family believe her mother is still alive. “We believe she is still out there. Bring her home," she said.
  • Live updates: Man detained for questioning in Nancy Guthrie investigation is released
 
  • #22,469
MOO.

I would imagine the abductor, trying to prevent leaving any DNA from stray hairs, etc., wore fresh clothes to NG’s house. (However bumbling they may be in some ways, they seem to have managed not to leave DNA that got found–and some article said the ransom note bragged about that, though I don’t know if that was validated.) I was initially thinking the jacket was likely to be from Walmart since the backpack seems to be. I agree with others that the overall jacket style is pretty basic–but the zipper is not. It’s got contrasting piping on each side of the zipper rather than the zipper itself being high-contrast. I could not find any like it at Walmart online, with both the horizontal dark line across and the contrast zipper style. But I did find a soft shell that’s sold in Europe that is very similar to that style. I believe Pitch Stone is a Scandinavian brand. I do not know if it’s sold in the US. (I’m an American who moved to Scandinavia.)
 

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  • #22,470

What we know​

  • A man who was detained last night for questioning in the disappearance of “TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother was released after several hours, authorities said.
  • The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has yet to confirm his release.
  • The man, who identified himself as Carlos Palazuelos, told Telemundo that his house in Rio Rico, south of Tucson, was searched as part of the investigation. Telemundo is part of NBCUniversal, as is NBC News.
  • The FBI yesterday released security photos and videosof a potential subject in the investigation showing a person wearing gloves, a mask and a backpack who appeared to tamper with the camera at Guthrie’s front door the morning she disappeared.
  • Guthrie, 84, was dropped off at her home outside Tucson, Arizona, the night of Jan. 31 and was reported missing about noon Feb. 1.
  • On social media yesterday, Savannah Guthrie said she and her family believe her mother is still alive. “We believe she is still out there. Bring her home," she said.
  • Live updates: Man detained for questioning in Nancy Guthrie investigation is released
Im certain I saw a post earlier from the Sheriff's Department that stated he was released.
 
  • #22,471
Sometimes the motive is "just because."

It might be as unimaginable as that.

jmo
To take a body is weird though. Most people would do what they came there to do and leave. If they’re there to murder, they do it where they are. Dragging an 841year-old woman around is hard work and you could easily get caught. You also don’t send a ransom days later and not to the family. Usually you would also warn the family to not contact authorities or they’ll kill the person. They went right out and alerted the media bringing it to the attention of law enforcement. It makes no sense. Yet another reason the ransom sounds bogus. It would make more sense if she died elsewhere and this was staged to look like someone broke in and took her, but it would still be weird, taking her. If the ransom bit is bogus then this person, the perp who took her, is the luckiest person on the planet. They have someone creating a red herring for them without even asking.
 
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  • #22,472
Terrorist cells make statements early on to promote their cause and take responsibility. I'm not aware of any terrorist cells operating now as such, but I certainly remember the ones from 70s and 80s.
And why would a terrorist cell target a minor American celebrity’s mother? iMO I can’t make it connect in my mind
 
  • #22,473
To be clear, those things were suggested by you.

a) I doubt she was still groggy by the time she got to the door (in your imaginary scenario). She walks slowly; it took a while.
b) I think she knew it wasn’t yet day light, so it’s very unlikely IMO she thought it was someone scheduled to pick her up.

Alternatively, I think it’s very unlikely she willingly opened the door unless she thought her family was in trouble.
Or there was a ruse to get her to open the door. "I'm law enforcement, there is a dangerous suspect on the lose around here" "I'm from the utility company. There is a dangerous gas leak, we need to turn off your gas". Something like that.....
 
  • #22,474
My thoughts on the cameras, based on this article:

“'The cameras will record to the servers as long as they have internet. According to Nest, without a subscription, usually they are quickly overwritten by next images. But if the camera is disconnected, there should be nothing to overwrite on the server,' [longtime private investigator Andy Kay told Page 6]. Essentially, if someone does not have a subscription to the service, it’s almost like a livestream being sent to the server: new images override previous images. However, because this was the last image before the suspected kidnapper disconnected the camera, it’s the last thing that was sent to the server and therefore able to be recovered."

The footage we've seen is from the disconnected camera, which the perp was aware of or at least anticipated might be present. The other, later alert, reported at 2:12 a.m., is from a camera that the perp did not know was there and thus did not disconnect, allowing the footage to be overwritten. That could be a back door camera if they decided to enter through the back or it could be an interior camera, but regardless, it was one they were not aware of.

If it's from an interior camera, the window from 1:47 a.m. to 2:12 a.m. could've been spent trying to figure out a point of entry and/or pick a lock, force a sliding door, jimmy open a window, etc.

The 2:12 a.m. to 2:28 a.m. window is pretty clearly when most of the bad stuff went down.

IMO, this all points away from family. I'm totally stumped beyond that, though.
IMO- The perp seemed to be exploring the home, not executing a plan. In the front door video he didn't come prepared to cover the camera, but he improvises, then finally just takes it with him. I don't see him ever try the front door to see if it is unlocked. He seems very comfortable, not rushing, carefully stepping around, like he has done this before. He is having a hard time seeing at night, even though it was moon-bright enough that he left a shadow, he needed a flashlight to see the edge of the steps. He came prepared not to leave any DNA, he tucked his nitrile gloves into his sleeve and he never touches his face, even when the baclava is slipping over one eye, he never adjusts that ski-mask.
 
  • #22,475
Yet, no arrest, no real interrogation. Cars were turned back over and LE left like nothing happened. If that was their best lead at this point, the investigation is in trouble.


They took all their phones and searched his house/car (and gave them back). I believe since he was a delivery guy and said he may have delivered at that house that his phone pinged int he area and he somewhat fit the (vague) description. I think it was the phone link that made him tracked.

Still probably looking at him though.
 
  • #22,476
When I first saw him I thought he had a monobrow. And I also thought he had a blanket in his backpack.
 
  • #22,477
Anything is possible but it sure seems contrived to suddenly kill your 84 year old mother & then concoct an entire costumed show for a camera in 1 night..jmo
I'm not suggesting any particular suspect. Just someone intent on it appearing to be a kidnapping. This scenario could apply to more than family.
 
  • #22,478
My apologies if this video of bags being carried out has already been posted.


Looks like they are just retrieving things from the house to take to them to me, but he was wearing gloves which might indicate something else or just not wanting to contaminate any potential future processing (as a general precaution).

JMO.
 
  • #22,479
IMO, the masked person moves in a comfortable way & doesn’t seem stressed. His backpack is somewhat full, so I believe it was not a robbery or the backpack would most likely be empty.The intent was something different here. The way the person moves makes me feel like they walked her out carefully which keeps hope alive somehow in my mind.
 
  • #22,480
it came from head of FBI's twitter yesterday. Members were kind enough to provide me with link

Hiya TLCYA!! Long time no see! Finally was able to get my old account back with the help of SillyBilly!

This is my understand about the still pictures without the backpack and the pictures/videos with the backpack. I was trying to find a source, but can't find anything. BUT--if you put the statement into chatgpt. It kind of explains why. Here is what I put.

"Was there a statement made why the some images the FBI released of the Nancy Guthrie suspect appear with a backpack and some without"
Not sharing chatgpt here as I'm not sure if its an approved source. : )
 

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