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

[LaLaw2000]

I was hoping for some good news this morning. This case has been twisting my brain into a pretzel. Hoping Nancy is recovered or rescued soon!

Hello, NoeticSoul. Been a long time. I hope for the same things. I was hoping the medical helicopter the other night had Nancy aboard enroute to the hospital. The helicopter was in the air at the same time the house search of the guy LE had stopped and detained.

 

[Spectrix]

dbm

 

[girlhasnoname]

1. What occupations use a mouth flashlight?
2. Has a mouth flashlight been featured in recent TV, movie, online games?

I know someone who uses one. He works on big injection molding machines that have dark barrels with lots of moving parts, and needs light but his hands free. I'm sure there are many other uses.

 

[ssarahbg]

I agree with some of this. Think about the calculus of risk and complexity vs. payout. Kidnapping seems like a high-risk, complicated, messy affair with a low liklihood of success (whatever the goal) and a high liklihood of things going sideways quickly. It seems mad, frankly. Why risk it?

Defrauding seniors of their retirement over the phone seems like a less risky and "more likely to succeed" approach to extortion. (I'm not endorsing this.) That's me assuming that the goal of a kidnapping is extortion.

I think this was something else, went sideways, and became an unplanned kidnapping.

However @ssarahbg : What goal do you think was driving a strategy of scaring her? To what end?

Maybe to get her to sell the home? Move away? Someone who wants the property or could benefit from the sell. Again just MOO

 

[unresolvedmystery]

So... he's proposing that Savannah Guthrie kidnapped her own mum and is now trying to extort money from herself via bitcoin. Can he not comprehend how ridiculous this sounds?

While it may not be SG, I firmly believe that family are involved in this and LE are just waiting to prove it

 

[connie9030]

is it possible that the mask is designed to look like a person wearing a mask and therefore those are not real facial features that we see. and perhaps it has a built in light where your mouth would be. This person appears to be old and weak to me. Perhaps a love interest of NG. Maybe he walked her to his house.

Most think he is holding a small flashlight between his teeth. He knew it would be pitch black on the front porch. Darkness is a criminal's friend. That's why he was in no hurry working at the front door. I would not live in a town where I can't at least have a porch light, especially if not allowed to have street lights.

 

[Curiousobserver]

My amateur's investigative advice:

This guy looks relaxed like he has done this before. He went right for that foliage to cover the camera. Speculation: that has worked for him before somewhere else. Look for burglaries with that detail.

I am still of the opinion that this was a burglary gone wrong/SA. The person knew Nancy from some casual encounter as a laborer or delivery person or the criminal was lurking around that neighborhood looking for the darkest house.

 

[connie9030]

Does a clean up guy need a gun hanging from his belt?
ETA: The gun was meant to intimidate others, the clean up guy doesn't need to do that. Unless it is just immature bravado.

Yes, I agree those a good points. I can't wait to see how much bravado this guy exhibits when LE puts handcuffs on him!

 

[Mauig’ma]

1. What occupations use a mouth flashlight?
2. Has a mouth flashlight been featured in recent TV, movie, online games?

I’m a woman who owns a thin pencil like light. I keep it in my vehicle. I too put it in my mouth to use for searching for things dropped down the sides of my seat. Grandkids lose a lot of things in between seats. Candy, money, bus tags, gloves etc. I’m retired and have no other need for it except finding the lost items. Moo imo

 

[Cassie P]

So... he's proposing that Savannah Guthrie kidnapped her own mum and is now trying to extort money from herself via bitcoin. Can he not comprehend how ridiculous this sounds?

It sounds like he wants SG to put pressure on others to get a lie detector test?
This guy's statement is rubbing me the wrong way too.

 

[girlhasnoname]

Can you get fingerprints off the inside of gloves?

Maybe not fingerprints, but DNA unless the perp had another pair of gloves under those found. Those look like kick boxing gloves to me, not the easiest to manipulate small things while wearing them. JMO

 

[Cassie P]

I know someone who uses one. He works on big injection molding machines that have dark barrels with lots of moving parts, and needs light but his hands free. I'm sure there are many other uses.

So mechanics, factory workers, plumbers, electricians?

 

[TMich6811]

I’m not digging for the comment but re: APS, there is suspected abuse (by whomever took her) and unlawful imprisonment here. It would be an appropriate referral even without other reasons.

 

[Cassie P]

Maybe to get her to sell the home? Move away? Someone who wants the property or could benefit from the sell. Again just MOO

Yes but they just lowered the property value. Who wants to buy a house in this area now?

 

[connie9030]

The FBI knows what time the masked guy was on the front porch. The video footage wasn't time stamped for us to see but the time would be known from the sequences of captures from the camera, not just that night. The FBI is not going to tell us it seems. I think the guy had already been in the house and the backpack had the indoor cameras in it, possibly a laptop and tablet. Plus any jewelry, cash, and small electronics that would fit. I don't think he worked alone and the other guy or girl was still in the house with Nancy probably making her get dressed and so forth. (if it was a kidnapping). Nancy was probably bleeding from fighting back.
They were probably parked a distance away, and one of them also had to get the vehicle they left in to transport Nancy because we know she couldn't have walked very far.
I stopped posting very much when I saw the pics and video of the masked guy because it literally make me nauseous to think that it was what Nancy was awakened to.
I so hope that the gloves are not a plant by another sick monster. The gloves will leave prints due to the oils in the skin. I have to wonder if the gloves were turned inside out when found. Someone using gloves very often will pull the gloves off inside out.
I have no hope of catching up because the thread is moving so fast. The family has been on my mind nonstop since this senseless tragedy happened.

That'a really good point. The cameras are in the backpack! I too felt sick when I realized the horror Nancy went being awaked by that lunatic.

 

[no nonsense]

Hadn’t seen this before. Is the photo real?

Law enforcement thought Nancy Guthrie's smart camera was disconnected, but Google Nest still had the tape | Fortune

Google's privacy policy — which users often blindly agree to after purchasing a device — makes clear that videos can be captured when a device is offline.

fortune.com

 

[Cassie P]

I’m not digging for the comment but re: APS, there is suspected abuse (by whomever took her) and unlawful imprisonment here. It would be an appropriate referral even without other reasons.

I agree, it looks like a social worker from Adult Protective Services made a home visit and left a card. Which might be appropriate if they thought an older person had wandered off?

 

[tkcrockett]

Most think he is holding a small flashlight between his teeth. He knew it would be pitch black on the front porch. Darkness is a criminal's friend. That's why he was in no hurry working at the front door. I would not live in a town where I can't at least have a porch light, especially if not allowed to have street lights.

I’ve been thinking about porch lights too. In images fbi released we see lights behind masked man. Initially I saw folks comment maybe car lights. That’s frequently corrected to be porch lights from house across from Nancy. So, they could use porch lights?

 

[Cassie P]

My amateur's investigative advice:

This guy looks relaxed like he has done this before. He went right for that foliage to cover the camera. Speculation: that has worked for him before somewhere else. Look for burglaries with that detail.

I am still of the opinion that this was a burglary gone wrong/SA. The person knew Nancy from some casual encounter as a laborer or delivery person or the criminal was lurking around that neighborhood looking for the darkest house.

If he had done it before, why not bring something specially to cover up the door camera? Can he count on shrubbery to be present at every robbery?

 

[303gmf]

Yes but they just lowered the property value. Who wants to buy a house in this area now?

Me! I’d snap it up immediately