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

[Love Never Fails]

In this case, I don't believe money was the motive. And I do not believe AG, or ther family members, abducted their mother for a bitcoin ransom.
Think past the crime. NG is now deceased and certain family members suddenly have millions. Not going unnoticed. That family member will now have to put on an innocent act for the rest of their life. Pretty hard to do.
Stranger to NG seems most likely.
Moo

ETA removed double quote

I don’t know what finances the family has. We can assume SG has a few million.
We do not know if CG or AG have a lot of money so how do you think they would get “millions”? I believe it takes 7 years to declare someone deceased without a body and even then, they would split any monies Mom may have had. So why would anyone have to “act” innocent? I’m not following your thought process.

 

[Momtoapug]

I think with this line of speculating it's more complicated. Finances cause major friction in one's lives (#1 cited cause of divorce). People murder over finances all the time.

But I don't think in this line of speculation it is totally cold-blooded and seems most people putting forth this speculation don't think so as well. More of an emotionally charged situation, maybe asking for a load over dinner, things go south, someone reacts emotionally and hurts the other by accident (oh my god what did I do!) then they double down and go along w/ a cover up. There are a lot of variations of course, and many versions of a less cold blooded plot that could have gone wrong.

People are flawed and do stupid, emotional things in heated moments (recently that news story of the two brothers playing a video game and the one brother stabbed his own sibling in the heat of losing a game).

But her daugher and SIL have a child right? Do we know if the child was home during dinner?

 

[SMK777]

What a strange thing for a sheriff to say. MOO

Perhaps he meant colleagues, political friends, attorney, etc.

 

[Love Never Fails]

What a strange thing for a sheriff to say. MOO

I was sure she had her own investigators from the start.

 

[osu]

I assumed Nancy was kidnapped for ransom. But as far as we know, no monies have changed hands. I thought LE said at the beginning that there was no crime scene in the home, except for the blood at the front door. But now they are saying there was a crime scene inside? I am getting so confused.
In my opinion, it sounds like this was an intruder planning a rape. I don’t understand why he would remove her body though. That sounds like a bit of a stretch. I haven’t heard of that before. I wouldn’t think a rapist would be smart enough to think off not leaving DNA. Come to think of it, It would have taken him a long time to undress out of his outfit and get out of there is twenty minutes time.
Maybe this whole crime was about a grudge against a family member. I am perplexed.

Article below from February 2nd after the first press conference. Nanos was describing the home as a “crime scene.”

Searchers were using drones and search dogs to look for Nancy Guthrie, Nanos said. Search and rescue teams were supported by volunteers and Border Patrol and the homicide team was also involved, he said. It is not standard for the homicide team to get involved in such cases, Nanos said.

"This one stood out because of what was described to us at the scene and what we located just looking at the scene," Nanos said Sunday. He was not ruling out foul play.

On Monday morning, Nanos said search crews worked hard but have since been pulled back. "We don't see this as a search mission so much as it is a crime scene," the sheriff said.

'Today' show host Savannah Guthrie's mother is missing, and authorities suspect crime

Speaking during a news conference, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said there are signs at the home indicating Nancy Guthrie did not leave on her own.

www.pbs.org

 

[SlimPickens]

So we're pretty confident at this point the original ransom letters (with the Monday deadline) were a hoax, correct?

Not really. The FBI seems to think that the original ones very well could be real, and I imagine that is due to some form of statements within them that confirm details of the crime that no one else outside of law enforcement is or could be privy to.

Heck, as far as I know it hasn't been confirmed that her medications weren't taken when she was taken. We have a plea from authorities and family that she needs to take her medications or she'll incur serious health problems, but I don't think they've disclosed that they were in fact left behind. We could infer from those pleas that a kidnapper didn't take the medications, but it could also be inferred that they were emphasizing that he needs to make sure to give them to her if he really wants a ransom.

JMO.

 

[WizPro]

We don’t know who instigated this.
We don’t know who the perpetrators are — or even how many there may have been.
We don’t know what the original intent was.
We don’t know whether something went wrong during the commission of whatever act was planned.
And we certainly don’t know what actually happened afterward.

The correct answer, when it eventually comes, has to connect all the dots.

The problem is, right now there are so few verified dots that there may be nothing meaningful to connect yet. Everything else is speculation layered on top of speculation.

 

[m00c0w]

Jacket Nancy Guthrie Kidnapper Wore Matches Aero Hex Windbreaker, Authorities Investigating

TMZ has been searching to determine what type of jacket Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper was wearing, and we may have found the match.

www.tmz.com

Jacket thought to be Aero Hex Windbreaker

The cuffs and waist are clearly different… TMZ needs to go back to covering celebrity gossip.

JMO

Edit: someone up thread posted a Walmart-available jacket that matches entirely.

 

[stmichael]

But her daugher and SIL have a child right? Do we know if the child was home during dinner?

We do not.

But purely in the line of this speculation there are a million schemes, plots, and sudden scenarios that could have transpired, and spiraled out of control.

 

[GoJacks]

Aero Hex Windbreaker

JMO i think the walmart cheepo versions I posted more closely resemble the wrist area of the jacket. do not see that scrunch area in the video

 

[LRinCA]

But her daugher and SIL have a child right? Do we know if the child was home during dinner?

This is a great question. FYI, Brian Entin just posted on Twitter that he's taking questions about the case for a show airing tomorrow night. I have no idea if he can answer certain questions, but it might be worth asking him if he knows or has a source that might know.

JMO, of course

 

[acutename]

The cuffs and waist are clearly different… TMZ needs to go back to covering celebrity gossip.

JMO

Edit: someone up thread posted a Walmart-available jacket that matches entirely.

in the actual video, the jacket looks fuzzy to me- like fleece. Is that just blur from the camera or real?

 

[Cristofori406]

So, no certainty at all on motive or how events unfolded. The hypotheses I am reading:

1. B&E with planned robbery that went sideways, leading to either unplanned murder and removal of her body, or injury and unplanned abduction. Variants:
a. Random
b. Targeted, because elderly, living alone, ease of access, etc., but not as SG's mother
c. Targeted as SG's mother (higher or more certain ransom payout)

2. Planned abduction to extort ransom. Variants:
a. Random
b. Targeted, because elderly, living alone, ease of access, etc., but not as SG's mother
c. Targeted as SG's mother (higher or more certain ransom payout)

3. Intimidation/fright attempt as payback for NG calling in a loan (leading to unplanned murder or injury/unplanned abduction)

4. Injured with unplanned homicide elsewhere, or murdered elsewhere, never returned home. B&E staged to mimic abduction and divert attention.

5. Staged, to draw attention to SG and elevate public sympathy for her / increase career mobility

6. Staged, to draw attention away from (fill in the blank)

What did I leave out?

Lantana man seems like he's taking his time. A robbery gone bad has the perps frenetic.

Someone commented that his body language reminded them of a teenager begrudgingly carrying out a task their parent asked them to do. That's different than body language of a person trying to cover up something bad they just did.

 

[Sakura2Sophia4Lucia]

I think they were deliberate misdirection. And it worked. When you legitimately kidnap someone you want it to proceed quickly. You leave a random note at the scene or you make contact quickly. You don't wait 40 hours, you don't want publicity, and you certainly don't send the ransom note to a news station. You contact the payer directly. And you don't just fail to complete the deal and disappear. I think whoever sent the notes is connected in some way but I think the notes are more likely part of a cover-up for whatever really happened. IMO

Totally agree that the ransom messages were a red herring. Took the focus off of the perpetrator. MO

 

[Love Never Fails]

Article below from February 2nd after the first press conference. Nanos was describing the home as a “crime scene.”

Searchers were using drones and search dogs to look for Nancy Guthrie, Nanos said. Search and rescue teams were supported by volunteers and Border Patrol and the homicide team was also involved, he said. It is not standard for the homicide team to get involved in such cases, Nanos said.

"This one stood out because of what was described to us at the scene and what we located just looking at the scene," Nanos said Sunday. He was not ruling out foul play.

On Monday morning, Nanos said search crews worked hard but have since been pulled back. "We don't see this as a search mission so much as it is a crime scene," the sheriff said.

'Today' show host Savannah Guthrie's mother is missing, and authorities suspect crime

Speaking during a news conference, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said there are signs at the home indicating Nancy Guthrie did not leave on her own.

www.pbs.org

Thank you for this.

 

[SlimPickens]

Here's a theory: is it possible the dna in the house was from vomit or urine (urine in an unusual place), such as being left when NG became distraught when this occurred, and causing one of those two fluids? That would be something they may not want to disclose to protect the family. It would also be something that would alarm family if they came into the scene and saw it.

It is certainly possible that vomit or urine is a DNA source from the home, but it is less likely that either would be used as a basis to infer that a serious crime had been committed against an elderly 84 year old lady living alone. In my view only her absence, a disturbed scene, and a significant amount of blood would create the conditions where that would be surmised as quickly as it was, and homicide being brought in to confer.

JMO.

 

[acutename]

Jacket Nancy Guthrie Kidnapper Wore Matches Aero Hex Windbreaker, Authorities Investigating

TMZ has been searching to determine what type of jacket Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper was wearing, and we may have found the match.

www.tmz.com

Jacket thought to be Aero Hex Windbreaker

costs about $70-80 online from what I see... so not bargain basement unless it is 2nd hand or stolen.

 

[thefragile7393]

He's bloviating. I'm pretty sure LE could easily "clear" SG and NG's church friends, for example.

I need to use bloviating in my vocabulary now.

 

[stmichael]

I don’t know what finances the family has. We can assume SG has a few million.
We do not know if CG or AG have a lot of money so how do you think they would get “millions”? I believe it takes 7 years to declare someone deceased without a body and even then, they would split any monies Mom may have had. So why would anyone have to “act” innocent? I’m not following your thought process.

SG is reported to earn $8M per year from her NBC contract. Most source have her net worth at $40M.

We have no idea of how liquid she is and what she can get how soon. A co-worker of her's Billy Bush on NBC has stated that he would not be surprised if NBC paid the ransom, though this would not be a part of typical "ransom insurance".

 

[turaj]

I don’t know what finances the family has. We can assume SG has a few million.
We do not know if CG or AG have a lot of money so how do you think they would get “millions”? I believe it takes 7 years to declare someone deceased without a body and even then, they would split any monies Mom may have had. So why would anyone have to “act” innocent? I’m not following your thought process.

do you mean NG a few million. SG is worth a lot more than a few million.