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

[LRinCA]

To me it still comes back to why was she removed from the house? Usually a criminal will break in the home and do those things to the person and then leave. It’s much more complicated to bring the person with you, especially an elderly person

100% this.

But if it was an act of revenge, the mastermind (?) behind it all would know that the not ever knowing could destroy a person/family.

MOO

 

[girlhasnoname]

Surely one day isn’t a long time for a first ransom request to arrive though?! I don’t think a ransom kidnapper would want to send a ransom demand before they see that the crime has been reported in the news, otherwise they lose the effect of their demand becoming a story in its own right, and the initial shock effect of “What happened to the victim?” setting in with the family, to provoke fear and worry, leave them to “stew in their own juices” for a wil, scared and wondering what could have happened, without knowing anything concrete.

JMO

Curious why would a kidnapper also send the ransom note to TMZ of all media outlets? That has had me stumped and just seems weird. That and the $6 million Bitcoin ransom. I think the ransom wasn't the main motivation here. He ll, it all seems weird and disorganized to me. Poor dear Nancy.

JMO

 

[joe jones]

The reason I think the perp knew she was an older woman is because so many people in Arizona* are "locked and loaded" (as they always say in our local NextDoor group). Whether or not he/she knew she was connected to someone famous is not as certain to me - but I do believe he/she knew she was vulnerable and would be easy to overcome - versus some big guy coming to the front door with an automatic weapon.

*Perhaps the "locked and loaded" thing is different in the Tucson area, but it very much a culture in parts of Phoenix.


All just my opinion/speculation.

but still people creep all over peoples gardens and homes, we have seen lots of video throughout this case of intruders wandering up to peoples homes trying to break in,

 

[thefragile7393]

The reason I think the perp knew she was an older woman is because so many people in Arizona* are "locked and loaded" (as they always say in our local NextDoor group). Whether or not he/she knew she was connected to someone famous is not as certain to me - but I do believe he/she knew she was vulnerable and would be easy to overcome - versus some big guy coming to the front door with an automatic weapon.

*Perhaps the "locked and loaded" thing is different in the Tucson area, but it very much a culture in parts of Phoenix.


All just my opinion/speculation.

No it's about the same IMO for a lot of people here.

 

[Nikynoo]

I have checked the history on my own garage door app. My husband and I both park in our garage. Our average time to open the door, drive out, close the door. OR, Open the door, drive in and close the door is 3 minutes. We both use the app or the remote to shut the door from our vehicles, rather than walking to the mounted door closer just inside the house.

My history doesn’t take into consideration another person exiting the vehicle and walking into the house.

This 2 minutes is an extremely TIGHT timeline IMO.

What if, garage opened at 9.48 precisely and closed at 9.50 and 50 seconds? That’s almost three minutes

 

[wibbleflea]

A quick recap of the info about 11th January. No new info here but looking at this one thing shows how messy the public communication is for this case.

First, something unofficial: on 13th February (early morning, meaning she's talking about 12th February), Ashleigh Banfield posted a video in which she said this:

Something else that law enforcement was doing today. The FBI was going around and asking all of the neighbours within a two-mile radius of Nancy and her driveway to look at their Ring [sic] cams. […] Early in the day, the reporting came out that they were just asking for January 11th, 9 till midnight. […] And then it changed […]

She goes on to describe the later request for footage from the whole month. The quote begins at 38m32s. This link should start at the right place.

There was also an alert on the Neighbors app requesting footage from that date. People assumed that it came from the Pima Country SD but someone quickly told Nicolas Bogel-Burroughs (New York Times) that the request wasn’t from them but from a neighbour. Link to his post on X. I'm guessing that the neighbour posted that alert after being asked about footage from 11th January, starting at 9 pm.

PCSD later told people to look for the blue checkmark on the Neighbors app to verify that alerts claiming to be from them were genuine. Link here to their post on X.

PCSD did later request footage, but it was for the whole month of January (starting 1st Jan) and up to the date Nancy was found missing. Link here.

I'm not as negative about the sheriff as some people here but I do think the department's public communication is poor. No one should take the sheriff's words literally when he speaks publicly, even about searches and suspects.

I also think investigators are interested in footage from Sunday, 11th January – they've just gone about their communication in a messy way.

 

[Trino]

Every page I open has this case as the lead story. I understand that is most likely because it's what I click on.

However, I have just realized the Minnesota news has completely vanished from my pages. I pulled a search and stories are still being written, but not with the fury and fervor of before NG vanished.

No likely a connection, IMO, but when people ask "what are we being distracted from?" my mind goes "hmmmmm".

Interesting theory. I'm Minnesotan, and "things" are still happening here. You are correct in that national news erronously believes the surge is finished. Also interesting is national news stories have not found NG.

First priority should be to locate NG. We lived in Tucson a bit, keep saying to check in the desert, probably not far out from Tucson. My husband said the same. Posted this before, but around 5,000 immigrant bodies are probably in the Sonoran Desert. If NG is deceased, the abductor(s) aren't going to keep a body around their dwelling, and the desert is huge, isolated and prime.

 

[diggndeeperstill]

LE asking for January 11th footage specifically has been confirmed by Sheriff Nanos and he said there was a valid reason for it.

Timestamp: 11:40

Yea, that sounded weird to me and I don’t think he meant it specifically. I can see him misspeaking here especially since the written tweet says otherwise. That’s my interpretation.

 

[girlhasnoname]

That’s been controversial as John Ramsey was friends with the DA, always having lunch together over the years, and they based it on touch DNA which is also highly controversial. It could have come from anywhere.

The OP asked for a circumstance where LE outright cleared a person(s) in an ongoing investigation. That is one, whether right or wrong. Another example of poor crime scene management IMO.

 

[warp3dwing]

NO ONE HELPED HIM, IMO. Who is helping him? I don't see anyone helping him! He and the bitcoin , ransom person are probably the same person. OR, the bitcoin person may be an acquaintance of his who knows the perp is obsessed with SG and will reveal his name for a price. Perp may also be a nerdy, bookish type who is somewhat internet savvy. He has been stalking SG online for awhile. Instagram, NBC apps etc. MOO

I lean toward it being one person as well. A misogynistic, angry, incel type, although he may have a professional or calm demeanor in public.

I think the suspect sent the ransom messages and the tip-off messages to add confusion and keep the circus going.

 

[findbushey]

It feels abundantly clear to me at this point that LE has absolutely nothing.

 

[GlobeFireCandle]

I also think it is one person involved in the disappearance but that the ransom is an opportunist or hoax

 

[thefragile7393]

The OP asked for a circumstance where LE outright cleared a person(s) in an ongoing investigation. That is one, whether right or wrong. Another example of poor crime scene management IMO.

the DA isn't LE though

 

[OldCop]

I have a sincere question to ask @OldCop and @MassGuy, everyone else please feel free to respond too - If LE/FBI knows for a fact that a potential person (SIL) has been cleared by them, why not publicly announce it? Besides them having a reason why he hasn’t been cleared, would there be another reason why they wouldn’t share it? If so, what would the reason(s) be? TIA

Usually, when LE says a person has been unequivocally cleared, it is because the person has a rock solid alibi that makes it impossible for them to have committed the crime. However, there are always cases where the suspect has a solid alibi, but has hired someone else to do their killing for them.
LE does not like to “clear” anyone until they are absolutely positive who the actual perpetrator is. Until that time, they should keep all options open. Hence the often heard phrase, “Everyone’s a suspect.”.

 

[Pharmasgirl]

And now due to the ransom notes he actually gets videos from her directed to him.
Interesting. I've always been on the side that thinks it's a stranger who took her, but hadn't thought of it like that.

Have always thought perp’s interest was solely in SG.
The only way to her is NG!

 

[maskedwoman]

I’m sure she thinks she’s helping but this was not commissioned or issued by officials and the public is going to see this sketch and run with it. They could easily overlook a good suspect because he (or she) doesn’t look like this sketch. It rubs me the wrong way.

I understand. I'm a bit on the fence about it myself. However, it sure will be interesting how close her sketch is once an actual suspect is identified.

 

[Nikynoo]

The Sheriff is chatty. He gets himself into trouble when he is not concise, and his own opinion gets mixed into the facts of the case. He says there will be no updates, and then gets back out there on camera talking about the case. I take everything he says with less than a grain of salt.

My own thoughts on what happened keep changing, and there is not much information out there for anyone to draw a conclusion. I think there was more than one bad person at Nancy’s house, and I don’t believe the purpose was kidnaping for ransom. I think something may have gone wrong, and Nancy was removed from her home because the bad peoples’ intent did not go according to plan. I think there may have been a pivot, and everything went to sh*t after that.

I’m on that hill with you.

 

[Trino]

Mother with adult son living with her fits the stereotype of a marginalized. socially awkward, male who would have a delusional, loving, relationship with SG and would stalk her to satisfy his yearning to consummate or at least satisfy his yearning. THIS PERP IS A STALKER. I have said this here for 2 weeks. He can't have SG. He wants her attention. He goes to the mother's house and maybe is looking for something personal left there in her mom's house. He then takes NG to get SG's attention. He probably works very little, watches SG daily, believes everything she says on TV is actually a coded message of love to him. He may actually have told someone along the line that he has a special relationship with SG. Look for an unmarried male with low self esteem, few friends , no significant female, long standing, dating history. THIS IS YOUR PERP. Celebrity stalker that has targeted SG as his partner. MO

NO ONE HELPED HIM, IMO. Who is helping him? I don't see anyone helping him! He and the bitcoin , ransom person are probably the same person. OR, the bitcoin person may be an acquaintance of his who knows the perp is obsessed with SG and will reveal his name for a price. Perp may also be a nerdy, bookish type who is somewhat internet savvy. He has been stalking SG online for awhile. Instagram, NBC apps etc. MOO

Why all the emphasis upon the perp? Why not searches and Tucson requests to look around properties? Organized searches ringing Tucson? Along Mt Lemon? Note it's 26 miles from top to bottom of Mt Lemon - a lot deserted. Where is NG? Finding NG is a time element: meds, age. The perp can be found later.

 

[HoveringWombats]

How is it possible that the feds can’t track down the sender of the emails? We are focused on the “recovered” video footage. Also what about the roof camera?

JMO, I think you might be overestimating how hard it is to obscure your origin on the internet. Routing your activity through countries that don't cooperate well with western law enforcement and/or through systems that don't keep detailed logs is not rocket science, and can dramatically slow down LE's ability to follow the path. Even if they can eventually do it, it can take a very long time.

Also, FWIW I have not seen any reporting that emails were sent, but if anyone does have confirmation of that, I'd love to see it. The reporting I have seen said that it was sent via the "tip submission system," which sounds like a web form, not an email. That doesn't dramatically change what's involved in tracing it, but it does make some difference. Of course, so many messages have been sent to so many different media outlets at this point that it's very possible there was a mix of emails and other methods.

Source for the "tip submission system" reporting: What we know about the ransom notes in the Nancy Guthrie case

 

[rosesfromangels]

I’m sure she thinks she’s helping but this was not commissioned or issued by officials and the public is going to see this sketch and run with it. They could easily overlook a good suspect because he (or she) doesn’t look like this sketch. It rubs me the wrong way.

This could be said about any police sketch. I think her sketch is excellent, and in the end I believe you will see how brilliant it is.
If interested, you can learn about how these forensic sketches are created, and then her sketch may make more sense to you.

Amateur opinion and speculation