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

[tarabull]

FBI confirms DNA recovered from glove found near Nancy Guthrie's home

Investigators have obtained a DNA sample from a discarded glove that was found near Nancy Guthrie's Arizona home and appears to match the pair worn by a masked prowler seen in video footage caught by her doorbell camera before she was abducted two weeks ago, the FBI said on Sunday.

www.reuters.com

 

[factseeking]

Didn’t they just say cameras were also inside the home?

This was from the NBC News site this morning if this is what you're thinking of:

• 1:47 a.m.: Guthrie’s doorbell camera disconnects. Nanos said that the doorbell camera has not been located and confirmed there were multiple cameras at the home.

 

[wibbleflea]

Yes he seemed unprepared for it or thought it had already been disarmed. If you were going to commit a capital crime, I'd think he would have examined the crime scene beforehand. Or perhaps it was a routine B&E which went bad. Or the kidnapping or staging was being done on short notice.

I don’t know if his being unprepared or thinking it was disarmed fits what we see. Something about the hand positions and the lantana dance is off.

Could he have been shielding off part of the camera view and/or blocking the microphone as an accomplice was removing NG? I’m not sure that’s a better explanation, either.

If the recovered files contain audio, they’d be providing useful information to investigators. It’s possible to disable audio recording and transmission on a Nest camera. I hope it wasn’t done.

“When the microphone is off, your camera doesn't stream or record audio. When you first set up your camera and doorbell, the microphone is off by default.

“If you have more than one Nest camera, you can turn each camera's microphone on and off independently.”

Change Nest camera and doorbell audio settings - Google Nest Help

Adjust your Nest camera and doorbell audio settings to turn the microphone off or on, change its sensitivity and set up audio notifications. Turn the microphone on and off When the microphone

support.google.com

 

[Diddian]

I do wonder whether the backpack was full because he had burgled other premises before reaching Nancys? However, imo the backpack did not seem heavy and seemed to have a bulky item in it.

To me, it looked like the backpack was still stuffed with the tissue/packing paper the manufacturer or distributor stuffs it with to demonstrate the bag’s large volume as it sits on Walmart’s shelf before purchase.

 

[GlobeFireCandle]

I

and what about analysing the cameras inside her home which I heard they had.?

Re the people who say it’s weird to have that
My friend the other day told me her mum has them due to living many miles from her children but as they realise , it shows limited footage of the multiple places mum might fall, but are yet to develop a better ( agreed to ) solution.

Also , I had a thought … what if the kidnapper does actually have access to a prepared stash of her medication? To reveal proof of life now would highlight awareness of her medical history .

The ransom demands seem to have fizzled … what does that mean?they have given up seeking money ?

We’ve not been told if there were internal cameras, IMO I don’t believe she had them

I don’t believe this is a planned kidnap for ransom and even if it was I very much doubt they would give any consideration or care to medication needs.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Last week, several gloves were found near Nancy's home before being sealed in evidence bags by the Pima County Sheriff's Office, and shipped overnight for testing at a private lab in Florida.

Nearly 16 gloves were collected near her home, and most of them were used and discarded by searchers at the site, the FBI told the Daily Mail.


One of the gloves is different from the rest and appears to match the ones the unidentified masked captor was wearing in the doorbell video captured at Nancy's front porch, the FBI said.

Officials are awaiting confirmation on DNA of an unknown male profile that was lifted from the glove. Results usually takes about 24 hours to come back, the agency added.

FBI says glove found near Nancy Guthrie's home 'matches' man in video

No one has seen or heard from Nancy Guthrie in two weeks. The 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on February 1.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[cady]

Could this have been a home invasion that went bad so they tried to turn it into a missing person without even realizing who she was?

If so, probably AFTER realizing jmo

 

[BellaToothless]

Could this have been a home invasion that went bad so they tried to turn it into a missing person without even realizing who she was?

Then why not just leave her at the house?

 

[Emerald1328]

Since we know the Nest video took a lot of work to recover, I’m guessing it’s possible that parts of it were fragmented that the engineers had to put together. Is it possible that not every little bit in every frame could be recovered and they used AI to fill in any gaps (with LE’s knowledge of course) to make a seamless video? Even just little bits like parts of the eyes or size of the holes in the balaclava? I’m just wondering if it’s possible the video is not an exact replica and that could be a reason why the eyes/eyebrows and other stuff look a bit “off” to people. Sorry if this has been brought up, I try not to skip pages but if I want to eat or sleep and follow this thread at the same time, I have to!

 

[BrittMontero]

BBM

That would be great for LE but not so clever for the prep as every print-out has a unique "fingerprint" that allows someone to trace it back to the machine that made it... not just which model it is but exact individual machine that made the individual print, even if each machine was the same printer model. A fascinating fact I learned just recently!

Source: Printer tracking dots - Wikipedia

Right, that’s why I said they should dispose of the machine after printing the note.

 

[Arkay]

The ransom demands seem to have fizzled … what does that mean?they have given up seeking money ?

My hope is that some professionalism is creeping back into the case, and therefore LE and MSM are withholding pertinent information from us in the public. (As opposed to random podcasters who may say anything, even if unconfirmed).

I certainly HOPE that they are making progress and will tell us when and if they have some firm evidence.

JM speculation.

 

[Bodhi]

I agree. If you have a body or hostage in your vehicle, you don’t want to be stopped by LE. You want to hide them as soon as possible. However, it also depends on your relationship to the victim. Do you want to revisit the site for some reason or do you want the victim to be as far away as possible so there would be little to no connection to you.
I used the road to Mt Lemon as an example in reply to the post by @Trino

I agree with you on disposal sites. There are lots of pockets of desert close to Nancy's home that could conceal a body--areas along through roads without foot traffic or culverts, for instance. Your mention of Mt Lemmon seems plausible. You prompted me to share my early theory that Nancy could have been taken into the Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area / Mt Lemmon. It's close by. It can be accessed from nearby neighborhoods, trailheads, and roads that traverse it. Once off a trail or road, the dense vegetation and rocks in the flat, wide open areas or the crags in the rock faces could conceal a body or evidence. Air searches might have eliminated the flat areas near roads and trails. The outcrops in the lower rocky cliffs would make detection from the air difficult.

Given Nancy's physical limitation, It's not plausible that she was forced to walk away from her house or into the wilderness as Elizabeth Smart was. Posts here largely dismissed the idea of Nancy being taken from her home by off-road vehicle. Most ORVs are loud, they pointed out. Someone trying to be stealthy wouldn't use one on the roads in the neighborhood or to go through the open spaces behind homes. The noise an off-road vehicle is only a concern near houses. Once out of NG's neighborhood, the kidnapper could have transferred to an ORV and continued on.

After the video from the front door was released, I read an opinion elsewhere from someone familiar with the desert saying the kidnapper could be itinerant or camping. Based on his experience and the equipment he uses on off-road adventures, he thought the backpack looked like it contained a Starlink Mini. Initially, hiding out in the wilderness waiting for ransom seemed possible if unlikely. Even if that was the original plan, I fear too much time has passed. She's not alive, and the kidnapper is long gone. I think it is more than likely that a kidnapper would take an elderly victim into the wilderness area only as a disposal site.

The area outside of the neighborhoods is isolated and remote. There are plenty of places for a prepared kidnapper to hold a hostage or dispose of a body. I agree with previous opinions that well-intentioned untrained searchers going on unfocused searches would not be helpful. The area is too vast and unforgiving.

Pusch Ridge Wilderness

The Pusch Ridge Wilderness lies within Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona, USA, just north of Tucson. Spanning 56,933 acres (23,040 ha), the wilderness area conta...

peakvisor.com

In the image above, you can see 2 trials.

Pusch Ridge Wilderness

Explore the most popular mountain biking trails in Pusch Ridge Wilderness with hand-curated trail maps and driving directions as well as detailed reviews and photos from hikers, campers and nature lovers like you.

www.alltrails.com

 

[BreakingNews]

Last week, several gloves were found near Nancy's home before being sealed in evidence bags by the Pima County Sheriff's Office, and shipped overnight for testing at a private lab in Florida.

Nearly 16 gloves were collected near her home, and most of them were used and discarded by searchers at the site, the FBI told the Daily Mail.


One of the gloves is different from the rest and appears to match the ones the unidentified masked captor was wearing in the doorbell video captured at Nancy's front porch, the FBI said.

Officials are awaiting confirmation on DNA of an unknown male profile that was lifted from the glove. Results usually takes about 24 hours to come back, the agency added.

FBI says glove found near Nancy Guthrie's home 'matches' man in video

No one has seen or heard from Nancy Guthrie in two weeks. The 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on February 1.

www.dailymail.co.uk

So does this mean that searchers simple discard their gloves as rubbish in the area? That would be totally unacceptable for professional searchers in Australia.

 

[cady]

Then why not just leave her at the house?

On the chance that their DNA would be found on her body, maybe decided to move her away jmo

 

[korncrasy]

Sorry to keep coming back to the garage door—those of you with app-controlled garage doors, what could result in only an “approximate” open time but a definitive close time?

Back when I had a garage door, I had one of those clicker remotes and a button on the wall by the interior entrance door, which would occasionally malfunction and we did not notice in the moment. IOW, we would sometimes arrive back home, or go downstairs in the morning to find the door not quite closed, or even completely open if there was a sensor or remote problem.

Since NG left her home initially by Uber, she may not have noticed that her garage door was not quite secure from whenever it had been previously used. Then when she and SIL return home, would the app register differently than usual? Would you get an alert if there was a malfunction, or could the door have been tampered with? I know the sheriff has been criticized for some of his wording, but he really went out of his way to emphasize “approximately.”

Is the blue door below the smashed light an entrance to the garage?

 

[cathathorse]

Wasn’t he referring to the roof camera in that conference?

No- you have to listen very carefully as he is actually very judicious with his words in that press conference and in interviews since. He does not say it was smashed, but Michael Ruiz, a Fox News reporter, confirmed that there were glass fragments on the porch near where the camera was, which also lines up with Ashleigh Banfield's report that the cameras were smashed.

If anyone has a transcript of the Feb 5 press conference please post it-- I have looked and cannot find one.

 

[Friday Fan]

So does this mean that searchers simple discard their gloves as rubbish in the area? That would be totally unacceptable for professional searchers in Australia.

It's unacceptable here, too.

Also this glove is 2 miles from her house. Lots of people carry gloves. People who walk their dogs, drug users, people who work in construction. It could be anyone....

 

[jtfolden]

Yes he seemed unprepared for it or thought it had already been disarmed. If you were going to commit a capital crime, I'd think he would have examined the crime scene beforehand. Or perhaps it was a routine B&E which went bad. Or the kidnapping or staging was being done on short notice.

My doorbell notification is loud and would wake me up. Also women are lighter sleepers than men. Most older women report difficulty sleeping. So more likely an older female would wake up with a phone alert.

Even if he thought it had been disarmed, he should have had a tool if he planned trying to get in that front door - but he apparently has nothing at the ready. It was easier to pull up a plant to cover the camera than pull a tool out.

The motion notifications from my doorbell camera sound like every other notification on my phone so depending on how many notifications she gets, it may not have been notable. She also had a hearing aid which she apparently didn’t have in as it was still in the house. If she also used the Do Not Disturb feature on her phone when sleeping, she wouldn’t have gotten audible motion alert notifications either. :-/

 

[SouthAussie]

No- you have to listen very carefully as he is actually very judicious with his words in that press conference and in interviews since. He does not say it was smashed, but Michael Ruiz, a Fox News reporter, confirmed that there were glass fragments on the porch near where the camera was, which also lines up with Ashleigh Banfield's report that the cameras were smashed.

If anyone has a transcript of the Feb 5 press conference please post it-- I have looked and cannot find one.

9:26 Uh, the doorbell camera. Um, it it was removed. We know that, but we're not
9:32 confirming that any cameras were smashed or destroyed around the house. I don't
9:38 know where that came from, but that's something we're not confirming.

There is a transcript button in the link that I used to pull up the transcript. But you need to click on "more" under the video description to see the transcript button.

 

[shonyakay]

No- you have to listen very carefully as he is actually very judicious with his words in that press conference and in interviews since. He does not say it was smashed, but Michael Ruiz, a Fox News reporter, confirmed that there were glass fragments on the porch near where the camera was, which also lines up with Ashleigh Banfield's report that the cameras were smashed.

If anyone has a transcript of the Feb 5 press conference please post it-- I have looked and cannot find one.

I am not sure if they were smashed. The suspect took the doorbell camera with him.

Michael Ruiz could have been mistaken thinking that some of the tiny white lantana pieces on the porch were glass.