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

[stmichael]

What still strikes me as completely implausible is an 84 yo woman answering her front door after 1:30 a.m. Even if the suspect was banging on it - even more reason not to answer it. I would imagine if the noise woke her up, she would be frightened and check her phone.
~moo~

That's an assumption.

I have an elderly mother about NG's age with much more security on a similar property. God bless her but she just doesn't maintain any PERSEC. Leaves the alarm off, will answer the door at night, constant glass half full naivete. She is not on meds and does not wear hearing aides like NG. And I constantly coach her about security.

Someone elderly who is startled at night may not make the clearest decisions and may go to the door and open it thinking the welded steel security door would suffice (which in most cases it would), but then be intimidated and coerced by the Latanas man brandishing what appears to be a firearm (which is what I get from the Nest footage). She may have checked her phone couldn't get a clear picture and the man banging on the door with a ruse might be enough (maybe he even knew her or knew something convicing that got her to the door), especially in a neighborhood where elderly people have said in interviews that they don't even lock their doors because they believe it to be so safe.

To me it's quite plausible.

 

[browneyes]

This is a general question for the group. Would you have suspicions if you noted a reporter who had referred to Nancy in the past tense (i.e. she "was" vs. "is) - more than once - during an interview that took place on February 2nd?

Wondering if I stand alone in thinking that's kind of bizarre, especially so early on?

I wouldn’t. IMO

 

[SMK777]

she noted that the most statistically likely suspect is often someone very close by, sometimes even a neighbor’s teenage son.


That’s what makes me wonder whether investigators, both the FBI and local Pima County detectives, might be casting too wide a net because NG is SG’s mother

Snipped by me for emphasis:

I think you make a very important point.
I hope LE will begin to think along the lines of a narrower focus.

 

[LRinCA]

Black gloves? Never have i seen black gloves on the side of the road, never. Md here, is it a western thing or a landscaper thing.?
Just baffling to me.

Jmo

I've posted this before re: gloves -

My husband and I live near a parkway and one day we decided to walk along it to the convenient store about a mile away. In the space of a mile I counted 15 gloves. Of note, homes in our community are maintained by many different landscapers as well as pest control companies, etc. They often travel in trucks with rakes, shovels, etc. in their truck beds and I assume this items fly off as they are coming/to our community.

ETA: we live in the Phoenix area

 

[TheDinks]

This is a general question for the group. Would you have suspicions if you noted a reporter who had referred to Nancy in the past tense (i.e. she "was" vs. "is) - more than once - during an interview that took place on February 2nd?

Wondering if I stand alone in thinking that's kind of bizarre, especially so early on?

Can you give the context please, even link to interview...

Am just thinking out loud... did the "was" refer to Ms Guthrie herself or things she did ?

 

[tbgo]

Yes, they brought in US Border Patrol dogs. They blue shirt in Nancy's front yard was hers and used as a scent article.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023911617868476741

And they just left it there?

 

[JoeFromLB]

I don't know what to think anymore about this strange case. I hope she's alive but my hope is getting weaker with every passing day...

 

[VTHOMM]

Well, if benefit from her death was the motive it should have been looked at. I just keep thinking how Jon Benet would not get justice because her murder was masked with a kidnapping.

Hmm. At this point I'm leaning this as an intentional killing "gone wrong" - meaning THEY came to harm, fearful of DNA (because she likely did try to fight) so went ahead and took her.... OR she passed prior to the guy shoowinh up on her camera. Hethey were hired. The ransom letters are bogus, or rather from an opportunist/s. There was no intent to rob at all.

 

[TheDinks]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2025688862903943415

{ mod snip: Comment removed because you did not offer a link to your statement of fact}

 

[aafromaa]

This is a general question for the group. Would you have suspicions if you noted a reporter who had referred to Nancy in the past tense (i.e. she "was" vs. "is) - more than once - during an interview that took place on February 2nd?

Wondering if I stand alone in thinking that's kind of bizarre, especially so early on?

I don’t think I would primarily because on the 1st the Sheriff acknowledged the homicide division was involved and on the 2nd he said he had stopped the search & rescue teams and sent them home as he didn’t think of the area as a rescue mission but as a crime scene. None of us wanted to acknowledge the possibility that NG was deceased on the 2nd. Most of us don’t want to give up hope now but even if we think that she is not likely alive now (on the 22nd) we can’t decide on whether we think she was alive when she left the house that day or perhaps died later. I think I’m more curious about why the sheriff who had his homicide unit involved and shut down the search & rescue efforts early on is still saying he thinks she may still be alive now than I am about a reporter who used past tense weeks ago.

 

[Napoli]

she wore hearing a ids so what would she hear if they were out?

Who knows? About 15 years ago, we were all asleep. Every blaring alarm in my home went off. We were not elderly nor hard of hearing. Cops at the door. POINT OF STORY... People can sleep through anything! NG might be a deep sleeper and we know she is hard of hearing and uses hearing aids. MOO

 

[VeronicaVaughn]

Can you give the context please, even link to interview...

Am just thinking out loud... did the "was" refer to Ms Guthrie herself or things she did ?

The "was" referred specifically to NG. I'm going to assume it was a slip up for now, but it has been reported to authorities just to be safe. I am not comfortable sharing the information here at this time.

If I need to delete my prior messages, I am happy to do so. I'll report my own post just in case. MOO.

 

[BigCityAccountant]

And they just left it there?

Thinking about why this shirt might be significant and what it could possibly tell us. Why was it left there? I'm beginning to think Nanos correctly stated NG was taken from her bed. Here's why. If she was in her p.j.'s when she was taken, she would have wanted to grab extra clothes. I know I would. She leans over to the chair (or whatever object she would leave her clothes on) and grabs her shirt and pants. She continues to hold onto them, until one of them is dropped accidentally while she is being man-handled out the front door and doorway. OR

This is the source of the DNA from the perp(s) They reached over into her hamper or pulled the clothes off the chair or object they were on and lost them on the way out the driveway.

Of course, all just my opinion.

 

[Napoli]

It is rare for medical workers to wear multiple gloves unless in the operating room in cases of known or possible/suspected communicable diseases or when implants are being placed. Even still the gloves worn are by the surgeon, scrub techs and any assistants (not the rest of the staff) and are thin, tight surgical gloves. Generally, the staff will wear scrubs and likely a jacket +/- an undershirt, which is not much different than normal people in a cool workplace. They don personal protective equipment (PPE) like plastic or paper fabric gowns over clothing/scrubs for interactions with patients that have easily communicable infections (like C. diff) and then remove the PPE upon exiting the room so that they don't transmit infections to other patients.

BBM
It's the 'unless" that I am considering. I am looking for THE POSSIBILTY of deranged delusional lovesick stalker who MAY have experience in infection control, and understands the need for gowning and gloving as it relates to transfer of bacteria and in this instance can apply that knowledge to transfer of DNA. That was my only point. THINK BASIC. All hospital employees have to sit through a boring infection control, gown and glove blah blah movie every year. Just a point to consider that my deranged staker might work in that environment with rotating shifts that would render him available to kidnap and hold a person without his absence being noted. JMO MOO

---

 

[QueenBofOB]

An infirm 84 year old woman is not a good fit for a high energy working dog like a german shepherd.

To say this was "so preventable" comes uncomfortably close to victim blaming. IMO

I strongly disagree. If a dog was a bad idea, they wouldn't be used for people in wheelchairs or sight impaired. Many times, just the bark will scare off an intruder. I cannot imagine how frightened that poor woman was, when she was awakened by a masked, armed criminal by her bedside, in the dead of night. If nothing else, I hope everyone who has heard about this case, will take measures to secure their homes and those of their loved ones.

 

[Moonchime]

tmz seems quiet on the ransom notes now. is that because they stopped? Has anyone been in custody since the last note?

You make a good point. Now I'm wondering whether more notes arrived and the FBI instructed him to stay quiet about them, or if the messages have simply stopped coming.

 

[TBYOOL]

This is a general question for the group. Would you have suspicions if you noted a reporter who had referred to Nancy in the past tense (i.e. she "was" vs. "is) - more than once - during an interview that took place on February 2nd?

Wondering if I stand alone in thinking that's kind of bizarre, especially so early on?

I don’t. Without the context obviously, I can see a situation where someone is asked about NG and the response references a past meeting or event with her. “She was great,” for example, as the speaker recalls meeting her in the past. Or “she was a delight to have on the show…”

 

[EncyclopediaBrownJr]

The "was" referred specifically to NG. I'm going to assume it was a slip up for now, but it has been reported to authorities just to be safe. I am not comfortable sharing the information here at this time.

If I need to delete my prior messages, I am happy to do so. I'll report my own post just in case. MOO.

Wow I just watched Billy Madison last night!

 

[shonyakay]

But, if you have DNA from 2 different people as someone up thread had mentioned, 2 brothers, or a man and his cousin, the DNA would be convoluted and need further analysis to separate. Thus, not leading to an exact match. I personally think this is highly probable in this case.

Additionally, I wonder if one of the persons could be related even distantly to NG, and her DNA and the 2nd perp's might be convoluted. Not to say a family member is involved as some here have speculated, but just throwing out scenarios that might be complicating the separation of the DNA.

Correction he has a felony charge pending from last year. It is still open. However, if you are even charged with a felony in Arizona they take your DNA when you are processed. Or at least that it what Google tells me. Lol.

That is a good explanation for the mixture and that could be the case.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

Who knows? About 15 years ago, we were all asleep. Every blaring alarm in my home went off. We were not elderly nor hard of hearing. Cops at the door. POINT OF STORY... People can sleep through anything! NG might be a deep sleeper and we know she is hard of hearing and uses hearing aids. MOO

I slept through my next door neighbors' house on fire and seven! firetrucks there with lights and sirens