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

[moonglow123]

Definitely has been a thought on my mind regarding a burglary. But so has been many other scenarios that I just cannot make sense of. Lifelong resident of Albuquerque and the criminals are definitely brazen and bold here. Still hopeful the reward brings some answers, although I am becoming uncertain poor Nancy will ever be found. So sad.

Yeah, agreed. I know daytime burglaries are more common, but nighttime burglaries definitely happen. Many ending in confrontations with the homeowner.

I know nothing was stolen here as far as we know, but I do think it's possible they broke in through the sliding door and Nancy could've confronted them before they could do what they set out to do. Or perhaps she refused to do something they demanded of her, like transfer money or hand over her bank card. They got angry, potentially harmed her, kidnapped her so no evidence of them would be left behind.

But who knows, could genuinely be anything, burglary gone wrong, something darker, the ransom thing, someone kidnapping her to get at Savannah... I do hope we'll have answers eventually Burglary was not my first thought, but I don't know anymore.

 

[SaraSmile]

I've been mulling over this as well and had wondered if she sometimes had saturday dinner at daughters and then spent the night versus taking an uber home, which could mean a thief with second or third hand knowledge might have assumed she would not be home. However, the fact they were armed leads me away from that theory. I'd like to know the statistics on armed home robberies versus an unarmed, I would think the vast majority are not armed, but I honestly don't know.

My impression is that most burglaries are during the day, when people are at work, robbers don’t want to meet anyone, they just want to steal, get away unscathed.
The robbers that go at night, when someone’s clearly home, used to be called a “ hot prowl”. This means the robbers are willing to meet and even take on the homeowner, they carry knives or guns, for cooperation, or to be able to get away. Could be violent.

JMO

 

[Charlot123]

This gave me the chills, because I think this is spot on.

We have a neighbor who is in his mid 60's. Lived here all his life and lives with his elderly mom (she is mid 80's) in the house he grew up in. He's a bit rough around the edges, to put it mildly, but pretty much harmless (I think). He's one of these "self employed handymen" who do jobs here and there for locals. He often tells us (unsolicited) about plumbing jobs he had to go back to because the sink he installed "leaked little bit and now she's all upset." You get the picture.

He's one of those people who talk loud and offer a consistent stream of unsolicited advice and love an audience more than anything else. We have all likely met the type.

Here's the tie in to what you wrote. Every now and then he is asked to help out as part of a larger work crew as a laborer for a local legitimate contractor on a high end job. Every time this happens he (again, unsolicited) tells everyone who will listen about every minute detail of the house. Whose it was. What he saw inside. How fancy the place was. All of it.

I will hear the same (long) story 5-6 times between him showing up in our yard to tell us about it, him on the phone walking around his yard yelling into the speakerphone to tell whoever he's talking to all about it, and then him telling the story to a bunch of buddies while they all get hammered in the garage (again, he has one volume: full). I can only assume he tells it other times too.

Here's a guy who just wants to feel important and wants to share that he got to meet and work on ______'s home. In his mind, he's trying to impress you. He means no harm (probably). But he associates with some people who give me the creeps just meeting them for 2 minutes. What wheels start to spin in their heads? Who knows.

OR they tell people they know, to impress them that their buddy worked on ________'s house.

I can absolutely see this type of scenario unfolding here.

Sorry. I haven’t followed the case recently but you are so right!

Sometimes people are invited to do the job in a very expensive house because they have unique skills.

In old times one of such very skilled laborers, whose reputation was by a word of mouth, used to post what he did. And something else that caught the attention in the house. The owners didn’t mind, but that was a generally prosperous city with some poor areas as well. I wonder if it is more common than we think.

 

[nycpizzaparty]

This may have been discussed upthread, but is it possible the car was rented as opposed to the perp(s) using their personal car?

I was wondering if cars that were just sitting on a car dealership lot have been used in this crime? Obviously someone with access.

 

[LRinCA]

I read about a 911 call in Tucson at or around 3 am; however, I question whether such a call really happened or if it's just internet static (as I like to think of things I see elsewhere re: this case). It's more about the description of what was happening and the automobile it was happening in.

More on the 911 call:

The gist:

Jacob Owens a journalist from KVOA News 4 Tucson, took to X to report, "Here near the end of Day 25 into the search for 84 year-old Nancy Guthrie. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos tells me that a 911 call from the night of Guthrie's abduction, about a woman hanging out a car window a few miles from her home and screaming, was found to be NOT related."

Nancy Guthrie cops drop concerning update on 911 call reporting ‘woman hanging out of car'

In a disturbing update, it has been revealed that a "chilling" 911 call was made to police on the night Nancy Guthrie disappeared.

www.aol.com

 

[factseeking]

Do people think that since LE believe the perpetrator(s) are local, it makes the Savannah Guthrie stalker theory less plausible? I mean, what are the chances that someone with such disturbed and irrational thinking just happens to live in the same city as her mother? That seems pretty unlikely, right? Way too coincidental otherwise imo.

MOO the SG stalker theory has never appealed to me with this case. If she's the object of some twisted fantasy by a psychopath I'm doubtful that person would be in Tuscon. There's an argument that they could live anywhere of course but like you, it seems very unlikely to me.

 

[Trish51]

I was wondering if cars that were just sitting on a car dealership lot have been used in this crime? Obviously someone with access.

That too.

 

[agnesgrey]

I still think they intended to take her. jmo

I do too. It was the whole point.

 

[Napoli]

Do people think that since LE believe the perpetrator(s) are local, it makes the Savannah Guthrie stalker theory less plausible? I mean, what are the chances that someone with such disturbed and irrational thinking just happens to live in the same city as her mother? That seems pretty unlikely, right? Way too coincidental otherwise imo.

I think that's a fair point. IF the perp is an SG stalker, whether because he is in love with her or has a personal or professional grievance, it would be a little too convenient that they live in the area. I mean he could have moved there in the last year or 2 to be closer to her and her family in some weirdo way. Nice try to dissuade me from my theory..lol. .You know where I stand. hahaha jmo

 

[SaraSmile]

I still think they intended to take her. jmo

I hear you, re NG being targeted to go.
I do think she was targeted, and I originally thought, something simple, like NG had to be gone because she saw something she shouldn’t have. Local young people stealing or doing drugs, afraid they’d be turned in. Maybe NG didn’t even notice, or maybe she talked to them, knew them. Anyway, They got paranoid, decided NG needed to go. Just another idea.
JMO

 

[buffalogal]

It just seems odd that they knew she was there and if she wasn’t, they had possibly blown their chances of pulling this off.
Just some thoughts, hope it makes sense
MOO

I think it would be more odd for her to not be home on a Saturday night. Did she frequently travel?

 

[Diddian]

What is the thought process of the night time robber? Why not go during the day when people are not home typically?

Why take the higher risk level going into an occupied home. Killing someone even accidentally when committing a robbery is felony murder.

In my area, the home invasions that occur at night are related to armed thieves who have followed and learned the habits of small time business owners who take their day’s receipts home to put into a home safe rather than drop them into the commercial lockboxes at a bank. They want to invade after the receipts are there and also when the business owner is there to open the safe for them.

 

[LRinCA]

People Magazine:

"Nancy’s home was not returned to the family today. Sheriff Nanos released it to the Guthrie family and announced it two days after Nancy’s disappearance. It was never out of the family’s possession: The Sheriff’s Department"

https://twitter.com/x/status/2027212970808557977

 

[mickey2942]

This may have been discussed upthread, but is it possible the car was rented as opposed to the perp(s) using their personal car?

Car rentals now can be absolutely untraceable. You can rent a car online, not from an agency, but just a website, someone who is renting a private vehicle. Upload a credit card, can even be a loaded one, venmo, PayPal.

Nancy Grace is on tv now, making a big deal about a random car in Tucson at 2:00 am, and several others. She is cray. Tucson always has stuff going on, there are 24 hour Casinos, night workers. This is hardly Belgrade, MT. Tucson is a 24/7 town.

 

[cady]

I do too. It was the whole point.

May have been for ransom, but I think that she passed away and they had no proof of life, and did not want to reveal the whereabouts of her remains, because DNA of theirs from her remains would have eventually gotten them caught. Horrid, but that's how I see it. jmo various ransomers thought they might get some money without producing a live person, or a deceased one and wouldn't have known where her body was. jmo

 

[cherryleaf]

MOO the SG stalker theory has never appealed to me with this case. If she's the object of some twisted fantasy by a psychopath I'm doubtful that person would be in Tuscon. There's an argument that they could live anywhere of course but like you, it seems very unlikely to me.

At times I have thought someone may be infatuated with AG or her writings and actually attempting to somehow act out some of her published writings in their own interpretation of her art.

 

[agnesgrey]

May have been for ransom, but I think that she passed away and they had no proof of life, and did not want to reveal the whereabouts of her remains, because DNA of theirs from her remains would have eventually gotten them caught. Horrid, but that's how I see it. jmo various ransomers thought they might get some money without producing a live person, or a deceased one and wouldn't have known where her body was. jmo

My feeling is, and I hate saying this, that it was a sexual predator.

 

[Lebowski]

I'm beginning to think the simplest explanation is probably the best explanation. These were a couple of guys who burglarize homes in this area, that got caught off guard by someone in the dark and injured her, perhaps fatally. They wrapped her up in a tarp or blanket to control or conceal her. One ran out to get the vehicle, the other went out front to remove the camera so the car could pull up, They went back in thru back and carried her wrapped body out the front door. I'm thinking in a tarp now because it would allow blood to drip. Perhaps there was no plan and they just got in too deep during a burglary? I am behind in reading posts so apologize if this is a redundant theory.

I was also thinking burglary gone wrong, but semi-planned and aimed at something specific like hidden valuables or a safe. it would explain needlessly waking her, and the unusually long time the perp(s) spent at her house (trying to get information out of her that she refused to give?). if a safe in particular, the odd fact that they took her might be explained by wanting more time to get a combination from her. would also explain bringing a weapon, which AIUI is unusual for burglars but in my theory they expected to confront her and needed to coerce her.

or -- yes -- not planned and they hurt or killed her because they were having trouble controlling her, and just happened to make the odd choice to take her when they left.

but apparently the sheriff said it is not a burglary gone wrong. so if we assume he had good reason for saying so, all that is off the table.

 

[mickey2942]

My feeling is, and I hate saying this, that it was a sexual predator.

A lot more of that goes on in nursing homes than is reported.

Six women. Three nursing homes. And the man accused of rape and abuse

She is 53 and trapped in a facility for the old. Her left arm hangs limply at her side; in the right she cradles a baby doll she named Little Missy. Saliva drips from the corner of her mouth as she talks about her invisible boyfriend.

www.cnn.com

 

[Derdew]

Looks like a run of the mill silver Kia Soul to me. Any airport Hertz or Avis or Budget has those.

JMO.

Sure hope they think to check rentals car places