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

[FaviousM]

Okay, but if it can't communicate with the phone due to a wifi failure or jamming, how would it communicate with the cloud over the internet with wifi failure or jamming? What am I missing? Thanks!

I haven't fully fleshed this idea out yet as I've only recently come around to the idea that the videos we've seen happen, presumably, just before 02:12am

But

If I had to guess, they have a device on them that jams the WiFi and they started jamming it at 01:47am which gave LE the 'disconnect' time they've made public but then maybe the WiFi jammer turned off by accident or on a default timer etc, letting the camera reach the internet and therefore the cloud allowing those videos get to Google.

Maybe that's why the perp seems a bit surprised by the camera, as he assumed it was offline but when he sees it again it appeared to be back online (from what I can tell the light on the doorbell would look different if it was online vs offline). So he grabs some nearby plants to cover the camera until he can turn the jammer back on

But I'm literally just making this up as I go along. It's all my very recently formed opinion

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Okay, but if it can't communicate with the phone due to a wifi failure or jamming, how would it communicate with the cloud over the internet with wifi failure or jamming? What am I missing? Thanks!

Maybe I'm way off here, but I don't think we know anything about the wi-fi being jammed?

As far as I recall reading, the doorbell cam was removed from its mounting bracket and taken away by the perp, possibly damaging it first. It disconnected from her wi-fi either when damaged or when out of range.

Later, NG's pacemaker failed to sync with her phone, presumably because it/she was removed from the house while the phone remained there. So its reason for disconnecting was when it went out of range. (actually, I don't even know if the pacemaker-to-phone connection requires wi-fi -- it might be a direct connection or even Bluetooth I suppose)

That's all I recall hearing, nothing about her home wi-fi being jammed or turned off, at least not early enough to be the reason for any disconnections. Someone please correct me if this is wrong! MOO

 

[warp3dwing]

Okay, but if it can't communicate with the phone due to a wifi failure or jamming, how would it communicate with the cloud over the internet with wifi failure or jamming? What am I missing? Thanks!

You're right; the doorbell couldn't communicate with Google if its WiFi connection to the router (or router extender) was jammed. But internally, the doorbell will continue to work as if it were connected, and store A/V data in its internal buffer. If the doorbell reconnected at some point, it transmits that stored A/V data to Google (and presumably, Nancy's phone).

One possible explanation is the suspect planned to jam all the cameras but messed it up at some point. A momentary connection could've been all it took for the videos to be sent to Google. By the time the suspect disabled the camera, it was too late.

 

[OldCop]

If I follow what you are saying, you believe that someone asked for a 6 million dollar ransom for a person who lives in a million dollar home, that wasn't a million dollars when she purchased it? That would not make sense to me. Unless someone had knowledge of her finances and/or her family, 6 million is rather out of most people's budget, million dollar home or no, imo.

So to me, whoever asked for ransom knew who NG was. But that might not be who took her. Those ransom notes are such a sticky wicket.

I see what you’re saying, but if you are on the prowl for a profitable target, you see an 84 year old who lives alone in a million $+ home. You’re not going to research how long she lived there, how much the house cost when she bought it. You drive through the neighborhood and say to yourself, “Rich people live here.” “This person is an easy target.”

 

[OldPueblo]

Definitely. I live nearby and I’m gonna be honest, we did not lock our doors or worry about our safety before this. It was a good wake up call. My friends and neighbors have said similar. We also added a bunch of security measures to our house since Nancy was taken, as I’m sure many others in town have.

In Savannah's Today Show hometown visit in November, she asks her mom what attracted her to Tucson/made her stay in Tucson after moving here in the 1970s, and NG says Tucson is a "gentle" place. SG's and NG's love for this place on earth is palpable and something so many people here feel and understand. This only feels more heartbreaking for that feeling among many who live here that Tucson is beautiful, kind, and "gentle," as NG said. IMO.

I'm not sure the best way to link to that video here so bear with me if it doesn't work ...

 

[kevin1000]

Somebody up thread explained that there is a small hole on both the upper and lower edges of the Nest ring cam. Inserting something like a paper clip into the opening releases the ring cam from its frame. Maybe that’s what he was trying to accomplish with a stem of the plant?

All that is required is the perp to wrench it back and forth a couple of times with his hands for it to let go. BTW that camera would still be on until the batteries were taken out.

 

[wibbleflea]

Covered yes. But the two times I have held a flashlight in my mouth it was difficult to avoid losing saliva.
I seriously wonder if masked man didn’t leave some on the doormat.

For this reason, I’ve been puzzled by the choice of a bite light or whatever it was, rather than a head torch.

My head torch allows me to wave a hand up to the lamp to turn it on and off – no contact required. It’s rechargeable, lasts for hours, and is widely available. (I once used it for a long walk in the dark on unlit paths and was amazed at its effectiveness.)

Perhaps he used a bite light because it wasn’t very bright, and was less likely to be noticed. (Light from my head torch would be seen from a long way off.)

Perhaps he dropped the light straight into the backpack without handling it, and somehow managed to avoid loss of saliva.

 

[submarine7]

In Savannah's Today Show hometown visit in November, she asks her mom what attracted her to Tucson/made her stay in Tucson after moving here in the 1970s, and NG says Tucson is a "gentle" place. SG's and NG's love for this place on earth is palpable and something so many people here feel and understand. This only feels more heartbreaking for that feeling among many who live here that Tucson is beautiful, kind, and "gentle," as NG said. IMO.

I'm not sure the best way to link to that video here so bear with me if it doesn't work ...

I thought gentle was such a beautiful way to describe a place. I've never heard it used that way.

 

[Ghostwheel]

I see what you’re saying, but if you are on the prowl for a profitable target, you see an 84 year old who lives alone in a million $+ home. You’re not going to research how long she lived there, how much the house cost when she bought it. You drive through the neighborhood and say to yourself, “Rich people live here.” “This person is an easy target.”

Interesting. I could see that for burglary, but not for ransom. I suppose that I have a different perspective because my $265,000 house is now "worth" 1.25 million due to what I consider the fake housing inflation. Good luck getting anything near 6 million in ransom from ANYONE in my "million dollar " neighborhood. This is not to say there are not people who would be that silly to think that most people purchased these houses in the past five years at these prices, but once again, that takes "smart" out of the equation, imo.

I'm going with the likelihood that my perspective leaves me in a biased position where I think people understand housing prices and that vulnerable elderly are not as likely to have just purchased a large house at today's prices. I acknowledge that might not be common. But that is why I think if ransom was real, they knew who NG was.

Thank you for the response!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“You have to know what normal is to find evil, and this person’s phone would be considered the evil," Heather Barnhart, an expert with Cellebrite and the SANS Institute who worked on the Kohberger case, told the Daily Mail.

"If you think about Bryan Kohberger, his device was turned off, so the tower right near King Road probably wouldn't have picked that up at all. But when he left, he turned it on, because most people rely on their phones for navigation," she continued, adding, "Unless these people (Nancy's abductor) knew exactly where they were going their phone will be off and then suddenly ping. So, not just cell towers right by Nancy's home, but take it a few miles out, spread out and look."

"If the person ever scoped out the house in advance, is there an unusual ping to towers? So, look at normal behavior. If we live in the same neighborhood, our phones are going to constantly ping that tower. Which ones are outliers?" Barnhart said.

FBI Analyzes Data to Find Missing Nancy Guthrie, 84, After 28 Days

A forensic expert weighs in on what's likely going on behind the scenes.

www.aol.com

 

[kevin1000]

No, car was parked in neighborhood until one perp walkie-talkie instructed car person to bring car. One of the perps brought the car near the front at 2:20 or so. All loaded into car, 2:28 they drive off, NGs pacemaker connection ends. Car seen (maybe if it’s the White kia) 2:36 on camera on Camino real, heading toward River Rd.
JMO

Just a few questions. Why park a car, put on a stuffed backpack to disable one camera in an unprepared manner, go back to the car, take off the backpack (it's hard to drive or even be a passenger sitting with a full pack) and drive up? I found it difficult to find anywhere on the map where a car could park without sitting directly on the road or in someone's driveway (no public parking) I like the walkie-talkie idea as LE would know about phone use at the residence---but this implies at least two people a definite plan and most importantly--A place to take NG with facilities to keep her alive and hidden.

 

[VeronicaVaughn]

In Savannah's Today Show hometown visit in November, she asks her mom what attracted her to Tucson/made her stay in Tucson after moving here in the 1970s, and NG says Tucson is a "gentle" place. SG's and NG's love for this place on earth is palpable and something so many people here feel and understand. This only feels more heartbreaking for that feeling among many who live here that Tucson is beautiful, kind, and "gentle," as NG said. IMO.

I'm not sure the best way to link to that video here so bear with me if it doesn't work ...

This made me so sad for Savannah and her family.

 

[SaraSmile]

Wouldn't he be aware of ring cams catching his car? I still can't grasp why the vehicle wasn't captured by a neighbor's RingCam.

I'm thinking of how murderer Kaitlyn Armstrong was captured by one right from day one. It was the biggest piece of evidence against her.

Yes, I agree, hard to believe he wasn’t caught on a camera. He definitely had a car! He must have thought of this, he thought of a lot of other details! JMO
I get the impression NGs neighborhood, and maybe a lot of Tucson, are very interested in keeping the Wild West Wild! Dark sky, privacy rights, desert terrain, etc.

Wild West, Privacy rights? => hardly any cameras, hard to track a getaway car, catch criminals.
(Locals have said yes, lots of break ins in the high end Foothill area. Locals said Tucson has crime and cartels, so don’t know why not more cameras). IMO
Dark sky, great observatories stargazing=> very dark, criminals can act, cover of darkness.
Native plants, desert foliage=>rough terrain, lots of places to hide someone, hard to search.

I’m just trying to understand the mentality of few cameras, in an area where locals said there is a fair amount of crime.

JMO

 

[FaviousM]

Yes, I agree, hard to believe he wasn’t caught on a camera. He definitely had a car! He must have thought of this, he thought of a lot of other details! JMO
I get the impression NGs neighborhood, and maybe a lot of Tucson, are very interested in keeping the Wild West Wild! Dark sky, privacy rights, desert terrain, etc.

Wild West, Privacy rights? => hardly any cameras, hard to track a getaway car, catch criminals.
(Locals have said yes, lots of break ins in the high end Foothill area. Locals said Tucson has crime and cartels, so don’t know why not more cameras). IMO
Dark sky, great observatories stargazing=> very dark, criminals can act, cover of darkness.
Native plants, desert foliage=>rough terrain, lots of places to hide someone, hard to search.

I’m just trying to understand the mentality of few cameras, in an area where locals said there is a fair amount of crime.

JMO

There may actually be lots of doorbell cameras in the area but most of the homes are so far back from the road that maybe they just don't pick up passing cars?

 

[SMK777]

I’m just trying to understand the mentality of few cameras, in an area where locals said there is a fair amount of crime.

It's definitely difficult to grasp, but as you state maybe a "wild West" ideology going on.

 

[submarine7]

There may actually be lots of doorbell cameras in the area but most of the homes are so far back from the road that maybe they just don't pick up passing cars?

Lots of the houses don't even face the road.

 

[SMK777]

There may actually be lots of doorbell cameras in the area but most of the homes are so far back from the road that maybe they just don't pick up passing cars?

All of this was very fortunate for the criminal, sadly.

 

[wibbleflea]

There may actually be lots of doorbell cameras in the area but most of the homes are so far back from the road that maybe they just don't pick up passing cars?

Exactly right. These cameras don’t pick up cars in the dark when they’re in night mode and reliant on their own infrared lamps. The road is too distant for those lamps. If he drove in this area without headlights on, the footage could be useless. Someone who knew the area could do that, potentially. (Edited to add: on a full moon night, especially.)

 

[Data Sleuth]

You're right; the doorbell couldn't communicate with Google if its WiFi connection to the router (or router extender) was jammed. But internally, the doorbell will continue to work as if it were connected, and store A/V data in its internal buffer. If the doorbell reconnected at some point, it transmits that stored A/V data to Google (and presumably, Nancy's phone).

One possible explanation is the suspect planned to jam all the cameras but messed it up at some point. A momentary connection could've been all it took for the videos to be sent to Google. By the time the suspect disabled the camera, it was too late.

Interesting theory, sounds like something from the Mission Impossible movie series and a tactic that only highly trained cyber warfare folks could carry out. Not realistic to assume that street level criminals are that tech savvy.
My opinion only.

 

[Mauritius]

1.1 million dollar reward for a week or so now and still no arrest. Most would sell out their first born for that kind of cash. Only someone who doesn't need it and/or isn't interested in it..,

Agree, but now I realize that if that reward had been offered in those first days, yes, someone would sell someone else out for that money.

At this point after weeks of this massive and hugely costly investigation, massive news and online coverage, FBI director and the President publicly involved and interested… There is no way the person seeking reward won’t get caught up in accusations or charges for something -like “accessory after the fact” for helping person not get caught or for not coming forward earlier, their whole life will likely will be investigated too, there might be efforts (even by officials instructing the family) to not pay them if they had any connection to anything - even concealing evidence or whatever. I guess I’m realizing anyone that actually “knows” what happened and who did it might not just walk away freely with a reward.