Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, remains missing after authorities concluded she was taken from her Catalina Foothills residence in the middle of the night, Pima County Sheriff’s Office investigators working with the FBI said.
Investigators have released doorbell camera images of a masked individual and found drops of blood believed to be Guthrie’s on the front porch, but officials said the home showed no major signs of struggle. The investigation noted her pacemaker stopped syncing with monitoring devices, and that she left without her phone or medications, facts that heightened concern for her welfare.
Search activity has included ground searches, aerial support and cadaver dogs, though some teams are reportedly on hold. Authorities reviewed surveillance from multiple cameras and processed mixed DNA evidence from gloves recovered nearby. Sheriff Chris Nanos said the family, including Savannah Guthrie, Annie and their spouses, have cooperated with investigators and were cleared as suspects, while the family continues to offer a $1 million reward for information leading to her recovery.
Ransom Notes And Bitcoin Demand
Media outlets have received multiple alleged ransom notes and recent correspondence claimed to have seen Guthrie alive in the Mexican state of Sonora but also included a statement saying "she is dead," according to reports from TMZ and Parade. TMZ said it received two notes from the same person who previously contacted outlets and set up a bitcoin address created earlier this year for payments.
NBC forwarded the first of the recent letters to the FBI, and officials have not paid any ransom, with no deposits reported to the linked bitcoin address. A retired FBI supervisory special agent, Jason Pack, called the notes suspect, pointing to timing that coincided with Savannah Guthrie’s return to television and to contradictions within the correspondence. Pack said real witnesses usually contact law enforcement and that sending letters to media outlets undermines credibility.
The correspondent reportedly demanded one bitcoin in exchange for information, proposing half up front and half after a public arrest, and claimed to have been out of the United States for more than five years and to have no role in the abduction. Authorities are treating the communications with caution amid many tips and potential hoaxes, and the FBI and its Legal Attaché in Mexico retain investigative tools that do not require paying a ransom, experts noted.
