What to know as Nancy Guthrie investigation reaches 6 months
CATALINA FOOTHILLS, AZ (AZFamily) — As the search for Nancy Guthrie enters its sixth month, here’s the latest on where the investigation stands.
The 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie was last seen at her Catalina Foothills home on Jan. 31 and reported missing the following day. Authorities have long maintained they believe she was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will.
Investigators expressed concern about her health, as she requires daily medication. She has a pacemaker and has dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues.
What investigators know
Blood was found near the front doorstep of her home, and the FBI later released surveillance video showing a masked man on the porch the night she disappeared.
The suspect is described as a man approximately 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10 with an average build. He was wearing black gloves and a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.
The gloves briefly became a focal point of the investigation after several were found in a field two miles from Guthrie’s home, but they were later determined to be unrelated.
Hair found inside the home was also tested and did not point to a suspect, authorities confirmed Thursday. Detectives did not elaborate on where the hair was found or whether it belonged to a man or a woman.
In February, CBS News also reported that a device to detect emissions from Guthrie’s pacemaker, a tracking tool called a “signal sniffer,” was deployed. The tracker is mounted on a low-flying helicopter that looks for low-power electronic signals.
Volunteers and search teams also scoured the nearby desert terrain in the weeks after she vanished, with a volunteer group also searching for her near the Arizona-Mexico border.
See a full timeline of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance as detailed by Pima County Sheriff’s Office:
Guthrie family cleared as suspects
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department officially cleared the Guthrie family as possible suspects in Nancy’s disappearance two weeks after her disappearance.
After days of online speculation targeted at the family, on February 16, Sheriff Chris Nanos said in an email, “To be clear…the Guthrie family - to include all siblings and spouses - has been cleared as possible suspects in this case. The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case.”
“To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple…please, I’m begging you the media to honor your profession and report with some sense of compassion and professionalism," he added.
A daughter’s desperate plea
Savannah Guthrie has made multiple public appeals since her mother’s disappearance directed at whoever may be responsible: “Tell us where to look for her.”
“It has been months since our mom was taken from us,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram reel Monday morning. “Our family is in agony. We are in a nightmare that will not end.”
“I know that you have tried to do things the right way,” she said. “So I’m asking you, begging you, to do the right thing now. Make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her,” she said.
Guthrie has posted several videos on social media since her mother disappeared, including another on Mother’s Day.
John Iannarelli, a retired FBI agent, said the videos serve a strategic purpose in the investigation.
“What we’re seeing with Savannah Guthrie trying to appeal to the kidnappers is humanizing this situation,” Iannarelli said. “This was a business transaction to the criminals, but to them, it’s very personal. It’s family.”
Iannarelli said public attention generated by videos like this one can be a key factor in resolving the case.
“Every time Savannah Guthrie puts out a video, the news reports, the public watches. All of this is keeping the public’s interest in this case. It’s that interest that’s going to help resolve this matter,” he said.
Guthrie’s videos have drawn thousands of comments, views, reposts and likes.
“This case is going to get solved by the help of the public. Somebody out there is going to come forward with a piece of information,” Iannarelli said.
Ransom notes: Some legitimate, some not
With the increase of eyes on the case, also comes the increase in bad actors. The FBI received several ransom notes over the course of the case.
“Some have been deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy. Other ransom demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such,” the FBI said in a statement.
On July 2, Derrick Callella, of Hawthorne, California, pleaded guilty to writing a fake ransom note to the family.
According to the FBI, Callella texted two family members on Feb. 4 and made a nine-second call to another family member.
Investigators said the messages were sent moments after the Guthrie family released their first video asking for proof of life.
He faces 10 years of probation with a sentencing set for Sept. 10.
The FBI said the case continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom.
Arizona’s Family sister station KOLD received two separate notes early in the search — one on Feb. 2 and a second on Feb. 6 — from someone claiming to have Nancy. Both were turned over to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. PCSD publicly released the notes on July 31.
The first note was addressed to Savannah Guthrie in early February and sent to local and national news stations. It stated that her mother was “safe but scared” and demanded $4 million in bitcoin for her release, with a deadline of 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 5. The note warned the ransom would increase to $6 million if the first deadline was missed, and threatened Nancy would be killed if payment was not received by a final deadline of 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 9. The bitcoin address was redacted by authorities.
The second note, sent days later and addressed to the Guthrie family, carried a starkly different tone. Rather than making demands, the writer expressed remorse, saying they were “sorry” and that they had not “fully grasp[ed] the seriousness of her physical condition.” The note made no ransom demand and instead claimed Nancy had died shortly after being taken, describing her death as heart-related.
The FBI has not said which notes it believes are legitimate.
A dispute over the early investigation
There has been an ongoing dispute about how the investigation was handled early into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
In May, FBI Director Kash Patel publicly called out the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Chris Nanos over the handling of the case, saying the FBI was kept out of the investigation for four days. Pima County supervisors have also publicly called for Sheriff Nanos to step down.
“The first 48 hours of anyone’s disappearance are the most critical,” Patel said during an appearance on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s podcast. “For four days, we were kept out of the investigation.”
Patel said once the FBI was brought in, agents helped recover Ring doorbell footage and worked with Google to access cached data tied to the case, efforts he said could have been done days earlier.
He also questioned the decision to send DNA evidence to a private lab in Florida instead of the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.
“We would’ve analyzed it within days, and maybe gotten better information or more information,” Patel said. “Our lab’s just better than any other private lab out there.”
Patel noted that because the case falls under state and local jurisdiction, those decisions were ultimately up to local investigators.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office disputed those claims, saying local officials and the Guthrie family notified the FBI and that the agency became involved without delay.
“Sheriff Nanos responded to the scene the night of the incident, providing immediate local leadership and oversight. A member of the FBI Task Force was also notified and present at that scene wo