As a doable deadline was set for Monday for Nancy Guthrie’s household — together with her daughter, “At present” host Savannah Guthrie — to pay a ransom to get her again, specialists mentioned regulation enforcement seems to nonetheless be making an attempt to find out if the true kidnappers are behind the calls for.
In two unverified notes despatched to media shops, the one that claims to have kidnapped the 84-year-old Guthrie from her Arizona residence set a 5 p.m. PT deadline for the household to pay a ransom in bitcoin.
U.S. journalist and tv host Savannah Guthrie, accompanied by her siblings Annie and Camron, speaks in a video message, addressing that they’re keen to pay for the discharge of their aged mom, Nancy Guthrie, who went lacking from her Arizona residence a number of days in the past, on this display seize obtained from social media video taken at an unspecified location and launched February 7, 2026. Savannah Guthrie by way of Instagram/by way of REUTERS
Savannah Guthrie By way of Instagram/by way of Reuters
Legislation enforcement officers have mentioned they’re taking the notes significantly, however haven’t confirmed their authenticity.
“There hasn’t been a number of proof. You will have an abductor speaking, however we’re not even certain of that but as a result of there was no proof of life on both emails or textual content, no matter they obtained,” mentioned retired FBI particular agent Wealthy Frankel, a former hostage negotiator for the bureau.
Over the weekend, Savannah Guthrie and her brother and sister launched their third video to the doable abductor since their mom disappeared from her Tucson space residence someday between the evening of Jan. 31 and the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
“We acquired your message and we perceive,” Savannah Guthrie mentioned in a video on Instagram on Saturday. “We beg you now to return our mom to us so we are able to rejoice together with her. That is the one manner we may have peace. That is very helpful to us, and we pays.”
On this picture offered by NBCUniversal, Savannah Guthrie, proper, her mother Nancy communicate, Wednesday, April 17, 2019, in New York.
Nathan Congleton/AP
On Monday, Savannah Guthrie made a direct attraction for the general public’s help in fixing the case, saying in an Instagram post , “We’re at an hour of desperation, and we want your assist.”
“We consider our mother remains to be on the market,” she mentioned. “We want your assist. Legislation enforcement is working tirelessly, across the clock, making an attempt to convey her residence.”
Nonetheless extra questions than solutions
Pima County, Arizona, Sheriff’s Investigators have been seen again at Nancy Guthrie’s residence over the weekend, apparently checking a rooftop digital camera and a septic tank on the property.
Investigators have been additionally noticed taking objects from the house of Guthrie’s daughter, Annie, the place Nancy Guthrie had dinner within the hours earlier than she vanished.
Among the many proof, investigators have confirmed are blood drops on the entrance porch matching Nancy Guthrie’s DNA, a propped-open door and a doorbell digital camera that had been disconnected.
“It does appear to be to us, she was taken from that home in opposition to her will in the course of the evening,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos informed ABC Information final week.
Investigators mentioned Nancy Guthrie’s cellphone and her Apple Watch, which was disconnected from her pacemaker, have been left behind at her residence alongside together with her coronary heart treatment, Nanos mentioned she must survive.
Lit candles subsequent to an indication from neighbors supporting the Guthrie household outdoors of Nancy Guthrie’s home, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tucson, Ariz.
Ty Oneil/AP
“They’re nonetheless figuring out stuff on the home. I imply, the home ought to have been utterly gone via by an proof response staff,” Frankel mentioned. “You’d suppose that stuff would have been finished through the unique search.”
Frankel mentioned some potential proof might have been misplaced attributable to digital communications and safety cameras getting overwritten after a sure period of time.
Frankel mentioned hostage negotiators are doubtless advising the Guthries to not pay the ransom with out proof that Nancy Guthrie remains to be alive or current proof that the one that despatched the ransom notice is actual.
The house of Nancy Guthrie is seen, Feb. 5, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz.
Caitlin O’Hara/AP
“At this level, it might be one thing the place you’ll say we want an image, we want a video, we have to hear her voice proper now,” Frankel mentioned. “However the different downside with that now, due to AI and every part, that could possibly be auto-generated, however at the least the FBI and different companies might verify to see if that’s actual or not.”
Frankel mentioned Monday stays a “large day” within the investigation.
“You are hoping that at the moment there may be some motion in that the hostage taker responds again and says, ‘You did not do that, so we will do one thing’ or, ‘You did not do that, so we will provide you with one other hour,'” Frankel mentioned. “Then, hopefully, the Guthrie household can then go on air and say, ‘OK, we all know that you just reached out to us once more, however we nonetheless want one thing extra.'”
He mentioned investigators will doubtless do no matter they will to stretch out the ransom deadline.
“What they’ll do is they’ll preserve making an attempt to speak or examine till that point and thru that point, as a result of you do not need that to be the deadline,” Frankel mentioned.
Frankel added, “It is actually to not prolong the deadline, it is to make use of the deadline as your dialog device so you possibly can preserve speaking to them and know that, ‘Hey, pay attention, yeah, there is a deadline, however do not do what you mentioned. We’re nonetheless engaged on it. We want you to speak with us in order that we are able to get to a profitable decision the place nobody is injured.'”
There’s been no give and take with the doable abductor
Retired FBI agent Brad Garrett mentioned historically, hostage takers give calls for after which reply to the folks the communication is made to.
“There is a give and take. This isn’t even designed or set as much as give and absorb both course, both from the unhealthy guys or the Guthrie household,” Garrett mentioned on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“In consequence, that is type of a one-way avenue in a manner, of the unhealthy guys principally saying, ‘You have to do X, and that you must do Y,'” Garrett mentioned.
This picture offered by the FBI Feb. 5, 2026, reveals a lacking individual Nancy Guthrie.
FBI
Garrett mentioned on Monday that he suspects that investigators resumed their search of Nancy Guthrie’s residence over the weekend in an try to corroborate what was within the messages from the doable kidnapper.
“Did they point out particular objects that had been moved, and their location? The place the blood is, issues that may corroborate that at the least you are feeling comfy that the unhealthy guys have been truly on this home,” Garrett mentioned. “In order that’s one side. The opposite could possibly be a forensic one, that they’ve give you for example DNA of a doable individual and going again and looking for that.”
Investigators confirmed that in addition they obtained surveillance video of what they described as a suspicious automobile parked at a fuel station close to Nancy Guthrie’s residence throughout a 45-minute window through which investigators suspect she was taken.
Garrett mentioned the probabilities are slim that such a clue might result in a break within the case.
“I’d say primarily based on expertise that the overwhelming majority of these forms of leads do not go wherever,” Garrett mentioned. “However having mentioned that, all you want is one.”
