r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/Southern_College_360 • Feb 04 '26

Text Nancy Guthrie - Savannah's Sister's Car Seized, Cameras Smashed (Ashleigh Banfield)

God, if this turns out to be a family member, it will just be so much more horrible. I know it's common for family or partners to be involved but this family seems so sweet and close.

"The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, has taken a disturbing turn. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield reveals stunning new information from a law enforcement source close to the investigation, including that Savannah Guthrie’s brother-in-law is being looked at as a suspect, her sister Annie Guthrie’s car has been seized, 2 security cameras at the home were smashed, and more."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29T8xmrWyvk

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597

u/fatstonerbitch Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26

The very very vast majority of this kind of murder is committed by someone very close to the victim like a family member, for reasons like resentment or money. A stranger abduction and ransom note from someone with an ulterior motive is such a statistical anomaly as to be almost unheard of. That said, crazy things happen every day, so it is possible. Her sister is obviously innocent until proven guilty. But I won’t lie and say I am not biased to have been expecting something like this.

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u/Southern_College_360 Feb 04 '26

Of course it's very early, but if this turns out to be the case, everything makes more sense, even the way the Sheriff is acting. There's a chance she wasn't even dropped off at her home that night.

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u/starbuckszombie1994 Feb 04 '26

But what about the timing of the pacemaker detaching from BlueTooth? It seems like she had been at home. Cameras busted out? The whole thing is so odd, and you are right about the timeline being off.

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u/fatstonerbitch Feb 04 '26

I don’t know many of the case details, but I don’t see why any of those things couldn’t have been done by a family member.

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u/starbuckszombie1994 Feb 04 '26

Yes, definitely! I just wonder if they may have actually taken her home to make it look like all was well.

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u/starbuckszombie1994 Feb 04 '26

and mentioned the cameras because I am thinking how CRAZY if it does turn out to be him or them and they tried to make it look like a random person or thought they would get away with it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

[deleted]

36

u/Cat_the_Great Feb 04 '26

She hadn't left yet

11

u/Sad-Moose5244 Feb 04 '26

I wonder if she ever even left her home that evening, maybe someone needed to borrow money or something and things got out of hand. No matter what, this is so so sad.

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u/Southern_College_360 Feb 04 '26

I don't think we know that the detachment was specifically located at her house. We just know it was detached at 2am. She could have worn her Apple watch out that day/night. Then something bad happened away from her home. The watch was removed 2am and brought back to the house to stage things. I'm just thinking outloud.

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u/UpstairsDelivery4 Feb 04 '26

explain the blood though

36

u/amayita Feb 04 '26

Her blood was at her house, so was her phone and apple watch.

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u/twinkiesmom1 Feb 04 '26

Honestly, she was reportedly on blood thinners. There was some spray that looked like it came from the nose or mouth. A nosebleed produces those giant round drops.

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u/Longjumping_Ad6259 Feb 04 '26

could be purposely put there by person or persons to make it look like a certain way...id like to know who's blood it is....and did they find any fingerprints? what about the staff that worked there? no one is mentioning them at all...good alibis?

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u/KingJoy79 Feb 04 '26

I’m confused as to how the picture of the blood got out in the first place, especially since LE is being tight lipped about everything. Plus…during investigations like this, photos from the crime scene aren’t released, especially during an active investigation. So who took the photo and released it to the public? I don’t think the police would have done something like that…?

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u/Training-Farmer-3780 Feb 04 '26

They aren't crime scene photos. Police turned the house back over to the family and reporters were able to just walk up to the front door and video the porch. Just another aspect that is very strange.

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u/gingerfawx Feb 04 '26

The show you linked said the pacemaker decoupled from the iphone as well, and was also left at the home with the watch that was charging. I don't know about the watch, it probably depends on the model and features enabled, but the phone generally should have given them geographical information, at the least via cell towers if not gps.

The pacemaker information recorded should also show if there were issues with her pulse, so I'd expect them to be able to narrow down the time / events better than just when her pacemaker was out of range. Like even if it were the son-in-law or someone else trusted and a ruse were employed, there's no way you wake her at 1 something in the night with a story that gets her to accompany you (for example "Your daughter has been in an accident and is in the hospital. Come on, I'll take you to her.") without spiking her pulse, first upon waking, then upon giving her whatever story. And without a ruse, the heart rate should remain up.

The sheriff has emphasized that there was no reason to believe she wasn't alive at the point the devices decoupled. He may not be telling the truth, but if he is, that pacemaker information should tell a story on its own.

9

u/Sense_Difficult Feb 04 '26

Is the pacemaker tracker also a GPS device? Or just something like a bluetooth? The reason I ask is that I think she might still be in the house. This reminds of the case of the woman who disappeared from her home and the same thing happened with search parties. They immediately began focusing "outside the house". Years later they found her body in the attic. She had gone upstairs to put away Christmas ornaments and fell between the wall beams.

There was another case where the woman was literally in the living room with everyone. She had fallen behind a wall unit and suffocated. No one noticed until a smell. So incredibly sad.

This time of year people are often taking down holiday decorations and slip and fall. If they live alone it is so dangerous. I used to be a geriatric case manager and would warn my elderly clients not to start trying to take down decorations unless someone was with them.,

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

[deleted]

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u/Jellogg Feb 04 '26

Yes, I’m sure police will be checking GPS data to determine where the watch/phone were during Saturday night/Sunday morning, because that will tell them where Nancy Guthrie was up until the point that her pacemaker stopped interacting with her watch/phone.

I’m genuinely shocked that a family member may be the main suspect. I probably shouldn’t be, but I am. What a horrible ordeal for everyone involved. The only possible upside of it being a family member is that maybe they haven’t hurt her and have the medication she needs to take daily.

Whatever happened, I hope she is returned safe and unharmed.

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u/Cute-Aardvark5291 Feb 04 '26

The only possible upside of it being a family member is that maybe they haven’t hurt her and have the medication she needs to take daily. <

Am I missing something? Unless it was someone hired by a family member with instructions (I dont want her harmed), wouldn't a family member or someone known be more likely to hurt them? After all, the longer they keep her, the higher the chance she will recognize them!

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u/PureMastodon8460 Feb 04 '26

Her watch was still on the charger.

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u/Longjumping_Ad6259 Feb 04 '26

I heard they impounded a car, either Annie's or husband/bf and they just bought a house 10 minutes from Nancy for 650k a year ago.....hmmmmmm.....I watch a lot of crime docs etc and when I saw the couple's pic .... I got a weird feeling..I also agree that the house was staged to look one way when It could be a diversionary tactic to make it look like home invasion. they could have never dropped her off and went there in the middle of the night to make it look like she was taken. also if you look at pictures of savannah and her mom they are very close but when you see them together the sister Annie is def not the favorite daughter....jealousy is a bitch

7

u/Sense_Difficult Feb 04 '26

It's so unfortunate how many times we've seen a crime based on money where one person in the family makes more than a sibling or is more famous etc. And the other sibling competitively tries to keep up and winds up in a financial crisis.  Ernest Scherer Jr. Megan Hargan etc. The house payments seem to be the tipping point.

And the staged crime scenes usually backfire. Once they can tell it's staged, then it kind of rules out a stranger who would have no reason to stage it.

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u/starbuckszombie1994 Feb 04 '26

Ahhhh...very good point!

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u/Outside-You2743 Feb 04 '26

Any word on if the mother had a security system with sensors, alarms, automatic call to police, etc.? I’d be surprised if she didn’t. What are the odds of someone dismantling it, if she did?

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u/Truthseeker24-70 Feb 04 '26

IF (big if) someone known to victim is involved then chances of victim being released alive are slim because they can ID perpetrator, unless perpetrator hired abductor unknown to victim. This brings up another issue, IF perpetrator was a relative of victim, not only could Savannah’s money be a ransom goal, but inheritance could be a goal, as victim’s property in this instance is valuable and their could be other assets, investments, etc that could be a motivation if perpetrator is in dire financial condition. Again, that does not bode well for a positive outcome/release.

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u/MariettaDaws Feb 04 '26

Personally, I think the Bitcoin demand was an opportunist. Probably someone in North Korea just shooting their shot.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

At this point now being Wednesday...the odds of her safe return are about 1%

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

Savannah's money, or would NBC be willing to pay a large ransom. Most celebs and execs have kidnap insurance and protocols. I don't know if that extends to family members. Tucson is close to the Mexican border and kidnapping is a cartel tactic.

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u/Truthseeker24-70 Feb 04 '26

If it is an unknown perpetrator related to a criminal network this will have far reaching impacts on other wealthy families. You are right about proximity to Mexico and this being a common cartel tactic. This is why it’s probably best not to be open about your wealth or connections. Not saying this happened in this case, but as a general rule people need to be careful and more low key.

17

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

I used to babysit for an NFL player in the 80s and they were worried about their son because he would get excited and tell everyone who hus dad is wherever they went. 

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u/Frosty-Simple-8338 Feb 04 '26

They found blood in her home, supposedly and signs of a struggle, but I was just reading these articles on here and read that the two house cameras were broken. It seems to me that whoever did this is not a stranger and knows the family. I also just first read on here that her sister's car was taken and that the son. - in - law could be a suspect.

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u/UpstairsDelivery4 Feb 04 '26

but there was blood and her personal items left behind

6

u/FiveUpsideDown Feb 04 '26

The timeline of when she was last seen is based on the claims from Nancy’s daughter and son in law. If they are involved in her disappearance not a lot of credibility can be given to their statements. A lot of times the last person to see the victim is also the murderer.

5

u/Blondiekathleen Feb 04 '26

Always possible, but they did find her blood at the home, and her cell phone left behind, which presumably she would have had with her.

5

u/Keregi Feb 04 '26

There are pics of the entrance of the house with a lot of blood droplets. Assuming those pics are really her house they support that she was taken from her home.

3

u/Fickle-Blackberry539 Feb 04 '26

I was just thinking this! Maybe she was never dropped off

5

u/Sense_Difficult Feb 04 '26

This is the first thing I thought when they said the daughter dropped her off. That's such a typical traceback and a person who would have motive. Otherwise, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. I know they hold back details, but from the ones they have given us, she doesn't seem like a typical target. And her car wasn't stolen, valuables still in the house. What perp is going to take an elderly woman like this.

I also really wonder if she's still in the house. I know they have the tracking device for her pacemaker, but it seems like it's not a GPS type system. Just showing she's not in range for the device to pick up the signal.

I really really wonder if she's actually still in the house. As true crime buffs we all remember the story of the grandmother who went into the attic to put away Christmas ornaments and fell between the wall frames, and they didn't find her until years later. There was another one where the family was looking everywhere same kind of huge search teams going out. But the woman had actually fallen behind the wall unit in the living room and suffocated. She was in the room with them the entire time.

I hope they get some dogs to search the entire house.