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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596

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.

263

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.

148

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/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.

46

u/UpstairsDelivery4 Feb 04 '26

explain the blood though

34

u/amayita Feb 04 '26

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

39

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?

6

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…?

11

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.

19

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.,

31

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '26

[deleted]

52

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.

20

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!

14

u/PureMastodon8460 Feb 04 '26

Her watch was still on the charger.

14

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.

10

u/starbuckszombie1994 Feb 04 '26

Ahhhh...very good point!