The desperate search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC’s “TODAY” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, is ongoing, with mounting questions about what happened to her and concerns for her physical health.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing on Sunday from her home in the Catalina Foothills, an unincorporated community north of Tucson, Arizona.
Authorities have described the case as a possible kidnapping or abduction, and there have been reports of ransom notes.
Here’s what we know:
Guthrie was last known to have visited family Saturday and returned home that evening. She was reported missing Sunday afternoon after not showing up at church.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos on Thursday laid out a timeline of events in Mountain time:
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department believes Guthrie was taken “possibly in the middle of the night, and that includes possible kidnapping or abduction.”
The sheriff said Thursday that blood found on the porch outside Guthrie’s house tested positive for her DNA. He said his office would not comment on whether there was forced entry to the home.
Her cell phone was left at home and is in the possession of authorities.
No suspect or person of interest has been identified. Nanos said that nobody has been ruled out. “We’re actively looking at everybody we come across, in this case, everybody,” he said.
Nanos has said Guthrie does not have cognitive issues, characterizing her as “sharp as a tack.” However, he said, she has limited mobility and needs to take medication daily or “it could be fatal.” Nanos said he does not know whether Guthrie’s medication was still at her home.
“She is mobile. It’s a challenge for her to get, as the family says, she couldn’t walk 50 yards by herself,” he said.
She has a pacemaker — a device typically implanted under the skin to regulate heartbeat — which disconnected from its monitoring app on her phone early Sunday.
In an emotional video posted to her Instagram page on Wednesday, Savannah Guthrie pleaded for her mother’s return, noting her health is fragile.
“She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer,” Savannah Guthrie said in the video, flanked by her sister, Annie, and brother, Camron.
Reports indicate ransom notes have been sent to three news outlets referencing Guthrie. NBC News has reviewed a copy of the note, and the contents are consistent with the descriptions provided by the FBI and those news outlets. No law enforcement agency has so far substantiated the notes.
Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI Phoenix division, said Thursday that the ransom note is being investigated.
He said one of the reported ransom notes “had facts associated with a deadline with a monetary value they were asking for.” When further pressed about its legitimacy, Janke said Thursday at a news conference that, “one talked about an Apple Watch, one talked about a floodlight,” but he declined to go into further specifics.
The ransom note being probed by the FBI had two deadlines — one at 5 p.m. Thursday and a second deadline for Monday, Janke said, adding that the note did not establish a means for communication.
Camron Guthrie on Thursday appeared in a video message around the same time as that 5 p.m. deadline, asking for a way to communicate with whoever could be holding his mother.
“Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly,” he said in a video posted to Instagram. “We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we move forward.”
Janke said the FBI takes the ransom threats seriously.
He also warned that imposters who send fake ransom letters will be “held accountable.” A man arrested in Los Angeles on Thursday was accused of sending texts to the Guthrie family asking about bitcoin that was demanded in a reported ransom letter, according to a federal criminal complaint out of Arizona. The messages are not linked to an earlier reported ransom demand.
The FBI and Nanos’ office announced Friday afternoon it was “aware of a new message regarding” Guthrie. “Investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
Law enforcement officials were searching for a vehicle in Arizona that may be connected to the investigation,NBC News learned on Friday. Officials haven’t said if the vehicle or vehicles are definitively connected to any part of the crime, or if that lead has since evaporated.
A Circle K spokesperson told NBC News that law enforcement visited one of their stores on Oracle Road in Tucson after “receiving a tip regarding a vehicle of interest, and our team has provided them access to the store’s surveillance video.”
Authorities have declined to provide specifics about a range of questions at the center of the investigation. Here are some of the details that are unknown or have not been publicly released.
State and federal resources have been deployed in the search for Guthrie.
