Savannah Guthrie's Mother, 84, Missing; Kidnappers Demand Millions in Bitcoin

Nancy Guthrie was dropped off at her single-story home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood north of Tucson at 9:48 p.m. on January 31. Her son-in-law Tommaso Cioni, who is married to Guthrie's daughter Annie, was the last known person to see her. Fifty-one days later, she has not been found.

Guthrie did not arrive for a scheduled church service the following morning. A member of her church contacted the family, relatives went to her home to check on her, found no sign of her, and called 911 to report her missing to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. What unfolded in the hours before that call is documented in disturbing forensic detail. Guthrie's pacemaker stopped syncing with her Apple devices at 2:28 a.m. Her Ring doorbell camera had disconnected at 1:47 a.m., with the system detecting movement at 2:12 a.m. but capturing no footage because the account was never set up. When a patrol car arrived at 12:15 p.m. that day, the Ring camera itself was gone. Guthrie's personal belongings, including her phone and other essential items, were still inside the home. Blood droplets on the porch were later confirmed by laboratory testing to be hers.

On February 10, investigators released new images and video of an armed suspect. "Law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie's front door the morning of her disappearance," FBI Director Kash Patel said. One theory is that the suspect approached the door a first time, noticed the camera and was scared off, then returned later, when he was seen tampering with the device and placing branches in front of the lens.

Multiple ransom notes of undetermined origin demanded payment in cryptocurrency, with two deadlines that had passed by February 9. The notes sought $4 million and $6 million in bitcoin, contained details about Guthrie's home, and were received by TMZ and two Tucson television stations, KOLD and KGUN. Efforts were underway to determine whether they were sent by individuals actually holding Guthrie; authorities neither confirmed nor denied the validity of the notes.

The Guthrie family has pleaded for Nancy's safe return and offered $1 million for her recovery. The FBI is also offering a $50,000 reward. Over 1,500 potential leads came into the FBI after the family announced the $1 million reward.

The investigation has been shadowed throughout by scrutiny of Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who has been its primary public face since February 1. In a recent interview, Nanos defended his department's handling of the investigation and insisted he had no regrets about early decisions, including the handling of the crime scene. "Look, I have no regrets about my team and their efforts," he said. "I don't regret we let the crime scene go too soon or any of that." His public statements have drawn their own fire. Nanos appeared to make contradicting statements about motive, telling NBC News in mid-March, "We believe we know why he did this, and we believe that it was targeted," while also saying he was "not 100% sure of that." In a separate radio interview, he pulled back further: "Right now, everything is speculative. We don't have anything in front of us that says 'this is who did this, and this is why.'"

On March 12, an application for a recall petition was submitted to the Pima County Elections Department, triggering a 120-day window for organizers to gather at least 122,211 valid signatures to qualify a recall measure for the ballot. The effort comes as Nanos faces intense public and internal criticism over his department's handling of the disappearance.

Authorities have been challenged by mixed DNA found at Guthrie's property. The mixture could be from several people, experts have said, making it difficult to extract a single DNA profile. Authorities put some DNA into the national FBI databank but received no hits.

With the search nearing the end of its eighth week and no significant breakthroughs, the family issued a new public appeal asking Tucson residents to review home security footage, text messages, and personal notes for anything that might help investigators. The family specifically asked people to search their memories "especially around the key timelines of January 31 and the early morning hours of February 1, as well as the late evening of January 11." Authorities have not explained the significance of January 11.

A Pima County Sheriff's Department dedicated team from the homicide unit is working closely with the FBI to find Guthrie, and they are operating on the assumption that she is still alive. As of March 17, law enforcement stated that her condition and whereabouts remain unknown.