Ten weeks have passed since Nancy Guthrie disappeared without a trace from her home in Tucson, Arizona, and her loved ones are still desperate to find out what has happened to her.
“We’re in agony,” says her Australian-born daughter Savannah Guthrie, who hosts US breakfast TV show Today.
“It’s unbearable to think of what she went through. I wake up in the middle of the night and, in the darkness, I imagine her terror. It’s unthinkable.”
Nancy, 84, was last seen by her daughter Annie’s husband Tommaso Cioni, who dropped her home after a family dinner just before 10pm on 31 January. The FBI and police believe Nancy was kidnapped during the 41-minute window between her doorbell camera being deactivated at 1.47am and Nancy’s pacemaker being disconnected from her phone at 2.28am.
Missing person report triggers police investigation
Nancy was reported missing the following day, after friends noticed she didn’t turn up to a virtual Sunday morning church service, sparking panic in her family and an investigation that’s ongoing.
While searching her home in the affluent Catalina Foothills neighbourhood, investigators found evidence of forced entry and a small amount of Nancy’s blood on the ground near her front door.
But despite evidence of a break-in, many of Nancy’s valuables were left untouched, including her car, wallet, phone and hearing aids. Most importantly, Nancy’s daily medications that help manage her “tremendous pain”, high blood pressure and cardiac issues were also left behind, and investigators believe the author of many religious books is likely dead.
Police say Nancy did not leave home voluntarily
“We know she didn’t just walk out of there,” said Pima County sheriff Chris Nanos during a press conference the day after Nancy was reported missing.
“She didn’t leave on her own.”
In the days leading up to Nancy’s disappearance, a masked person was recorded trying to enter her home by the doorbell camera. While police did not comment on the masked person, who is yet to be identified, former FBI agent Jason Pack believes it might be Nancy’s kidnapper.
Investigation points to a possible planned abduction
“If this is the same person, it could indicate that they were surveilling the place before the abduction happened,” says Jason.
“The fact that there was preparation and planning makes it more of a sophisticated type of criminal activity than someone just showing up.”
In the days following Nancy’s disappearance, Savannah and her family received a ransom note, while another two were sent to local news outlets. The FBI believes the latter are fake, but Savannah, 54, insists the one she was sent was real.
Family pleads for answers in emotional appeal
“How is it possible that we are having to make a video speaking to a kidnapper who took an 84-year-old woman in the dead of night, in her pyjamas, with no shoes, without her medicine?” asks Savannah.
Currently, the TV presenter and her siblings, Annie and Camron, are offering a reward of $1.75 million for information that leads to Nancy’s recovery. The FBI is also offering an additional reward of $175,000.
Heartbreakingly, Savannah believes that her fame played a part in the kidnapping.
In tears as she was interviewed on TV by her co-host Hoda Kotb, she said, “To think that I brought this to her bedside – that it’s because of me… I’m so sorry, Mummy. I’m so sorry.”
