Speaker 1: Hey, that folks. It is Sunday, March first, and it
Speaker 1: was one month ago today that eighty four year old
Speaker 1: Nancy Guthrie was reported missing, and now here we are
Speaker 1: one month later, and authorities are actually pulling back resources
Speaker 1: in finding her. And with that, welcome to this episode
Speaker 1: of Amy and TJ Rope. No way we would have
Speaker 1: guessed a month ago we'd be here.
Speaker 2: No, you think about, yes, we know that there are
Speaker 2: tens of thousands of missing persons every year in this country.
Speaker 2: But to think that one of the most visible national
Speaker 2: news media hosts loses her eighty four year old mother
Speaker 2: at a time right when NBC is already in the
Speaker 2: spotlight with the Olympics about to start. She had every resource,
Speaker 2: every media outlet, people around the world looking for talking
Speaker 2: about wondering what could have happened to Nancy Guthrie. And
Speaker 2: even with all of that attention and all of those resources,
Speaker 2: we still one month later, have no idea where Nancy
Speaker 2: Guthrie is.
Speaker 1: And when you say no idea, it really at least
Speaker 1: feels robes when you read and put together a lot
Speaker 1: of the headlines which try to almost sometimes fool you
Speaker 1: into clicking and thinking there's something going on. When you
Speaker 1: take them as a collective, there seems to be nothing
Speaker 1: and no movement. In this case. Some of the headlines
Speaker 1: or some of them are misleading to downright deceptive and
Speaker 1: mean quite frankly, but it makes clear there has not
Speaker 1: been The headline is that there's no new headline.
Speaker 2: Yes, so interestingly enough, Yes, if you look at the
Speaker 2: head at the tabloids, they try to make you think
Speaker 2: they've got some new nugget. Trust us, they do not.
Speaker 2: But one of the more I felt like disappointing and
Speaker 2: discouraging things today. You asked me, Hey, is there anything new.
Speaker 2: Let's look and see if there's one thing we can
Speaker 2: talk about. And I actually found these headlines from reputable
Speaker 2: sources and they all kind of say the same thing.
Speaker 2: Savannah Guthrie's mom update. It's not good news, says trusted
Speaker 2: source on day twenty eight. Nancy Guthrie Nancy Guthrie update Today.
Speaker 2: Search reaches crossroads one month and to ask Nancy Guthrie's disappearance,
Speaker 2: it's too early to declare this a cold case. Savannah
Speaker 2: Guthrie may never know what happened to her loved one
Speaker 2: in the US. She is not alone. Those were the
Speaker 2: headlines on this one month anniversary from reputable news organizations
Speaker 2: who aren't trying to fool you into thinking they've got
Speaker 2: some new bit of information. But honestly, the reality is
Speaker 2: scarier than maybe even the.
Speaker 1: Clickbait, and let's go with the reality right now. The
Speaker 1: official word, at least throws lately from authorities is not
Speaker 1: that they're throwing something new at the case. They're actually
Speaker 1: having to settle back in and pull resources back.
Speaker 2: They're calling it refocusing their resources, but what that means
Speaker 2: is they're scaling back their forces. So yes, they did
Speaker 2: just get fifteen hundred tips from that million dollar reward
Speaker 2: that the Guthrie family put out there this week. But
Speaker 2: even with all of those tips, we're also getting in
Speaker 2: this same breath reports from the FBI that they are
Speaker 2: moving its command post back to Phoenix from Tucson, that
Speaker 2: even the Pima County Sheriff's Department is returning officers, and
Speaker 2: they made this announcement on Friday. They are returning officers
Speaker 2: to their original posts pending any new development. So yes,
Speaker 2: while they all still have dedicated folks on the Nancy
Speaker 2: Guthrie case, whereas it was an all hands on deck
Speaker 2: situation that is no longer the.
Speaker 1: Case, and it just seems impossible that this could go
Speaker 1: into the cold case file in some way. And look,
Speaker 1: this is still only a month, a month new robes.
Speaker 1: We've seen cases that go for years and years and
Speaker 1: mysteries that have never been solved. It's hard to think
Speaker 1: we could be seeing the beginning of such a thing.
Speaker 1: But at least at this moment, it's hard to unless
Speaker 1: somebody talks, and often people do, but ropes, it's hard
Speaker 1: to as you said at the top, here all the resources, eyes, attention,
Speaker 1: and money, even like people had incentive to keep an
Speaker 1: eye out. People had incentive even if you knew something,
Speaker 1: to risk it to get the money and nothing. It's
Speaker 1: just hard to fathom.
Speaker 2: In this day and age, with the technology we have,
Speaker 2: with the resources available to the Guthrie family, with the
Speaker 2: media attention that was created because Savannah Guthrie is who
Speaker 2: she is. Yes, it is actually almost unthinkable. I never
Speaker 2: would have guessed that a month later we would literally
Speaker 2: have no idea, no indication, because we got word that yes,
Speaker 2: the higher Guthrie family and their spouses were completely ruled
Speaker 2: out as suspects and named victims in this case. And
Speaker 2: so of course that is the most likely potential suspect
Speaker 2: in any criminal investigation. When you rule out the obvious,
Speaker 2: Now you've got to go look for what could possibly
Speaker 2: motivate a stranger to become a part of this. So
Speaker 2: we actually went to go back because this has been
Speaker 2: really just this exceptional period of time where we have
Speaker 2: been doing Guffree updates up until the last few days daily,
Speaker 2: and so we went back to take a look at
Speaker 2: the timeline of events and there.
Speaker 1: Was stuff to report actually that were significant defense.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you go back to exactly a month ago or
Speaker 2: I guess the day before, on January thirty first, the
Speaker 2: last time Nancy Guffrey was seen alive. We know at
Speaker 2: five thirty pm, Nancy Guthrie ubers to her daughter Annie
Speaker 2: and her son in law Thomaso's home for dinner and
Speaker 2: a card game. And then we got word at nine
Speaker 2: forty eight pm on January thirty first, Nancy's garage door
Speaker 2: opens and then it closes two minutes later, and Thomas
Speaker 2: says that he watches her make it safely inside. And
Speaker 2: it was the following day we got our last real
Speaker 2: bit of forensic data because at one forty seven am
Speaker 2: we know that Nancy's front door camera is disconnected, and
Speaker 2: then twenty five minutes later a camera detects motion, but
Speaker 2: we know that she didn't have any sort of subscription
Speaker 2: to actually get the video of that, so we don't
Speaker 2: know that, and then we know it two twenty eight
Speaker 2: her pacemaker loses contact with her cell phone and it
Speaker 2: wasn't until the next day that the Guthries were notified.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, but that next day was February first. We
Speaker 1: were talking February first, spokes a month ago today. This
Speaker 1: woman was reported missing. And I'm not sure when it
Speaker 1: really kind of started to catch fire in this case,
Speaker 1: but they came out fairly early on, and we were
Speaker 1: talking about this being a reduction for you're a woman,
Speaker 1: some of the thoughts you didn't wasn't in good health,
Speaker 1: so maybe she wandered off. They came out pretty immediately
Speaker 1: and said no, this woman is her her mind is sharp,
Speaker 1: even if her body is failure.
Speaker 2: And there were specific signs at Nancy's home from the
Speaker 2: moment her family got word from a friend who said, hey,
Speaker 2: Nancy was supposed to show up here and watch church service.
Speaker 2: They watched a live stream church service every day, so
Speaker 2: when she didn't show up, They notified the family, The
Speaker 2: family goes over and then we got worried about what
Speaker 2: Nancy left behind, which led authorities to directly tell the
Speaker 2: media that she did not go on her own, that
Speaker 2: what she left behind nobody would leave behind if they
Speaker 2: were actually choosing to leave a home in the middle
Speaker 2: of the night for whatever reason.
Speaker 1: Say it's his own februel, Yeah, February first, February second.
Speaker 1: They're letting us know. Yes, her phone was left behind,
Speaker 1: her phone is off. It's not being you, This is
Speaker 1: not their purse, everything. There were no belongings that you
Speaker 1: would walk out. You would barely even walk out to
Speaker 1: your ma a box without some of this stuff. But
Speaker 1: she left everything behind. It seemed odd, of course, robed
Speaker 1: at the time. Who is kidnapping an eighty four year
Speaker 1: old woman. It didn't make sense. But in the very
Speaker 1: early hours they said there were signs inside, possibly that
Speaker 1: she left without her will, against her will, But they
Speaker 1: didn't early on, at least a month ago, we didn't
Speaker 1: have the clarity we have now.
Speaker 2: Yes, including her medication. This was a woman who said,
Speaker 2: they claimed couldn't go more than twenty four hours without
Speaker 2: her medication. And that was left behind as well. And
Speaker 2: then of course those blood spatters at the front door stoop,
Speaker 2: which we later found out were Nancy's blood. Now it
Speaker 2: was the following day. This is crazy, I forgot. By
Speaker 2: February second, they already had the first ransom note to kold.
Speaker 2: We didn't know about it, but that was when the
Speaker 2: first ransom note made its way to a local Tucsan station.
Speaker 1: It was the first of many, and to this day
Speaker 1: we still don't know if any are legit, but yes,
Speaker 1: they started very early on.
Speaker 2: I was surprised by that, I forgot we got one
Speaker 2: so early. And it was the next day, on February third,
Speaker 2: that TMZ got a copy of that ransom note. I
Speaker 2: think the idea was perhaps that the person who wrote
Speaker 2: it was annoyed that the local affiliate didn't let all
Speaker 2: of us know. They actually just gave it to authorities
Speaker 2: and didn't announce it. TMZ then let us know, and
Speaker 2: it wasn't until February fourth that we finally heard from
Speaker 2: Savannah and her siblings. You remember that first video of
Speaker 2: the three of them sitting there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, saying that she was the only one that
Speaker 1: was she did most of the talking or sister said
Speaker 1: something and the brother said something at the end, very short,
Speaker 1: but it was dire or was desperate, and it sounded
Speaker 1: like they didn't have much of an idea at the
Speaker 1: time what was going on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. They were actually the first video of
Speaker 2: the siblings. They were trying to speak out to the
Speaker 2: kidnapper and say hey, we're ready to talk, and it
Speaker 2: seems strange, like, wow, they really aren't in communication with them.
Speaker 2: We were just getting like breadcrumbs basically from the family
Speaker 2: about what they knew or what they didn't know. And
Speaker 2: then February sixth, they got another ransom note kold from
Speaker 2: a different IP address, but the same methods were used
Speaker 2: to try and mask their identity. So yes, we were
Speaker 2: all still thinking something was going on, and there were deadlines,
Speaker 2: and those deadlines led to more videos from Savannah and
Speaker 2: her family, So they were trying to react to these
Speaker 2: ransom notes, and that's when they said, remember that cryptic video,
Speaker 2: We received your message and we understand well, that was
Speaker 2: just the second video message. We got so many more
Speaker 2: from the Guthrie siblings and certainly from Savannah, and they
Speaker 2: became more and more desperate. We will take you back
Speaker 2: through what we know about the Nancy Guthrie investigation, and
Speaker 2: welcome back everyone as we take a look back at
Speaker 2: what we know and talk a lot about what we
Speaker 2: don't know about nan See Guthrie's disappearance. It was exactly
Speaker 2: one month ago today. Does it seem like that much
Speaker 2: time has passed from when we first got word that
Speaker 2: Savannah Guthrie's mom was missing, disappeared out of nowhere, and
Speaker 2: now a month later to see where we are. It's
Speaker 2: kind of remarkable.
Speaker 1: I mean some people, I mean we followed every single
Speaker 1: day and have been and been keeping count, so I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people who maybe not fall well,
Speaker 1: it seems like everybody's following it that closely. But if
Speaker 1: you just just like a blank of an eye and
Speaker 1: it's been a month, really.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I just heard word? You know, it's interesting,
Speaker 2: does Sabine and her This is something that obviously folks
Speaker 2: are age and people who know Savannah and watch the
Speaker 2: news are really heavily interested and invested in. But it
Speaker 2: it isn't It hasn't made the round on TikTok. I'm
Speaker 2: just curious in terms of trying to get the word out.
Speaker 2: I was surprised how little our children knew about this
Speaker 2: case because they get their news from TikTok.
Speaker 1: I was surprised when wasn't didn't even know that the
Speaker 1: war with Iran had started, right because she looks at tickets,
Speaker 1: though I know it's the first thing she does when
Speaker 1: she opens that phone. And to hear her say way
Speaker 1: what's going on was surprising to me. But yeah, and
Speaker 1: so some are following it closer than others.
Speaker 2: I just heard word from my ninety year old that
Speaker 2: she even knew what was going on. So it's interesting
Speaker 2: that things are just trickling down to younger folks. But
Speaker 2: obviously the Guthrie is trying to reach just about anybody
Speaker 2: and everybody. And yes, the days were it's surprising it
Speaker 2: took until February tenth. I didn't realize that was the
Speaker 2: day the surveillance video was finally released. They were able
Speaker 2: to get it back dooring it through Google, I believe,
Speaker 2: and they found this black and white video, this mass
Speaker 2: man with a gun and a backpack. That was the
Speaker 2: day February tenth. You and I both thought, that's it.
Speaker 2: It's a matter of hours, days at most, before we
Speaker 2: figure out who took Nancy Guthrie.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, I thought that was going that the hours.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even put days on it. I would have
Speaker 1: said a matter of hours, there's going to be some movements,
Speaker 1: some development. And here we are with what did that produce?
Speaker 2: Nothing? And they actually detained someone that day and we
Speaker 2: thought this is it. They questioned him and then they
Speaker 2: released him in the middle of the night. We've all
Speaker 2: seen the video. A door dash driver who was very believable,
Speaker 2: very credible in saying, hey, you got the wrong guy.
Speaker 2: He didn't even know who Savannah Guthrie was. He didn't
Speaker 2: even know that Nancy Guthrie had been kidnapped. It was
Speaker 2: pretty obvious when he spoke to reporters on his front
Speaker 2: porch that he was not the person that they were
Speaker 2: looking for. Yes, and they investigated neighbors homes, They questioned
Speaker 2: people and released them. They had vehicles impounded. Bottom line.
Speaker 2: After all of that, even unknown DNA found in gloves
Speaker 2: that they believed matched the gloves worn by the man
Speaker 2: in that surveillance video. There were so many moments where
Speaker 2: you thought, Aha, this is it, and then nothing. And
Speaker 2: then finally we got word that investigators had at least
Speaker 2: ruled out a significant group of people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the family people were poying the finger, in particular
Speaker 1: at one family member and a prominent journalist. It did
Speaker 1: so and a lot of people will remember that, and
Speaker 1: that was unfair and that was wrong. And fine, the
Speaker 1: sheriff came out and even talked about having a duty
Speaker 1: to make sure you all need to stop this. Everybody
Speaker 1: in the family has been cleared and obviously they were
Speaker 1: the first suspects, so they were cleared.
Speaker 2: And that's nothing out of the ordinary. And I think
Speaker 2: most people know who follow any kind of news or
Speaker 2: crime stories understand that is what police have to do.
Speaker 2: You immediately look at the people who last saw your victim,
Speaker 2: the people who purported to love the people who saw
Speaker 2: that person the last time. So, yes, that makes sense
Speaker 2: that that's where police went to specifically, So to have
Speaker 2: them rule out the family was a huge moment. But
Speaker 2: then after that there really wasn't any movement. And this
Speaker 2: last big push by the Guthrie family February twenty fourth,
Speaker 2: the Guthries are offering a one million dollar reward. We
Speaker 2: get this video, Savannah acknowledges, Yes, Mom might be gone,
Speaker 2: Mom might be dead, We still want to know, we
Speaker 2: still want to recover her are you surprised. Yes, we
Speaker 2: heard about all the tips, but nothing silence. And you'd
Speaker 2: think if something were going to happen, it would have happened.
Speaker 2: I would think it would happen sooner rather than later.
Speaker 1: I mean, somebody needs to or try to. How do
Speaker 1: you collect a reward anonymously to not be able to
Speaker 1: be tracked down because you could still be the person
Speaker 1: responsible for taking her and still want to get away
Speaker 1: with this money free and clear. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you can't be traced and you're not going
Speaker 1: to be accused. I don't know that process at all,
Speaker 1: so maybe it takes time. Maybe it is happening behind
Speaker 1: the scenes. I don't know, But man, how do you
Speaker 1: how do you have a transaction in which we cannot
Speaker 1: trace this back to you?
Speaker 2: It seems unlikely. And I look at the end of
Speaker 2: the day, the Guthrie family had and has done everything
Speaker 2: they could possibly do. They have kept the story alive
Speaker 2: for a month, they have offered an exorbitant amount of money,
Speaker 2: They've had so many folks dedicate their time and resources
Speaker 2: to try and find their mom, and nothing makes sense.
Speaker 2: I think that's the thing that's so hard to get
Speaker 2: your head around, there is no obvious motive, And we've
Speaker 2: talked about this, and so if there's no obvious motive,
Speaker 2: who do you look for?
Speaker 1: I lean towards You have to lean towards money, because
Speaker 1: nobody just takes eighty four year old women who need
Speaker 1: help getting around and who have immediate medical needs. There's
Speaker 1: no reason to do that for giggles.
Speaker 2: And then when money is offered and there is no response,
Speaker 2: what do you do with that? Where does it go
Speaker 2: from here? And we know there obviously are questions, and
Speaker 2: there are stories that never have answers. And most of
Speaker 2: the time, even if you do find out what happened
Speaker 2: to your loved one, you never really get the why.
Speaker 2: It's rare you get the why. But I know they
Speaker 2: just want to know the what what happened to Nancy Guthrie.
Speaker 2: And we will of course continue to follow the story.
Speaker 2: Anything that rises to the level we will of course
Speaker 2: pass along to you. We aren't going to do daily
Speaker 2: updates or find ways to just push the story forward.
Speaker 2: If something big happens, we will be on it. But
Speaker 2: certainly it was important to at least acknowledge that it's
Speaker 2: been exactly one month since Nancy Guthrie was reported missing
Speaker 2: and we certainly hope that the Guthries get an answer
Speaker 2: sooner rather than later. And with that everyone, thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us. I'm Amy Roebuck alongside DJ Holmes. We
Speaker 2: will talk to you soon