Nancy Guthrie update: Former detective points to overlooked clues in case files
It has been four months since Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home, and investigators continue to examine a large number of tips in hopes of solving the case. Authorities believe the 84-year-old mother of TV anchor Savannah Guthrie was abducted from her home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, 2026.
Retired detective Jon Buehler told NewsNation that the suspect’s name could be buried in the thousands of tips investigators received, News.Az reports.
He noted a case in 1999, where four women were killed in Yosemite by Cary Stayner, who sent investigators a hand-drawn map to where he left one victim. Investigators missed the clue for several days because it was buried in a stack of mail.
“When tips come in on a case like Nancy Guthrie’s, they’re prioritized as best they can, but you still don’t know for sure if they’re prioritized correctly, and so there might be something in there that we’re waiting on, that could break it wide open,” Buehler said.
It’s also possible that answers may not come in for a long time if people with information are afraid to come forward.
“We had a random murder that went 11 years unsolved, and it was only because the one person that could give us the information was afraid to come forward, and it took 11 years for them to get over that fear,” Buehler said.
He said he believes just one person is behind the crime, mainly because of the large reward in the case.
“But because of that reward thing that really sticks with me, that’s some pretty expensive loyalty to have for somebody else,” Buehler said. “People that have independent wealth are not doing crimes like this.”
However, Buehler said he fears Nancy Guthrie is no longer alive, based on bleeding at the scene and her poor health, along with the fact that multiple ransom letters did not lead to her return.
“The reason I’m fearful she didn’t survive the abduction is kind of twofold. No. 1, no instantaneous demand for a reward with indication that she’s fine and that they’ll release her. That’s a pretty big stretch there to think that she survived it,” he said. “But the amount of blood that was present there in the front of the house suggests to me a wound that was bleeding a lot, probably not arterial, but bleeding a lot. And with poor health and age on a pacemaker in fear, and him trying to get her to comply, that’s why I just don’t think she survived it.”
One aspect Buehler thinks could crack the case is tracking cars that were near the house or finding out who searched for Guthrie’s address, noting that newer cars have tracking capabilities.
“If somebody ever plugged her address into a Google search for a Google Maps or whatever, if they did a reverse keyword search on that because those records are maintained for a period of time, to see any random person that would have typed in her address that had a reason to do it and then you’d contact that person and find out why did you put that address,” he said.
People with legitimate reasons, such as delivery drivers, could be eliminated or targeted, he said, noting that Guthrie was a low-risk victim aside from her daughter’s fame.
That, he said, could have been a motivator for someone who had contact with her and realized that Guthrie’s daughter could afford to pay a ransom.
“Any tradespeople that maybe were doing plumbing repair or electrical repair, anybody who was delivering furniture, anything that came up where somebody could see her as a source of ransom because of the connection with Savannah and Savannah’s notoriety,” Buehler said.
By Nijat Babayev
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