By KATRINA SCHOLLENBERGER, US HEAD OF LIVE NEWS and RACHEL BOWMAN, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and RUTH STYLES AND GREG WOODFIELD IN TUCSON, ARIZONA
Savannah Guthrie asked the nation for help in her ‘hour of desperation’ as police race against the clock to find her mother, Nancy Guthrie, before the impending $6 million Bitcoin ransom deadline.
Savannah Guthrie‘s 84-year-old mother was abducted from her $1 million Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of February 1, with officials confirming they have not identified any suspects in the ongoing case.
As the hunt for Nancy enters its second week, the final ransom deadline for the Today show host’s mother is just hours away.
Local news station KGUN 9 reported that the ransom note demands $6 million in Bitcoin by 5pm MST on Monday.
While Savannah agreed to pay the ransom in exchange for her mother’s safe return, she asked the public for their help to find her on Monday.
‘We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help,’ she said.
Follow Daily Mail for the latest updates.
07:42
Sheriff’s office investigating ‘new leads’
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department announced Monday that its investigation is expanding and it is looking into ‘new leads,’ without releasing any further details.
‘Many of you observed an active law enforcement presence at the Guthrie residences over the weekend. That activity will continue tonight and into tomorrow as part of the ongoing investigative process, including the expansion of the search and follow-up on new leads,’ the department said in a statement.
‘This is all part of the investigative process, as the search for Nancy expands and new leads come in. To preserve the integrity of this criminal investigation, details of that process are not being released at this time.’
07:37
FBI takes over investigation of ransom notes as payment deadline passes
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department announced late Monday night that it is no longer handling the investigation into the ransom notes received in connection with Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping – and it is now in the hands of the feds.
‘The FBI is handling all aspects related to any ransom note(s) or communications involving the Guthrie family,’ the sheriff’s department said. ‘Any inquiries regarding this matter should be directed to the FBI Public Affairs Office.’
The FBI later released its own statement as the second payment deadline passed.
‘For more than a week, FBI agents, analysts and professional staff have worked around the clock to reunite Nancy Guthrie with her family,’ a spokesperson told AZFamily True Crime Correspondent Briana Whitney.
‘The FBI is not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers, nor have we identified a suspect or person of interest in this case at this time.’
The spokesperson then went on to provide an update on the investigation, noting that ‘additional personnel from FBI field offices across the nation continue to deploy to Tucson.
‘We are currently operating a 24-hour command post that includes crisis management experts, analytic support and investigative teams,’ the spokesperson added.
‘But we still need the public’s help.
‘Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home. We need that person to share what they know.
‘Please call us at 1-800-CALL-FBI.’
07:16
Still no suspects, persons of interest identified
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday night it still has not identified any suspects or persons of interests in Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping.
‘Investigators have not identified any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to Nancy Guthrie,’ the sheriff’s department posted on X.
‘Anyone who believes they have information that may assist investigators is asked to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or the PCSD non-emergency line at 520-351-4900, or 88-CRIME.’
All the damning mistakes cops hunting for Nancy Guthrie appear to have made as final ransom deadline looms
By JOE HUTCHISON, US NEWS REPORTER
Sheriff’s deputies investigating the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie have made a slew of worrying errors as the hunt for the missing 84-year-old continues.
Guthrie was last seen alive by her son-in-law as he dropped her off at her $1m Tucson home at 9:45pm MT on January 31, investigators believe.
The alarm was raised the next morning, with efforts to find Guthrie – the mother of Today star Savannah Guthrie – subsequently escalating with no success.
Since then, officers have continuously swept the home for clues as to what happened to Guthrie, mother of Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, uncovering blood droplets.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has headed the investigation into the missing 84-year-old after the alarm was raised last Sunday.
Over a week in, no suspects have been publicly identified and two unverified ransom notes have been sent to media outlets demanding millions in Bitcoin.
The latest demand has asked for Guthrie’s family to hand over $6 million by 5pm MT Monday evening, according to a note sent to KGUN.
Here, the Daily Mail explores what has gone wrong in the investigation as discontent brews about the handling of the case.
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Nancy, seen here with daughter Savannah, was abducted from her home in the early hours of February 1
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Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has headed the investigation into the missing 84-year-old after the alarm was raised
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Inexperienced detectives
Sources have revealed to the Daily Mail that the investigation is being handled by a small team of just six detectives with little relevant experience.
While the FBI are now heavily-involved in the case, details of Pima County Sheriff’s Office’s apparent incompetence will pile further misery on Savannah and her family.
For further shocking details on how green the Guthrie investigation team is, click here to read our exclusive.
Delayed deployment of surveillance plane
Sources close to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told the Daily Mail that Sheriff Nanos grounded a vital search-and-rescue aircraft in the hours after Guthrie’s disappearance was reported.
The Cessna, named Survey 1, remained on the ground for much of Sunday February 1 because of staffing shortages that left it without a pilot.
Survey 1 is equipped with high-resolution thermal imaging cameras capable of scanning vast swaths of desert terrain that could have picked up traces of the missing grandmother.
A helicopter was deployed instead but lacked the sophisticated sensors and thermal imaging technology aboard Survey 1.
The chopper also was not scrambled until 5pm on the Sunday that Guthrie disappeared, the alarm was raised that morning.
Investigators say getting up into the sky earlier could have yielded a clue about who had taken Guthrie and where they’d gone.
Crime scene left wide open to reporters
When officers first responded to the home of Nancy, the initial response from Pima County was that they were ‘concerned’ for the elderly woman.
Reporters who first arrived at the home in Tucson’s upscale Catalina Hills neighborhood discovered it wide open, with no crime scene tape set up.
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The Daily Mail takes you inside the kidnap case shocking America. Out now on all podcast platforms. Listen here
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The biggest blunder has been failing to get the department’s high-tech two-seater Cessna, seen here, into the air around Nancy’s home immediately after she was reported missing
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Guthrie lives in a rural part of Tucson, Arizona. Aerial drone footage shows the sparse homes in the area
KGUN9 reporter Andrew Christiansen found that despite multiple vehicles with the department parked up outside, none had their emergency lights on.
It wasn’t until the day after she vanished, last Monday, that Sheriff Nanos reclassified the case as a crime and said it was believed that Nancy was kidnapped.
The general area wasn’t blocked off and on Tuesday they handed the keys back to the Guthrie family, before returning to continue their search later that week.
If Guthrie’s home ends up yielding further evidence, it could make it easier for a defense lawyer to have it dismissed over fears the scene was contaminated by outsiders.
Sheriff attends basketball game amid search
As his department’s investigation trudged into the weekend, Sheriff Nanos took time off to watch a college basketball game.
The sheriff was spotted at the game on Saturday afternoon, the same time that Savannah and her siblings pleaded for their mother’s return in a second video.
Nanos looked on as the Arizona Wildcats defeated Oklahoma State 47-84 inside the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson.
One senior source inside the department told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s tone deaf while Nancy is still out there.
‘Everybody deserves, of course, their time off. It’s been a very stressful, hard, long week.
‘But given how hard detectives and search and rescue are working, including all the overtime they’re doing, it’s a poor decision and it doesn’t look good for the agency.
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Nanos took time off at the weekend to watch the Arizona Wildcats basketball team defeat Oklahoma State PodcastAll episodes
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Over a week in, no suspects have been publicly identified and two unverified ransom notes have been sent to media outlets demanding millions in Bitcoin
‘It just seems very odd given how emotional he was throughout the week during interviews, saying he believes she’s still alive and how desperate he is to find her.’
Bungled press conferences
Sheriff Nanos has taken to the podium to address the media on several occasions concerning the investigation.
In those, he has apologized for delays, walked back statements made during television interviews and acknowledged his limited experience operating under intense national scrutiny.
At one briefing, he said Guthrie was ‘harmed at the home’ and taken from her bed, before later saying he had misspoken.
On Thursday, Nanos failed to instill confidence when asked about potential suspects and motives, replying: ‘Your guess work is as good as mine.’
When asked about possible evidence issues because crime scene tape at Nancy’s house was put up and taken down several times, he replied: ‘I’ll let the court worry about it. We follow the rules of law.’
That flippant remark could come back to haunt Nanos if and when a suspect is arrested and their lawyer uses it to suggest they cannot have a fair trial.
There were also questions about his professionalism at a press conference on Tuesday when the sheriff teared up while discussing details of the case.
At another moment, Nanos gave a frustrated laugh when asked for updates.
Cops announced this week that they would not be holding any further press conferences until there were updates to be searched.
Searches of property roof and septic tank days later
After handing the property back to the Guthrie family on Tuesday following their initial sweep, officers have returned twice to perform further searches.
This included them searching the roof of the property twice, and probing a septic tank to the rear of Nancy’s home on Sunday.
The search seemed to escalate on Friday when forensics teams returned for a third time to seize new evidence, a car from her garage and a camera from her roof.
It is unclear if these items yielded any new information. If it turns out that they have, the Guthries will likely be desperate to know if that intelligence could have brought their ordeal to a conclusion more quickly.
On every visit, investigators cordoned off the property with yellow tape then pulled it down leaving the uninhabited house unprotected each time.
A statement followed the images of them scouring the home on Sunday, in which they said they would ‘maintain a presence’ at Guthrie’s address for ‘security reasons’.
Greg Rogers, a 30-year FBI veteran, warned that evidence gathered during a second search could face serious legal challenges.
‘Once you let the family back in, almost anything they discover after that isn’t going to be admissible in court,’ Rogers said.
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Department insider’s claimed to the Daily Mail that Sheriff Nanos, seen here, is part of the reason why the investigation got off to such a slow start
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Investigators have scoured the property, seen here, on three separate occasions
‘It causes a real chain-of-custody issue with who touched what. A good defense counsel is going to be able to eviscerate anything.’
