Law enforcement investigating the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie‘s mother Nancy have admitted that they still have no suspects in the case—nearly four days after the 84-year-old was seemingly abducted from her Arizona home.
Following reports that FBI agents had visited the home of Savannah’s sister, Annie, and her husband, Tommaso Cioni, for several hours, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department spoke out to insist that any meetings being conducted with family members had been done so in order to ascertain as much information as possible about Nancy’s movements leading up to her disappearance.
Speaking to TMZ on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the department stated that they have not yet identified any persons of interest, but are continuing to meet with anyone who might be able to shed further light on Nancy’s case.
“We have not identified a suspect or person of interest in this case,” the statement read. “Detectives continue to speak with anyone who may have had contact with Mrs. Guthrie. We are also awaiting additional forensic results.”
Nancy, 84, was reported missing at around 11 a.m. local time on Feb. 1, around 13 hours after she was dropped off at the property by her daughter, Annie, following a family dinner. When she failed to turn up at her usual church service on Sunday, members of the congregation alerted her family, who found her home was empty.
In an interview aired on the “Today” show on Wednesday morning, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that he remains hopeful that Nancy is still alive, telling NBC’s Liz Kreutz: “We have nothing else to go on but the belief that she is here.
“She’s present. She’s alive, and we want to save her.”
The update comes after harrowing photos and videos taken at Nancy’s property revealed that a security camera may have been removed from the exterior of the Arizona dwelling, while also showing what appears to be blood on the tiles outside the front door.
Video of the home’s front door, which was posted to X by NewsNation‘s Senior National Correspondent Brian Entin, also shows that a bracket mounted to the doorway, which appears to have once held a Ring doorbell camera, has been left empty.
Photos published by multiple news outlets also show spots of blood in the entryway of the home, which is located in the Catalina Foothills on the outskirts of Tucson.
At a media briefing held on Feb. 3, Nanos refused to discuss details about the evidence found at the property—although he did note that his department was attempting to retrieve video footage from the home’s security camera.
He admitted that no major breakthroughs had yet been made in the case, but stated that his team is working around the clock to locate Nancy and bring her home, emphasizing that her life is “in jeopardy.”
“Someone’s life is in jeopardy,” he said during the media briefing. “We’ve got to find her, and we’ve got to work hard to do that.”
Nanos refused to elaborate on reports that Nancy’s pacemaker stopped syncing with her Apple phone and watch in the early hours of the morning on Feb. 1, nor would he confirm sources’ claims that blood was discovered in her home.
When asked whether he was able to share any information about what Nancy might have been wearing, or what kind of car she might have been traveling in, Nanos said he had none to share. He also confessed that they do not currently know if they are searching for one suspect, or multiple.
Around an hour after the media briefing was held, entertainment website TMZ revealed that it had received an “unverified ransom note” in which an unknown person or persons demanded that “millions” of dollars be sent to a Bitcoin account in order to secure Nancy’s safe return.
TMZ’s founder, Harvey Levin, shared the update in an Instagram video in which he and his co-host, Charles Latibeaudiere, revealed details of what was in the note—while stating that they immediately passed the message over to law enforcement.
“TMZ received an unverified ransom note today demanding a substantial amount for the return of ‘Today’ anchor Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother, Nancy,” the caption of the video stated. “We have since contacted law enforcement.”
In the clip, Levin further explained: “So we got something in our email that looks … it’s written like a ransom note.
He added that the person or persons who sent the note included “certain things about what she was wearing and damage to the house” in an apparent attempt to prove that they were present when Nancy was taken from her property.
While neither he nor Latibeaudiere confirmed how much money had been demanded, a story posted to TMZ’s website stated that the sum was “in the millions,” adding that its reporters have verified the validity of the Bitcoin address used in the message.
“There is a deadline connected to the alleged ransom … and an element of ‘or else,'” the story added.
Another alleged ransom note was also sent to a CBS affiliate in Arizona, KOLD-TV, Sheriff Nanos confirmed, however it is unclear whether it included the same details as the letter sent to TMZ.
Authorities have confirmed that they are investigating the unverified ransom notes, but have not yet confirmed whether they believe any messages to be legitimate. Nanos told CBS News that he cannot share details about the contents of the notes, revealing: “It’s like any piece of evidence. You give it to us, you give us a lead, we’re going to look at every aspect of that lead.”
In a separate statement, his department confirmed that it is taking all tips seriously, noting that the messages are being treated as valuable pieces of evidence.
“We are aware of reports circulating about possible ransom notes regarding the investigation into Nancy Guthrie,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “We are taking all tips and leads very seriously. Anything that comes in goes directly to our detectives who are coordinating with the FBI.”
In an interview with Fox News on Feb. 4, Catalina Foothills resident Tom Pew, who lives in Nancy’s neighborhood, described locals’ horror over the alleged crime, noting that he had “never heard of any crime like this” taking place in their community.
“It’s a friendly neighborhood, it’s a very comfortable place to live,” he said. “People walk every day in the streets around the neighborhood. They know one another, greet one another, walk their dogs. By and large, there’s just no crime.
“[Any] crime that does occur is a petty kind of crime, where someone might leave their car unlocked, and kids walk by and take something.”
Pew also shed some light on the lack of security camera footage, noting that many people in the neighborhood feel safe enough that they don’t see a need for installing security systems at their homes.
“It doesn’t shock me [that there is a lack of security camera footage], it’s not really a high security area,” he said. “People don’t really look at things like that.”
He also highlighted media reports about there being no street lights in the neighborhood, stating that they haven’t been installed “because the sky is one of the most perfect skies to be seen in a neighborhood in the country.”
“People like dark skies and aren’t really afraid of the dark,” he said, adding: “I would say the reason you couldn’t see other houses from the Ring cameras that are on other houses … you think of this as a desert, but there are a lot of trees and shrubs and things like that. The houses are not that close together. There’s a lot of space here between the houses.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department initially revealed that officers had found “gravely concerning” evidence inside Nancy’s Tucson property during their search and stated that they believe the “Today” show star’s mother was “taken against her will.”
“I think she was abducted,” Sheriff Nanos told NBC News. “When you’re taken from your bed and you don’t want to go somewhere, that’s an abduction.”
Nanos’ department later clarified that he was speaking figuratively and not suggesting that Nancy was taken from her bed at the home.
He added that his officers had found evidence inside the home that suggests Nancy was “harmed” before being removed from the property, but did not provide any other information.
“We know she was harmed at the home, but we don’t know to what extent,” he said.
During an appearance on the “Today” show Tuesday morning, Nanos stressed the urgency of the situation, describing Nancy’s case as a “race against time.”
He added that detectives have taken samples of DNA found in the home, noting that they are using them to try to pin down the identity of a suspect who may have entered the property.
“It is a race against time, and I hope that window hasn’t closed,” he said. “We took some samples that we hope will have enough profile of a DNA profile that gives us some identification of what we’re looking at.”
The 84-year-old is described as being physically frail—and disappeared from her home without medication that she has to take every 24 hours to survive. However, she is understood to have had no cognitive impairments and is described as being “of sound mind.”
