Where things stand
• No suspects: There are still no suspects named as the search for Nancy Guthrie, mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie, enters its seventh day. Authorities resumed examining Guthrie’s home and her neighborhood as the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information.
• New message: Officials are probing the authenticity of a new message sent to KOLD yesterday about Guthrie. The note included sensitive information and no deadline, according to an anchor at the outlet.
• Clues emerging: Authorities say they believe she was abducted from her home near Tucson last weekend. Blood found on her porch belonged to her and a front door camera is missing, authorities said. A camera also detected motion around 2 a.m. Sunday, around the time her pacemaker last pinged her phone.
Digital billboards to go up in nearby states to aid in the search for Nancy Guthrie
Billboards featuring Nancy Guthrie and an FBI phone number are planned to appear in nearby states to aid in the search for the 84-year-old grandmother, the Pima County sheriff said Thursday — utilizing a program that has been successful in previous cases.
The billboards will be posted in the Texas cities of El Paso, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, as well as in Albuquerque, San Diego and Los Angeles, said FBI Phoenix Public Affairs Officer Brooke A. Brennan.
The digital billboard program was created by the FBI in 2007 after someone in their citizen academy volunteered their outdoor advertising as a means of public service, the FBI page on the program says.
The program has grown to include 7,300 billboards in 46 states and has “directly led to 57 fugitive captures” and assisted with “numerous other investigations,” according to a 2017 program update from the FBI. CNN has reached out to the FBI for more recent statistics.
“Because digital billboards can be quickly changed and updated, information about a kidnapped child, a bank robbery, or a matter of public safety can immediately be displayed,” the FBI says on their website. “And messages can be targeted to specific geographic locations, which is important when time is of the essence.”
A car was towed away from near Nancy Guthrie's home last night
Last night, almost a week after Nancy Guthrie was reported missing, a car was towed away from near her home outside of Tucson, Arizona.
CNN captured footage of a tow truck transporting the blue car Friday evening.
Frustration grows with no answers in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, neighbor says
As the hours pass since Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home outside of Tucson, “Everybody’s frustrated that there is no answers,” Shirley Harvey, one of Guthrie’s neighbors, told CNN’s Ed Lavandera yesterday.
“People are in shock because we still don’t know where she is,” Harvey said, as helicopters flew low overhead and police scoured the secluded Catalina Foothills community.
She never would have imagined a crime like Guthrie’s possible abduction taking place in the neighborhood, Harvey said.
Harvey said she finds herself ruminating often on the circumstances around 84-year-old Guthrie’s disappearance. “It’s just a very unnerving thing to happen to somebody, especially an elderly woman,” she said.
Surveillance cameras at people’s homes seemingly have not captured any footage of the abduction, which she said is frustrating.
But she pointed out many cameras are “really designed to see who’s coming into your house,” and many homes in the area do not face the street.
“It doesn’t surprise me that there hasn’t been good video surveillance,” she said.
President Trump suggests "some things" could be coming from DOJ or FBI on Guthrie case
President Donald Trump seemed to suggest on Friday that “some things” could be coming from the Justice Department or the FBI in the case of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
“We have some things, I think that will maybe come out reasonably soon, from DOJ or FBI, or whoever, that could be, could be definitive. A lot has taken place in the last couple of hours. A lot of things have happened with regard to that horrible situation in the last couple of hours,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One.
The president posted on Truth Social earlier this week that he is “deploying all resources” to find “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother.
Asked about the federal support, Trump said, “I think we’re doing very well on that regard,” adding, “Very well meaning we have some clues, I think that are very strong, and I think we could have some answers coming up.”
Trump did not elaborate further as to what exactly those developments could be.
Savannah Guthrie leans on her faith amid her mother’s disappearance
The day after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home under the cover of night, her daughter, Savannah, made a heartbreaking appeal to pray for her mother.
Two days later, in a heartbreaking video Guthrie, host of NBC’s flagship morning program “Today,” sat sandwiched between her older sister and brother.
Speaking through tears, Guthrie described her mother as a strong, faithful woman and “God’s precious daughter.”
Guthrie’s faith – and insistence on the power of prayer – has been central throughout the almost weeklong saga of her mother’s disappearance.
In her 2024 bestseller “Mostly What God Does,” Guthrie credits her parents for her religious upbringing and describes how her faith has helped her navigate some of the most difficult times in her life.
One of Savannah Guthrie’s earliest memories is of her mother, father and brother being baptized in their church.
“There were five of us Guthries,” she writes, “But my sister used to say that God was the sixth member of our family.”
No further briefings planned unless news warrants, sheriff says
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that he does not plan to hold additional news conferences unless investigators discover new and substantive evidence.
CNN has reached out to the sheriff’s office for details.
Neighbor told detectives to look into roof of Guthrie's home
A neighbor of Nancy Guthrie said she asked investigators to look into the roof of the missing woman’s home, as it appeared to have been recently recoated.
Citing aerial footage of Guthrie’s home, Laura Gargano told CNN on Friday: “You see in that image, you see how white her roof is…The previous three weeks we had a lot of rain, so it would be normal for a roof to be a little dirty after it rains.”
“I had just mentioned to a detective just check out whoever was there… if she had recoated her roof recently,” she added.
Investigators were seen climbing onto the roof of Guthrie’s home, scouring the ground and speaking to residents in the neighborhood on Friday.
Investigators resume search around Guthrie’s home and probe new note. This is what we know
Investigators said they are aware of a “new message,” which is being examined for its authenticity in an investigation led by the FBI. Earlier this week, several media outlets, including TMZ and KOLD, received messages demanding millions of dollars in bitcoin for Guthrie’s return.
Authorities continue to urge anyone with tips to contact them, with the FBI offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to Guthrie’s recovery “and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.”
Here are the latest developments in the case, as Guthrie’s disappearance stretches into its seventh day with still no suspects named:
New message: A second message sent to local news outlet KOLD on Friday included sensitive information, no deadline, and did not appear to be for a ransom, according to anchor Mary Coleman. Without providing more details about the letter’s contents, Coleman said she thinks the sender made an effort to include details they think will prove to investigators it is the same person or people who sent the first.
Fake ransom note: A man who was charged for making an illegitimate ransom threat to Guthrie’s family was released on a $20,000 bond. Derrick Callella, 42, did not enter a plea and is not allowed to contact any victims or witnesses related to the case.
DNA evidence at home: DNA submitted as part of the investigation into Guthrie’s disappearance came back “quickly,” revealing blood found on the porch of her home belonged to her, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said Thursday. A security camera from the front‑door area of the home is missing and it is unclear which of the cameras at the home detected motion at around 2 a.m. on Sunday, around the time her pacemaker last pinged her phone.
What we know about the second note tied to Guthrie's disappearance
Days after several media outlets received an alleged ransom letter demanding millions of dollars in Bitcoin for Guthrie’s return, local news station KOLD said it received a second note Friday.
Here’s what we know about the latest message:
- What’s in the note: KOLD anchor Mary Coleman said it included sensitive information and no deadline, unlike the first letter. Coleman said she believes the sender made an effort to include details they think will prove to investigators that they are the same person or people who sent the first one.
- “Just as coherent”: The second letter is “just as coherent as the first,” but a little shorter, she said. “I would say that this second one… the way that it was put together was very similar.”
- Possible response to the Guthries: With no deadlines included in the new note, Coleman said she didn’t think law enforcement would “classify this second one as a ransom note. That’s the best way I can characterize that.” She also thinks the recent letter appears to be in response to the videos the Guthrie family posted on social media, asking for proof that their mother was alive.
- Same type of secure server: The Pima County Sheriff’s Department told KOLD the new note did not have the same IP address as the first letter the station received, but “it appears the sender used the same type of secure server” to hide that information, according to Coleman.
The anchor did not share further details on the note’s content and said the station sent the message immediately to law enforcement.
Earlier, several media outlets received purported ransom notes that included two deadlines –– one at 5 p.m. Thursday, which has passed. Another is set for Monday.
