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DNA Evidence Found in Search For Savannah Guthrie’s Mom · Murder Files Unsealed

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Speaker 1: It is Tuesday, February three, twenty twenty six, And I
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have to say, usually when we sit down to do
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one of these deep dives, we have the benefit of hindsight.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, almost always.
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Speaker 1: We're usually looking at a case file that's been closed
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for a decade, or you know, a historical event where
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we know the ending before we even start, right.
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Speaker 2: We have that luxury we can look at the whole
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arc of a story and say, ah, okay, here is
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where the mistake was made.
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Speaker 1: Exactly, here's the clue everyone missed.
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Speaker 2: That's the one.
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Speaker 1: But today, yeah, today, we do not have that luxury.
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The situation we're analyzing right now is active. It is.
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It's urgent. Yeah, and frankly, it is terrifyingly fluid.
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Speaker 2: It's evolving, not just by the day, but really by
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the hour.
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Speaker 1: We are in the middle of the storm.
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Speaker 2: We really are. And it's one of those stories that
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just stops you in your tracks. It feels so personal
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that at the same time so incredibly public.
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Speaker 1: We are talking, of course, about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Now,
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for almost anyone listening that last name, it rings a
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bell immediately. Nancy is the eighty four year old mother
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of Savannah Guthrie, the co anchor of NBC's Today Show.
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But and I want to be really really clear about
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this right from the jump, Please, this isn't just a
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celebrity news story. This is not tabloid fodder.
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Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. And I think that's a trap people
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can fall into. They see the famous name and just
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think it's media noise. But if you strip away the
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famous daughter, you know, if you strip away the NBC connection,
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what you were left with is a nightmare scenario that
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stands entirely on its own.
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Speaker 1: It really does.
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Speaker 2: It is a complex multi agency investigation. You've got the FBI,
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you have forensic biology, you have this critical medical ticking.
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Speaker 1: Clock, and some truly bizarre twists and.
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Speaker 2: Some very strange twists involving of all things cryptocurrency.
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Speaker 1: It is heavy stuff, and there is so much noise
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out there right now, oh a ton. Social media is
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doing what social media does, speculating, inventing theories, just muddying
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the waters. So here is our mission for this deep dive.
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We're going to try to sift through the chaos of
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the last seventy two hours. We're going to ignore the
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Twitter rumors, and we're going to focus strictly on the
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official statements from the Pena County Sheriff's.
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Speaker 2: Department, right, the official sources.
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Speaker 1: The verified reports from major outlets like CBS and News Nation,
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and of course the updates coming directly from the Guthrie family.
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Speaker 2: We need to construct a clear picture of exactly what
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we know and maybe more importantly, what the physical evidence
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is telling.
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Speaker 1: Us or what it's not telling us, and what it's not.
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Speaker 2: Telling us exactly. And then why have authorities officially classified
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this not as just a missing person case but as
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an abduction.
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Speaker 1: So let's get right into it to understand why the
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police are reacting with such massive force, why the FBI
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is on the ground within forty eight hours. We have
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to understand the victim. We need to establish that baseline. Okay,
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who is Nancy Guthrie.
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Speaker 2: Well, Nancy Guthrie is eighty four years old. She was
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born in the early nineteen forties, and file that emerges
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from the sources you know, from her family, from her
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neighbors and Tucson is of a woman who is mentally
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incredibly sharp.
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Speaker 1: Right.
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Speaker 2: She's with it, she is absolutely with it. She's independent.
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She's not someone who is confused or you know, losing
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her faculties physically, physically, she is vulnerable. And I don't
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use that word lightly. Right, in the context of law
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enforcement and these kinds of investigations, vulnerable adult is a
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specific legal designation.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack that, because I think people hear vulnerable
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and they just think old. But it means something very
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specific to a detective, doesn't it.
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Speaker 2: It changes the entire calculus of the investigation. How so, Well,
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if a healthy twenty five year old goes missing, police
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might wait twenty four hours, sure.
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Speaker 1: They might assume they went on a trip or something exactly.
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Speaker 2: But when a vulnerable adult goes missing, the clock starts
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at zero immediately, immediately. It implies that the individual lacks
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the physical capacity to care for themselves for an extended
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period without assistance.
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Speaker 1: And in Nancy's case, that's very true.
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Speaker 2: Very true. She suffers from high blood pressure and significant
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cardiac issues.
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Speaker 1: And most critically, she relies on a pacemaker.
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Speaker 2: Correct a pacemaker, And we are going to dive deep
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into that device later because it serves as this crucial
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piece of forensic evidence and an electronic witness, an electronic witness,
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if you will, But biologically what you need to understand
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is that she is tethered to daily medication. Sheriff Chrisnanos
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has been very blunt about this. He stated that without
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those specific meds, the situation isn't just uncomfortable, it could
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become fatal within days.
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Speaker 1: So right from the start, investigators aren't just looking for
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a person. They're racing against a biological plot exactly.
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Speaker 2: It's a medical emergency wrapped inside a criminal investigation.
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Speaker 1: And what about her personality? You said, she's independent, very
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much so.
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Speaker 2: She lives alone in a ranch style home. Savannah has
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described her mother as a woman of deep convy and
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a good and faithful servant, so very devout, very devout.
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She's deeply connected to her local church. But she's not isolated.
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You know, she has family nearby, She goes to services regularly.
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Speaker 1: She's a woman with a routine.
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Speaker 2: She's a woman with a routine.
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Speaker 1: And that's often the key in these cases, isn't it.
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I feel like we say this all the time, but
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routine is an investigator's best friend.
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Speaker 2: It absolutely is, because when someone lives a chaotic life,
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a few hours of silence means nothing, right. But when
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someone is a creature of habit, church every Sunday phone
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calls at the same time. The silence is.
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Speaker 1: Definitely it highlights the anomaly immediately instantly. Let's talk about
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the setting. Where did this happen, because when I think
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of an abduction, my mind goes to, I don't know,
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a dark alleyway or an isolated road. Sure, but looking
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at the maps of the Catalina Foothills, yeah, that's not
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the vibe at all.
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Speaker 2: No, this is the Catalina Foothills in Tucson, Arizona, and
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if you've never been, you need to picture something specific.
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This isn't just the desert. It's incredibly upscale. It's scenic.
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You have these sweeping views of the Santa Catalina Mountains.
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It's beautiful. It's winding roads, custom ranch style homes on
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large lots, lots of natural vegetations.
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Speaker 1: So it's affluent.
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Speaker 2: It's generally a very quiet, family oriented community. It's the
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kind of place where people move to retire in peace.
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Speaker 1: Which implies this is not a high crime area.
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Speaker 2: Far from it, and that's one of the things that
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makes the violence of this disappearance so shocking. It's a
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place where people feel safe. It's a place where an
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eighty four year old grandmother living alone shouldn't be at risk.
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Speaker 1: The contrast is jarring.
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Speaker 2: It is the contrast between the setting, this peaceful, beautiful landscape,
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and the crime itself is just it's jarring.
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Speaker 1: And speaking of family, we touched on Savannah, but Nancy
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have other children, right, It sounds like they're a very tight.
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Speaker 2: Unit, extremely tight knit. Nancy is the mother of three, Savannah, Annie,
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and Cameron.
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Speaker 1: And Annie lives openly.
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Speaker 2: Annie actually lives locally in the Tucson area yea. And
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the sources mentioned regular outings, close contact.
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Speaker 1: So this isn't a situation where an elderly relative goes
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missing and nobody notices for a week.
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Speaker 2: No, not at all. Her absence was noticed quickly because
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they are so connected.
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Speaker 1: And regarding Savannah, I mean, we're so used to seeing
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her covering the news, right, not being the news.
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Speaker 2: It's a tragic role reversal. Savannah was actually scheduled to
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cover the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy. Wow, she has
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obviously stepped away from that to focus entirely on the search.
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Of course, it puts her in this agonizing position of
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being a journalist who knows how the sausage is made.
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She knows what the police are doing, she knows how
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the media cycle works.
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Speaker 1: But now she's on the other side of the Celtic.
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Speaker 2: Now she's on the other side.
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Speaker 1: Okay, So we have the profile an eighty four year
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old woman, medically fragile but independent, living in a safe,
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upscale neighborhood, surrounded by a loving family. That's the baseline.
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Speaker 2: It's the baseline.
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Speaker 1: Now let's reconstruct the disappearance. We need to go minute
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by minute through the timeline, starting Setaturday, January thirty four.
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Speaker 2: Okay, this is the last time Nancy is confirmed to
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be safe. It's Saturday evening. She had been out on
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an outing with family.
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Speaker 1: Do we know who dropped her off?
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Speaker 2: Reports believe it was one of her children. The timeframe
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is roughly nine point thirty to nine point four five pm, Okay,
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late late. They drop her off at her home in
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the Catalina.
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Speaker 1: Foothills and she goes inside.
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Speaker 2: She enters the residence alone, and at this point nine
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point four five pm on Saturday, absolutely nothing seems unusual.
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No broken windows, no strange cars reported. She just goes home,
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presumably to get ready for bed and prepare for church
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the next day.
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Speaker 1: But then we get to that piece of technology you
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mentioned earlier, right, the pacemaker. This is where it gets
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really interesting from a forensic perspective. It really is, because
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most people think of a pacemaker as just a little
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battery that zaps the heart. Sure, but in twenty twenty six,
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these things are sophisticated computers.
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Speaker 2: They are essentially black boxes for the human body. It
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is fascinating in a very grim way. How so, modern
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pacemakers aren't just medical devices. They are data recorders. They
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attrack heart rate, they track arrhythmias, they track physical activity levels,
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and crucially, they attract device functionality.
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Speaker 1: And they talk to the outside world.
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Speaker 2: They do. They use protocols like Bluetooth low energy to
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sync with bedside monitoring hubs or even smartphones.
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Speaker 1: Right in this case, sources mentioned an Apple Watch or
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something similar.
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Speaker 2: Something like that, a health tech interface in the home,
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and they upload data to the clouds so doctors can
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monitor the patient remotely.
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Speaker 1: So we have an electronic witness exactly.
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Speaker 2: And reports indicate that Nancy's pacemaker ceased sinking with her
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monitoring devices in the early morning hours of Sunday, February First.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's pause and really analyze what ceased sinking means okay,
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does that mean our heart stopped?
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Speaker 2: Not necessarily, and investigators are being very very careful about
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this distinction. Ceasing to sink just means the data can
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was broken.
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Speaker 1: Okay. So what are the scenarios there? Lay them out
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for us.
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Speaker 2: Okay, Scenario A, she moved out of range. If the
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hub is in her bedroom and she is removed from
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the house, the connection breaks.
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Speaker 1: That makes sense.
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Speaker 2: Scenario B the monitoring device itself, the hub, or the
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phone was disabled or destroyed. Scenario C a catastrophic medical
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event or death where the body's physiology changed so drastically
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the device stopped recording standard data. Though usually the device
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itself would still try to phone home.
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Speaker 1: But given the context of the forced entry we're about
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to discuss, investigators are likely viewing this data cut off
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as the time of abduction.
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Speaker 2: Correct It narrows the window massively. It tells us that
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whatever happened likely happened between that entry at nine point
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four five pm Saturday and those early morning hours of Sunday.
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It gives the police a specific time frame to look
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for vehicles, to check neighbor's doorbell cameras.
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Speaker 1: It's a huge lead.
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Speaker 2: It's a critical data point which.
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Speaker 1: Brings us to Sunday. First, the discovery. What triggered the alarm, It.
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Speaker 2: Was the break and routine.
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Speaker 1: We talked about the church service.
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Speaker 2: Nancy missed her regular church service.
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Speaker 1: And for a woman described as a faithful servant, that
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isn't just running late. No, that is a siren.
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Speaker 2: It's a massive one. A friend at the church noticed
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she wasn't there and immediately eluded the family. This was
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not a maybe she slept in situation. This was immediate concern.
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Speaker 1: So who goes to the house.
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Speaker 2: Her daughter, Annie Guthrie, along with some others, arrived at
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the home around noon.
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Speaker 1: On Sunday, Okay, around noon.
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Speaker 2: They go inside to check on her, and what do
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they find. Well, they search for about an hour. The
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house is empty, Nancy isn't there, but the conditions inside
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were described as very concerning.
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Speaker 1: That's a chilling phrase, it is.
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Speaker 2: They call nine one one, and the Pima County Sheriff's
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Department responds promptly.
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Speaker 1: Very concerning. He is a polite way of putting it,
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based on what we know. Now. When the police arrive,
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they make an initial assessment. Now we often hear about
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seniors wandering off getting confused walking into the desert. Why
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did Sheriff Nanos rule that out so quickly.
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Speaker 2: Because that is the standard first assumption in elderly missing
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person's cases. You assume a cognitive slip, right, But Sheriff
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Nano's shut that down almost immediately. He stated, and I'm
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quoting here, she didn't walk from there, She didn't go willingly.
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Speaker 1: That is a definitive statement. What was the proof? What
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did he see?
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Speaker 2: It comes down to two main pillars of evidence found
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right there at the scene. Okay, First, signs of forced entry.
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Investigators found clear evidence that a door or a window
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had been breached.
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Speaker 1: So this wasn't someone walking out the front door.
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Speaker 2: No, this was someone coming in.
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Speaker 1: And the second pillar.
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Speaker 2: The items left behind. She left everything, her cell phone,
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her wallet, her purse.
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Speaker 1: Her car, keys, and those medications.
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Speaker 2: Yes, and I can't stress this enough. If you are
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an eighty four year old woman leaving the house voluntarily,
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even if you are confused, you usually take something.
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Speaker 1: You drab your purse, you grab your.
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Speaker 2: Purse, you grab your keys. But to leave the heart
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medication that keeps you alive, that is the smoking gun
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for abduction.
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Speaker 1: It's the definition of against her will.
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Speaker 2: It is the Sheriff's deduction was immediate. Someone entered that
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home and Nancy was taken from it.
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Speaker 1: This brings us to the evidence that has come out
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in just the last twenty four to forty eight hours,
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and this is where the story takes a much darker,
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much more violent term. Yeah, we need to talk about
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the biology of this. Yes.
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Speaker 2: On Tuesday, February three, today, Sheriff Chris Nanos gave a
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press conference. He confirmed that detectives collected biological evidence from
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the home.
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Speaker 1: B idological evidence. That is such a sanitized police speak term.
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Speaker 2: It is it's designed to be broad and not cause panic.
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Speaker 1: But let's look at what the reporting is actually saying.
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Because while the sheriff is using these cautious terms, right,
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multiple media outlets we're talking News Nation, the New York Posts,
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the LA Times, they're reporting specific grim details.
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Speaker 2: They are they're reporting blood blood. Yes, reports just droplets
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or small amounts of blood were found inside the home,
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specifically near the disturbance where the entry points.
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Speaker 1: Okay, inside, but it gets worse.
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Speaker 2: There are reports of a trail.
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Speaker 1: A trail what do you mean a trail?
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Speaker 2: A trail of dried blood or spatters on the driveway
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and by the front door mat In fact, News Nation
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reportedly has footage showing dark red marks on the exterior tile.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's stop and really visualize what a blood trail
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means forensically, because blood behaves according to physics. If there
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is a pool, it means someone was stationary and bleeding.
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Speaker 2: If there is a trail, a trail implies movement. It
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tells a kinetic story. It tells a story of action.
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It suggests that the injury occurred inside, perhaps during the
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initial confrontation or forced entry, and then the victim was moved,
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so she.
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Speaker 1: Was either dragged, carried, dragged.
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Speaker 2: Carried, or forced to walk from the interior of the
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home to an exit point, which was likely a vehicle
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waiting in the driveway.
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Speaker 1: It paints a terrifying picture of a struggle.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely corroborates the violence of the event. It supports the
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abduction theory over say a medical episode. If she had
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had a heart attack, she would be on the floor inside.
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If she had fallen, she would be there. The trail
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leading away from the home is indicative of extraction.
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Speaker 1: Now, the sheriff did confirm the DNA is Nancy's.
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Speaker 2: He did, They got a rapid forensic analysis and it
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confirmed it was hers.
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Speaker 1: When I've seen people online, you know armchair detective saying, well,
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obviously as her DNA, she lives there. But that misses
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the point, doesn't it.
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Speaker 2: It misses the point completely. Finding Nancy's hair on her
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hair brush is expected. Finding Nancy's blood on the driveway
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is not. The DNA confirmation is about establishing that she
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was the one who is injured, not the perpetrator.
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Speaker 1: But this leads to the other side of that DNA coin.
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If they have Nancy's DNA, are they finding anyone else's?
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Speaker 2: That is the key tension point in the investigation right now.
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The sheriff said they have some samples and they are
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hoping for a profile.
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Speaker 1: Explain the difference here. Identifying the victim's blod is relatively
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easy if there is a lot of it, correct, but
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finding the suspect it's much much harder.
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Speaker 2: Unless the suspect, you know, cut themselves during the break
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in and left their own blood, which would be lucky
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for investigating here, incredibly lucky. So what they're likely looking
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for is touch DNA.
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Speaker 1: What is that exactly?
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Speaker 2: It's microscopic. If I grab your arm, if I force
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a door handle, if I punch a wall, I leave
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behind skin cells, sweat oils. Wow, investigators are currently swabbing
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every single inch of that entry point, the doorknob of
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the window frame, looking for a mixture, a mixture, a
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DNA sample that contains two profiles, Nancy's and someone else's,
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and then separating those mixtures and identifying the foreign profile.
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That takes time.
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Speaker 1: So the fact that they haven't announced a suspect DNA
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profile yet, it doesn't mean it's not there.
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Speaker 2: It doesn't mean it's not there. It just means they
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haven't confirmed it or you know, matched it to a
16:53
database like codis yet.
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Speaker 1: But the absence of a confirmed suspect profile so far
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is well, it's worrying.
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Speaker 2: It is very worrying. It means we don't have a name,
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we don't have a face. We are hunting a ghost.
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Speaker 1: And that vacuum of information leads us to perhaps the
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most bizarre, confusing aspect of this entire case, the ransom note.
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Speaker 2: This is where the case veers into very strange territory.
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It almost feels like we are looking at two different
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movies playing at the same time.
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Speaker 1: It really does. We are hearing rumors about a ransom
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note demanding millions but not in cash, no, in bitcoin,
17:29
correct cryptocurrency?
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Speaker 2: And who was it sent to? Because usually in the movies,
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the kidnapper calls the family phone, I have your mother
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pay me X.
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Speaker 1: That's the typical script. Yes, yeah, but reports are circulating
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that this note was sent to media outlets, media outlets
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specifically outlets like TMZ and a local Arizona station, Kola DTV.
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Speaker 2: That makes no sense to me.
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Speaker 1: It's highly unusual.
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Speaker 2: Why I send a ransom note to TMZ? What's the
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thinking there? Well, let's look at the content first, because
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that's a clue. The note allegedly contains specific details about
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the interior of Nancy's home and the clothing she was
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wearing that night.
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Speaker 1: Okay, so that suggests the sender actually knows something they
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aren't just guessing.
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Speaker 2: If those details are accurate and the FBI is currently
18:12
vetting them, it implies insider knowledge. It implies the sender
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either was there or has access to information that hasn't
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been made public.
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Speaker 1: But the bitcoin aspect and sending it to the media,
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it just feels so performative.
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Speaker 2: It does, and it raises two very distinct possibilities. Possibility one,
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This is a sophisticated modern kidnapping where the perpetrators are
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using the media as a leverage tool. How so they
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know Savannah Guthrie is a public figure, they know she
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is wealthy, they know a note sent to TMZ will
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go global instantly applying maximum pressure on the family to
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pay quickly to stop the circus.
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Speaker 1: It weaponizes the publicity.
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Speaker 2: It completely weaponizes the publicity. But then there is possibility
18:52
too correct. Possibility two is that this is a distraction
18:56
or just a cruel scam. In high profile cases think
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back to the Lindberg baby or more recently cases like
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JC Dugard, you often get parasites, people who read the news,
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maybe get a lucky guess on a detail, or they
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hack into a home security camera to see what she
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was wearing and.
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Speaker 1: Then try to exploit the situation for money. Exactly, this
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is the proof of life problem.
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Speaker 2: Precisely in a legitimate kidnapping negotiation, the very first thing
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the FBI asks for is proof of life, right, send
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me a picture of her holding today's newspaper, put her
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on the phone, something to prove you have her. Do
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we have that as of right now? No, we have
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a digital note. We have a bitcoin wallet address, but
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we do not have a photo of Nancy Guthrie alive
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in captivity. We don't have a voice recording.
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Speaker 1: And without proof of life. A ransom note is just words.
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Speaker 2: They are words that divert critical resources and torture the family.
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The Sheriff's office has said they are aware of the
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reports and are taking them seriously, but they haven't validated
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the note as authentic yet.
19:57
Speaker 1: It's such a jarring contrast, isn't it. It is on
20:00
one hand, you have this messy, violent, physical crime scene,
20:07
forced entry, blood on the driveway, that feels chaotic, it
20:12
feels almost impulsive, right primal, and then on the other hand,
20:16
you have a digital, sterile cryptocurrency ransom note sent to
20:21
a tabloid. They feel like two different crimes committed by
20:25
two different types of criminals.
20:26
Speaker 2: That's the central mystery right now. Are these two things connected.
20:29
Is the person who dragged her down the driveway the
20:31
same person typing a bitcoin address.
20:34
Speaker 1: Or is someone just capitalizing on a tragedy.
20:36
Speaker 2: That's the question.
20:37
Speaker 1: Let's shift gears to the hunt itself, because while we
20:39
analyze the clues, there are people in boots on the ground,
20:42
right now who is looking for Nancy.
20:44
Speaker 2: It's a massive joint operation. You have the Pima County
20:46
Sheriff's Department, the PCSD, leading the ground game. They know
20:50
the area, they know the territory, they know the locals,
20:52
and then you have the FBI providing support.
20:55
Speaker 1: What does the FBI bring to the table in a
20:57
case like this why are they called in so fast?
21:00
Speaker 2: First, just federal resources for manpower, which is huge, But
21:04
specifically they bring the BAU, the Behavioral Analysis Unit profilers
21:09
who can help understand who would target an eighty four
21:12
year old woman.
21:12
Speaker 1: The psychological side.
21:13
Speaker 2: This psychological side, they bring advanced digital forensics, which is
21:17
crucial for tracing that Bitcoin ransom note and for analyzing
21:21
that pacemaker data. And legally, they facilitate interstate coordination if
21:26
the suspect has crossed state lines with her.
21:29
Speaker 1: And the physical search we mentioned the Catalina foothills. This
21:32
isn't just searching a city block or a suburban park.
21:35
Speaker 2: No, this is rugged terrain. We're talking desert, canyons, mountains.
21:41
The search operation is using canine units, aerial surveillance, ground teams,
21:45
and volunteers.
21:46
Speaker 1: But searching the desert is I mean it's a nightmare.
21:49
Speaker 2: It's a very large, dangerous haystack. The terrain is unforgiving.
21:54
There are ravines where a person or a body could
21:56
be hidden and not seen from ten feet away. The
22:00
challenge of that brings us right back to the ticking clock.
22:02
We come back to her health. If she is out
22:04
there in the elements without medication, exposed to the cold
22:08
desert nights, her survival window is closing rapidly, and Sheriff
22:12
Nanos has been very very clear about that urgency.
22:15
Speaker 1: The sheriff also mentioned public involvement.
22:18
Speaker 2: Hundreds of leads, yes, and reward offers are in place.
22:22
But interestingly, the sheriff emphasized something very specific.
22:26
Speaker 1: What was that?
22:26
Speaker 2: He stated that while they have no specific suspect, there's
22:31
no indication of a broader threat to the general public.
22:34
Speaker 1: That is a very specific thing to say.
22:36
Speaker 2: It is code.
22:38
Speaker 1: What does that code mean?
22:39
Speaker 2: When police say no threat to the public, they are
22:41
essentially saying, we believe this was targeted. If they thought
22:46
there was a serial predator snatching elderly women at random,
22:49
the warning would be loud. They'd be telling everyone to
22:52
lock their doors, be vigilant.
22:53
Speaker 1: And they are doing that. They're not doing that, which
22:55
implies they believe whoever did this came specifically for Nancy. Yes,
23:00
perhaps specifically for Savannah Guthrie's mother.
23:03
Speaker 2: That's the chilling implication, isn't it.
23:05
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the human element here for
23:07
a minute. We can't ignore who Savannah Guthrie is. How
23:10
is she handling this? We see her on TV every day,
23:13
so composed, so professional.
23:15
Speaker 2: But this, it's heartbreaking. She's balancing being a journalist, someone
23:19
who deals in facts and sources, with being a terrified daughter.
23:23
She broke her silence on Instagram yesterday.
23:25
Speaker 1: I saw that post. It wasn't a press release. It
23:28
it was raw.
23:28
Speaker 2: It was very raw. She quoted Isaiah. She talked about
23:31
relying on faith, believing in prayer, voices raised in unison.
23:35
It wasn't a statement about the investigation. It was a plea.
23:39
She simply said bring her home.
23:40
Speaker 1: And she has her Today's Show family around her too.
23:43
Speaker 2: I saw some of their posts Hoda kot beb, Jenna
23:45
bush hagerd They've all offered public support. It shows how
23:48
close that team is. But there is a paradox here,
23:51
isn't there.
23:51
Speaker 1: Good paradox of publicity.
23:52
Speaker 2: Exactly being Savannah Guthrie's mom means the case gets massive awareness.
23:57
Speaker 1: Right.
23:58
Speaker 2: It leads the national news, It gets the the FBI
24:00
involved faster, It gets resources that frankly, other missing persons
24:05
cases just don't get. But it attracts the crazies. It
24:09
attracts the hoaxes, like the potential ransom note. It creates noise,
24:13
so much noise investigators have to sift through thousands of
24:17
well meaning but useless tips or worse malicious ones, all
24:21
because the case is so famous.
24:23
Speaker 1: It reminds me of Elizabeth Smart or j Z Dugard.
24:26
Speaker 2: Yes, publicity is a double edged sword. It keeps her
24:29
face on the news, which is good you want people looking,
24:31
but it adds an intense layer of pressure and chaos
24:35
to the investigation.
24:37
Speaker 1: So let's summarize what we stand right now. It is
24:39
late on February three. What do we know for sure?
24:42
Speaker 2: We know Nancy Guthrie is still missing. The case is
24:44
officially classified as an abduction. She is without her vital
24:48
heart medication.
24:49
Speaker 1: We know she was injured.
24:50
Speaker 2: Forensics confirmed she was injured. We have her DNA and
24:53
credible reports of blood trails, but there is no suspect
24:56
in custody and.
24:57
Speaker 1: We have this looming question of the bitcoin right is.
25:01
Speaker 2: It a real lead, is it a sophisticated criminal enterprise,
25:05
or is it a cruel distraction?
25:06
Speaker 1: It really leaves you with a provocative thought, I'm all over.
25:09
We are looking at conflicting evidence. We have a violent,
25:12
seemingly messy abduction, blood trails, forced entry that feels physical, brutal,
25:19
almost chaotic, like a burglary gone wrong.
25:21
Speaker 2: Right, the profile of someone who bashes in a door
25:24
and drags an old woman out is usually impulsive, not
25:26
a lot of foresight.
25:28
Speaker 1: But then contrasted against that, we have this potentially sophisticated
25:32
or at least opportunistic bitcoin ransom demand sent to the
25:36
media that feels calculated, cold digital.
25:39
Speaker 2: It's the disconnect that haunts me about this case. Are
25:42
we looking for one criminal who is somehow both brutally
25:45
violent and tech savvy, or are we.
25:47
Speaker 1: Looking at a tragedy that has been hijacked by a
25:50
second group of predators, a crime on top of a crime.
25:53
Speaker 2: That is the question investigators are trying to answer right now,
25:56
and time is of the essence.
25:57
Speaker 1: It truly is? It really is so if you are
25:59
listening and you know anything, if you saw anything in
26:01
the Catalina Foothills area on Saturday night or Sunday morning,
26:05
a car speeding away, but a person out of place,
26:07
anything at all. Please call the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
26:10
Speaker 2: The number is five two zero three five one four.
26:13
Speaker 1: Nine zero zero, or you can just call nine to
26:15
one one.
26:16
Speaker 2: Every tip matters. Even the smallest detO could be the key.
26:19
Speaker 1: We are all hoping for the safe return of Nancy Guthrie.
26:23
Thank you for listening to this deep dive. We will
26:25
be back as soon as we have more to share.
26:27
Speaker 2: Stay safe,