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Hey everybody. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serial Lessly. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, your true crime bestie, Annie Elise. And today's a bonus episode. As you can see, it's not our usual release schedule, but it's a bonus episode because we have a lot to talk about. So many of you guys have been in my DMs and have been commenting and wanting me to dive deeper into Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie's mother, and the disappearance of the abduction, the ransom note, the potential prime suspect. And I talked a little bit about the case in Headline Highlights yesterday. But since then there has been a lot more information that has come to light. A new timeline has surfaced, new details, a new press conference that shared quite a bit of information. And so I wanted to just jump on here and share everything that we know, what fact, what speculation, what what is, you know, confirmed and break it down for you and so that you have all of the information in one place. Because I know that there is stuff flying out right now left and right out there and it's hard to keep things straight. I also have been putting updates out on the True Crime Instagram account. You can search it, the handle is at Serial Asleep Pod, where we're posting updates in real time as we hear them. But I want to just kind of break everything down for you, give you a little bit of backstory, a little bit of context and like go through the timeline and things that we've learned on our end, too, as we've been digging. And let. Let me also just be very frank with you and upfront. This is definitely not going to be the cleanest episode in the sense of, you know, very well put together and structured because I'm just jumping on the mic and I'm just talking with you, and we're gonna just talk through this together. But, you know, that's what we are, that we're friends right now. Obviously, we know this. Okay. For those who are still catching up a little bit, Savannah Guthrie, the host of the Today show, her mother disappeared over the weekend, and it's in what is alleged to be an abduction. Since this first happened, there has been a lot of stuff coming out. Her house was, yes, ruled as a crime scene. There was blood. There was a doorbell, camera that had been ripped off. There was some other stuff going on in the house, which I'll get into. And it was. It all stemmed from when she didn't show up to church that day. They knew that something was wrong. So since the disappearance, information has just been, like, pouring in minute by minute. And I want to just, like, backtrack a bit and talk a little bit about Nancy. Okay. And, like, who Nancy was, how she lived her life, why she was in Arizona. Also, we know that she and Savannah are very close, which most mothers and daughters are. I mean, maybe not most, but a lot. But I think that there is a reason why they are especially close. See, back in 1988, Savannah's father, unfortunately died after suffering a fatal heart attack. So after that, Nancy became the single parent to Savannah and her other two siblings. So three children in total, and raising three children alone certainly would, you would imagine, would create some very close relationships with your children right now, she lived most of her adult life in Arizona and then later resided in the Catalina foothills area, which is where she disappeared from. But as we've heard in several press conferences, she is described by law enforcement as mentally sharp, not suffering from dementia. She, yeah, does have physical, you know, some mobility limitations that make it difficult for her to walk on her own unassisted more than 50ft. She also requires daily medication, and they have stated that by missing her medication for more than 24 hours, it could be life threatening. And she lived alone in Arizona for the most part. She did have occasional house staff that would come in here and there, but she did live on her own and unassisted. So she, you know, was very much independent, is my point in all of this, because even though the police have vocalized that they do not believe this to be a dementia related situation and they believe this was an abduction. There are still people out there being like, it could be. It could be she lived on her own, she was independent. She did, you know, she had occasional house staff, but she had a few limitations, but she was very much, you know, could physically live on her own. So let's go through and start back at the beginning with the disappearance, the investigation and everything that we have learned along the way and kind of, you know, talk through some of the theories and speculation too, and what's been confirmed and what has not been confirmed. So on Saturday, January 31, at approximately 5:30pm Nancy took an Uber from her home in Arizona over to her daughter Annie's residence. The Uber driver has since been contacted and has been interviewed by the police. She returned home a few Hours later at 9:48pm Family members of hers dropped her off back at her residence. And they actually said in the press conference today that there is data that they've recovered that shows that not only did she arrive at 9:48, but the garage door opened and that at 9:50pm the garage door closed behind her. Then into the early morning hours of Sunday, February 1st, at 1:47am The Ring Doorbell camera disconnected from the system. And we've seen images too, of Nancy's front porch where it looks like it was physically ripped off from the brick wall. And that data shows that that happened at 1:47am Then about 30 minutes later, roughly at 2:12am Software detected a person on camera outside of Nancy's house. However, it's not captured on video because the way that the system was set up, she didn't have the subscription with the software. So the video was constantly just recording over itself. So it did detect somebody, but that video footage is no longer able to be recovered. Then about 15 minutes later, at 2:28am Nancy's pacemaker last Saturday synced with her devices and it stopped connecting to Wi Fi. Now, I have to say this data will likely come into play as the investigators work on this case, because if you recall, pacemaker data played a huge role in the case of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy, in their case from February of 2025. It helps really just illustrate the timeline and nail in on certain, you know, movements and timestamps and things of that nature. So all of that happens in that very condensed window between 1:47am and 2:30am not a big period of time. I mean, you're talking 45 minutes between when somebody ripped that Doorbell camera off. And then when her pacemaker stopped syncing with her devices the following morning, we know that Nancy failed to appear at church. So this was very out of character for her. Enough so that they immediately raised their hand. Being like, this doesn't feel right. So at 11am the church contacted her family members. By 11:56am her family members went over to the residence that Nancy lived in and they wanted to go and check on her to see if everything was okay. They searched the home themselves, but as we know, Nancy was not located. So then just a few minutes later, literally five minutes later, less than 10 minutes later, at 12:03pm, family members called 911 to report her as missing. By 12:15pm the county sheriff's deputies had responded to the residents. And when they entered and when they assessed the scene, here's what they found. Nancy's car phone and wallet were all still inside the home. There were also blood drops that were found outside leading toward the driveway. We also know that doorbell camera had been removed. And this painted a pretty eerie scene from the get go. And they were quick to label it as a crime scene because the blood coming from the front door out and some blood droplets inside the house, it could, yes, mean that a crime occurred inside. Although I think that if there were larger amounts of blood, they wouldn't be listing this still as an abduction. And I think they would say that they believe a murder happened. I believe, here's what I think. I don't know if maybe whoever did this knocked Nancy over the head and it caused some sort of cut and that was the blood. We also know that she's older. As you age, your blood thins and even the smallest bump or scrape on your arm can create very thin blood that does spill out. So we don't know how that blood got there or what, what caused it. But they did confirm that the blood that was tested did outside on the porch does in fact belong to Nancy. So by that afternoon, Border patrol units had deployed all sorts of help and different techniques. They had canines, they had helicopters. I mean, there was an extensive search going on. And by evening, based on all of the evidence that they had collected and everything that they were looking at, it led the investigators to believe that Nancy did not leave voluntarily, that she was in fact abducted. So overnight, rolling into Monday of this week, the extensive search operations continued. And by 9am on Monday, it was the very first prior press briefing. And in this press briefing, the county sheriff, Chris Nanos, said that Nancy did officially, sorry, like trying to talk and it's not coming out. He did state officially that Nancy did not leave on her own. Now, at first, the press briefing, sheriffs declared that the residence was a crime scene and that law enforcement stated that they did believe a crime occurred. Authorities also confirmed that they are in possession of Nancy's cell phone and any possible home surveillance systems. They also said that they have other tracking devices, but that at this point, they didn't have any sort of potential motive in play. They didn't know whether Nancy was targeted because of her famous daughter, Savannah. They didn't know what they were really looking at here. All they knew was that a crime had occurred and it appeared to be an abduction. So at 12pm a Silver Alert was issued. And by that evening, at 11:25pm the county sheriff's department issued a reward. It was around $2,500. So this is where things start to get a little crazy and where everybody was, of course, glued to this case. And so everybody's wanting updates in real time as well. But it's where a lot of speculation and rumors came into play. The first being that Kold News, a CBS affiliate in Tucson, had reported that they had received a letter demanding payment for Nancy's release. I wanted to ask you about this alleged ransom note, though, as well, and I know that Kold hasn't reported the exact. But you, Mary, have personally seen it yourself. What can you share?
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I haven't. I think a lot of people were questioning the legitimacy of it, and while they're still looking into the legitimacy of it, they're taking all tips into consideration. We do know there are a few things that we can share as far as what the contents were. A lot of it is information that only someone who is holding her for ransom would know, some very sensitive information and things that people who weren't there when she was taken captive would know. So those are things that are concerning. We immediately sent that information over to the sheriff's department, and they're, of course, looking into the legitimacy of it. One of the detectives did get back to us and ask us for some more information so that they can start searching for an IP address and things of that nature to try and figure out who or what people are responsible here.
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And you say an IP address. So obviously, this was came via email, right? Correct.
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It did. It came into our newsroom via email.
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So then who saw it first, and what did the station do? I mean, at what point did you all realize, wow, this might not be a crank, this might be something?
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Yeah, absolutely. Well, it also Included a dollar amount, a deadline, and again, other specifics that only industries abductor might know. So that definitely raised some red flags. And our news tips come in directly to the newsroom and our digital team and other employees have access to that. So they were the ones who flagged it initially when it came in. And when we saw some of those details, it was clear after a couple of sentences that, you know, this might not be a hoax.
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Now as you heard and everything in that, the reporter says that people were questioning the legitimacy of it, but that the authorities were taking all tips into consideration. And it contained information that only somebody who was holding Nancy and holding her for ransom would possibly know what she was wearing. Something from the house, thing like important details. It also included a dollar amount and a deadline. And they also said that it was clear that after just a couple of sentences it may not be a hoax, that it may be real. So on Tuesday there was another press conference. And in this one, the county sheriff's office spoke again. And Chris Nano spoke and he confirmed that detectives had collected some DNA samples from the home. They confirmed that those samples belonged to Nancy. The sheriff also said that there was evidence in the home that in the investigators view it showed and suggested that Nancy was removed from the home against her will. That again ties back to the blood droplets going outside on the porch, over onto the driveway. He repeated that they did not think that she left home by herself on foot. In other words, she hadn't walked out of there on her own. And they believed that she was forced out, although investigators didn't know yet whether she had walked out under force or if she was carried out. Then about an hour later, after that press conference, TMZ came out and they reported they too had received a ransom note. That it was all connected to Nancy's disappearance. It again said what she was wearing. It had a detail about the home, and the message was sent to TMZ by email. And TMZ of course, immediately forwarded it to law enforcement. But according to tmz, the note demanded a huge sum of money, millions of dollars, and that it had to be paid in bitcoin.
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What do you have to lose?
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Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch limited time 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for three months, $90 for six month or $180 for for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms. The ransom letter also included a very specific Bitcoin wallet address, and that's apparently like where the money is supposed to be sent to. I don't know much about bitcoin. I know that it is supposed to be, I think, untraceable or harder to trace. Everybody does have like a wallet number where money's exchanged in and out of. So think of it almost like a bank account number. If you're like, transfer a million dollars into this account, that's basically what was going on. But they said to transfer the money via bitcoin. There also was a deadline attached to this ransom note saying, you know, we need this money by 5pm on Thursday, or else adding that like, chilling element to it, implying, you know, dire consequences if the payment wasn't made. TMZ also described content from the note that suggested that the sender knew details about Nancy's life and about her home, including references to what she was wearing that day or wasn't wearing and things that were said to be damaged inside her home in Tucson. Now, obviously, TMZ couldn't verify whether this note was authentic or not. But what's interesting is that law enforcement wouldn't confirm whether the ransom note was real or a hoax. They wouldn't confirm one way or another. The county sheriff's department issued a public statement acknowledging that they were aware of the reports circulating that there was, you know, a possible ransom note and also said that all tips, all leads are being taken very seriously. But then came another bombshell that night. On Tuesday night, a content creator claimed that a source who is close to the investigation revealed that a family member was listed as a potential person of interest, specifically Savannah's sister, Annie's husband. So Savannah's brother in law. Now that spread like wildfire. Okay? Everybody was talking about it. And then there were pictures that came out showing Annie and her husband, you know, not hiding out, but like ducking down in their car as they're driving. And I had even mentioned on headline highlights yesterday, I was like, here's what they're saying, that he's a possible person of interest or as this creator said, a prime suspect. But nothing had been verified. And at that point too, we didn't know the relationship between Annie and her husband. Were they estranged? Could he have been acting on his own if he was in fact involved? Were they working together on this? Like, is there any validity in any of it? But then on Wednesday, the county sheriff addressed all the speculation surrounding the case and also the rumors of the family involvement that was circulating all over social media. And he confirmed that no suspect and no person of interest had been identified. He also issued a pretty stern warning saying, sharing any unverified accusations or false Information was not only irresponsible, but. But it, you know, hurts the investigation. He also confirmed the detectives were working closely with the Guthrie family, and he urged anybody with any information to come forward. However, throughout the day, rumors of the potential family involvement just continued to take flight. I mean, swirling everywhere. Federal agents also were then seen at the home of Annie and her husband. Crime scene, crime scene. I can't talk. Crime scene. Tape went back up at Nancy's house. It looked like they were going in and out with boxes, collecting evidence. It was just a very heavy law enforcement presence that was observed at Nancy's house. And a grid search was also performed. And it just. It, you know, it fueled the fire. It had everybody talking. So shortly after that, the community came together for a candlelight vigil. And then, in what I think surprised a lot of us is because Savannah had kept quiet. So, you know, so long into this, so many days into this, the Guthrie family spoke out. And not just Savannah, but alongside her siblings, including Annie, whose husband had been named at this point as prime suspect number one. And they posted a video on Instagram in response to not only their mother going missing, but the ransom note. What they've learned, and I could easily regurgitate it for you, but I actually just want to play the entire clip for you because I want you to hear their voices. So take a listen.
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On behalf of our family, we want to thank all of you for the prayers for our beloved mom, Nancy. We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them, too. Our mom is a kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light. She is funny, spunky, and clever. She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses. She loves fun and adventure. She is a devoted friend. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you'll see.
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The.
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Light is missing from our lives. Nancy is our mother. We are her children. She is our beacon. She holds fast to joy in all of life's circumstances. She chooses joy day after day, despite having already passed through great trials of pain and grief. We are always going to be merely human, just normal, human people who need our mom. Mama. Mama, if you're listening, we need you to come home. We miss you. Our mom is our heart and our home. She's 84 years old. Her health, her heart, is fragile. She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer. We, too, have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media. As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us.
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Mommy.
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If you are hearing this, you are a strong woman. You are God's precious daughter. Nancy. We believe and know that even in this valley, he is with you. Everyone is looking for you, Mommy, everywhere. We will not rest. Your children will not rest until we are together again. We speak to you every moment and we pray without ceasing. And we rejoice in advance for the day that we hold you in our arms again. We love you, Mom. We love you, Mom. Stay strong.
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Now. Look, we don't know what goes on behind the curtains of a family. Family secrets, things like that, we don't know. And a lot of people after this video was released, you know, said that Annie's appearance and her being so stoic brushed them the wrong way. That they still think that she could be involved or she's protecting her husband. But what I will say is this. While they were sitting there clearly distraught and just like grief stricken, when Annie started speaking, you can see Savannah's hand go under and hold her hand as she's speaking and look again, maybe we've seen people in denial. We've seen people not want to believe things. Look at Barry Morphew's daughters who have stood by his side for years. It could very well be, if there is some sort of involvement, that she doesn't believe it. She doesn't want to believe it. But in that moment, my point is she's holding her hand, sticking by her sister. And I think that that body language wasn't mentioned yet. Annie's lack of expression was mentioned. So I just wanted to throw that out there. So that same day, as Savannah's message goes viral on social media, as the police say, there is no person of interest, that there, you know, is no prime suspect. The same content creator who first made those allegations doubled down and said, you know what, I understand that, like, because she was receiving quite a bit of backlash for this after the police said that there was no suspect. But she doubled down and made a really good point saying, look, I've been here before. I think her exact words were like, I've been to this rodeo before saying, back on December 19, 2022, police identified Brian Coburger through the genealogy testing. Yet they, the very next day, they too said, there's no suspect in the Idaho, four murders. Because the law enforcement doesn't want to play their hand too early. Right. They don't want to spook somebody. They don't want to risk and jeopardize them fleeing or them hurting somebody if they are holding somebody captive who is still alive. And so it's a strategy that law enforcement does. So whether there's any validity to it, we don't know. But she doubled down saying, like, look, we've been here before. I was told by a law enforcement source. So it doesn't mean anything that they're saying that there's no suspect here. There very well could be. So, again, you can take that how you want, but I know this content creator. I know her to be pretty responsible, and I don't think that she would just, like, flippantly say something unless she felt like she had a credible source tell her that information. And we also know that even after that day when they told Brian. Said that Brian Coba. Or Sorry, after that day when they said they had no suspects, even though they had identified Coburger, within days, Brian Coburger was arrested. So we'll see. So then comes Thursday, yesterday, and there was another press conference with the county sheriff alongside the FBI, and they walked through the timeline of all of the events, and they went through a bunch of new details. So let's go through all of those. They confirmed that there was, in fact, a suspicious vehicle in the area at the time of the abduction. However, they did not share any photos or any description. The sheriff also took this opportunity to double down on his statement from the day before, saying there is no known suspect. However, what's interesting is that during the questions from all of the different journalists, he accidentally slipped up a little bit, in my opinion, and he said, look, we just don't have enough to say that this is our guy. But then he quickly said, or our girl. And I'll kind of repeat it to where you get the exact pause. He's like, we just don't have enough to say that this is our guy or our girl. Like, it was just kind. It felt almost like an unintentional slip. There also was something in the conference, and I wanted to find the direct quote. It was tough for me to go back and find it. But something that stuck stood out to me. As I was listening when they were talking about the ransom note and the public plea from the family, they had said, like, you know, Savannah's family is saying, we're ready to talk, as you even heard in that clip, like, we're Ready to talk, like, what's going on? Let's figure this out. And the sheriff even said something like, let's talk. Let's figure this out in a way that to me, and I could be totally wrong. And look, I'm not saying that the brother is a suspect. I truthfully don't know. But the way that that statement came out, that detail of like, let's figure this out, to me it sounded like it was an appeal to somebody they know, whether it's a family member or a friend. Because very. I mean, I've never heard in any sort of abduction case or ransom demand, you say, like, we want to talk. What are your demands? Let's listen. But seeing hearing the details like, we'll figure it out. That the context of that insinuates partnership in a way. And I could totally be overreading this. I'm just saying this is like what caught my attention. But it sounds like, talk to us, we'll figure this out together. You know, you may think it's bad right now. It's not as bad. Like, just talk to us. We're ready to listen. Let's figure this out together. To where it doesn't feel like a stranger. And I totally could be wrong. I probably am wrong, guys. But I at least wanted to mention that because it was something that stood out to me. So now the current reward has also been raised to $50,000. And they announced that in the press conference as well. The FBI and federal officers from Quantico have also been assigned to the case. And as of now, the alleged abductor or abductors have. Have yet to provide authorities or the family with any sort of proof of life regarding Nancy, and I mentioned at the top of this episode too that she was on a daily medication that could be life threatening. So if she doesn't have that medication, maybe there is no proof of life. And I don't want to be too morbid, but even the sheriff wouldn't answer directly when asked if they were treating this more as a rescue or a recovery. He didn't want to say that. He just kept reiterating, we believe that Nancy is still out there. Now, if that means they believe she is still out there alive or that she is just, of course, still out there because they haven't recovered her. Who's to say? The FBI then warned of potential issues regarding any videos from the alleged abductors due to AI and people doing these, like, deep fakes and some of the fake ransom notes. They even said that they have made an arrest now in connection with a fake ransom being made. And they're hopeful that with technology, along with the biological evidence that was taken from the scene, that it will help them solve the case. Now, the only DNA evidence that they have recovered is the blood that was on the porch, which was sent to a lab. So the FBI special agent confirmed that they do have crisis negotiators in place and that the family is, in fact, ready to make negotiations. But there has been no contact with the reported abductors since that initial ransom note had been received by multiple different people. I think I said this earlier, but one of the ransom notes had a deadline of 5pm on Thursday, and there was also a second deadline of Monday, February 9th. The sheriff concluded the press conference by saying that he has absolutely no plans to schedule any further press conferences unless they, quote, have some real evidence or something to bring up. He also added, quote, it's pretty pointless to just keep pounding the same things over and over. And I think that is also why a lot of people are, like, coming up with all these theories, because, like, there isn't a lot being shared. But again, it's because you're only a few days into this abduction and they're building the case. And if there wasn't a lot of DNA recovered from the scene, except for Nancy's blood, again, those droplets, it could have been a cut. Perhaps there wasn't any sort of struggle because she did know her abductor. Maybe they knocked her out inside, that's what caused the blood and they carried her out. And that's why there's not a struggle. There's just not enough information to know who could have been involved. If this was random, clearly it was targeted because this person, before they even entered the house, ripped off the doorbell camera. It seems maybe they entered first and then ripped it off later. I don't know. But it's unfortunate that they haven't recovered any sort of concrete, solid video surveillance. And based on her age and her condition and her medications, I'm always hopeful for a rescue. But I do think that this will be more of a recovery. I don't know. That's just my opinion. And there have been some theories out there that this is politically motivated, that it's targeted. They targeted Nancy because of Savannah, her daughter, and because of political views. Who knows if there's any truth in any of that? Because others are also suggesting, again, that it's the brother in law and that it's a money play and that, you know, even Annie, her sister, is jealous of Savannah. I mean, the theories are just going so wild, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt. But as of now, that's where we're at with this case. I'm going to try to jump on the mic more with you just as we hear updates in this. If there is an update since this recording, I will pin it in the comment section and in the body of the episode description. But the faster way to see these updates in real time is to follow on Instagram. And you can follow my personal one at Underscore Annie Elise, or our true crime one at Serial Asleep Pod. And that's where we're going to post everything in real time. Because I can't always, you know, jump on the mic, record it, get the video out, get it approved, and get it to you. So let's just continue to keep this family in our thoughts and prayers. Let's hope that there are some answers soon. I just cannot imagine and even believe what is happening and what the. What Savannah and her brother and sister must be going through and feeling that is so terrifying. And a ransom note to know your mom's been abducted. It's awful. They've already lost their father, as I mentioned. It's just heartbreaking. So let's continue to try to be positive and keep them in our thoughts and prayers. All right, guys, thank you so much for tuning into today's bonus episode. Don't forget, follow the podcast if you're not already, because I may do these again as we get updates and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you haven't already. If and you're watching this on YouTube so that you also don't miss those updates. All right, until the next one, be nice. Don't kill people, don't abduct anyone. And I don't know, just hug your family. Hug your family. Sa. Hi, everybody. It's Andy and James here from your next favorite podcast, no Such Thing as a Fish. That's right. We do fun facts. Yes, we do. James, give me a fact. Did you know that there is an extinct bandicoot whose official scientific name is Crash Bandicoot? Lovely. I didn't know that. Did you know, James, that Upper Egypt is technically below Lower Egypt? Incredible. Absolutely amazing. I would love to hear more about that. Well, all you have to do is go and listen to no Such Thing as a Fish. Where will I find it? Oh, all over. Okay, bye. Bye.
Episode 363: New Timeline, Ransom Deadline & Possible Motives with Savannah Guthrie’s Mom | Nancy Guthrie Update
Release Date: February 6, 2026
Host: Annie Elise
Podcast Description: True-crime updates, deep dives, timelines, and overlooked details, delivered in Annie’s candid, conversational style.
This bonus episode tackles the rapidly evolving investigation into the disappearance and suspected abduction of Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie. Annie Elise provides an updated timeline of events, the latest findings from law enforcement, media reports on an alleged ransom demand, and dissects emerging theories—especially swirling rumors about potential family involvement. The episode maintains a conversational, “best friend filling you in” tone, while drilling into critical, nuanced details.
“They were quick to label it as a crime scene because the blood coming from the front door out and some blood droplets inside the house… painted a pretty eerie scene from the get go.” (B, 10:57)
“A lot of it is information that only someone who is holding her for ransom would know, some very sensitive information and things that people who weren’t there when she was taken captive would know.” (C, 12:37)
“They said to transfer the money via bitcoin… adding that like, chilling element to it, implying, you know, dire consequences if the payment wasn't made.” (B, 18:05)
“Sharing any unverified accusations or false information was not only irresponsible, but… it, you know, hurts the investigation.” (B, 20:42)
“We are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her.” (D, 24:38)
“We just don’t have enough to say that this is our guy… or our girl.” (B, 27:45)
“The sheriff concluded the press conference by saying that he has absolutely no plans to schedule any further press conferences unless they, quote, have some real evidence or something to bring up.” (B, 37:10)
Possible Motives:
Nature of Abduction:
Ransom Note Authenticity:
Family Dynamics:
“We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us.” (D, 25:00)
“They were quick to label it as a crime scene because the blood coming from the front door out and some blood droplets inside the house… painted a pretty eerie scene from the get go.”
“A lot of it is information that only someone who is holding her for ransom would know, some very sensitive information…” – C
“They said to transfer the money via bitcoin… adding that like, chilling element to it, implying… dire consequences if the payment wasn’t made.” – B
“Sharing any unverified accusations or false information was not only irresponsible, but… it hurts the investigation.” – B
“We… are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her.” – D
“We just don’t have enough to say that this is our guy… or our girl.” – B
“He has absolutely no plans to schedule any further press conferences unless they… have some real evidence or something to bring up.” – B
Annie maintains an empathetic, friend-to-friend tone, but is diligent about fact-vs-rumor, regularly urging listeners to avoid jumping to conclusions. She acknowledges uncertainty throughout and shares her own reactions candidly (“I could totally be overreading this…”), reflecting the true-crime community’s hope for answers and justice.
For real-time developments, Annie recommends following the Serialously Instagram or her personal account as podcast episodes may lag behind rapidly changing news.