The kidnapping of her 84-year-old mother Nancy has horrified America – and now Savannah Guthrie has been warned that cops face a ‘race against time’ to find her.
Nancy was last seen at her $1 million home in Tucson, Arizona, around 9:45pm Saturday, with her disappearance reported the following day.
On Monday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told the Daily Mail that Nancy was likely abducted from her bed in the dead of night.
On Tuesday, Apple Watch data revealed that Nancy’s pacemaker disconnected from her Apple Watch around 2am Sunday, after she was taken out of range of the high-tech timepiece, which she was not wearing when she was taken.
Law enforcement sources say blood was found at Nancy’s home and that there were signs of forced entry.
A $2,500 reward has been offered for information leading to Nancy, but Sheriff Nanos warned that the ‘window is closing’ for her to be found safe and well.
She suffers from an unspecified condition which requires regular medication and cannot walk more than 50 feet by herself.
The case has thrown up a number of disturbing unanswered questions, which the Daily Mail has detailed below…
Savannah Guthrie’s mother Nancy was abducted late Saturday or in the early hours of Sunday morning, with multiple troubling questions about what might have happened to her
Investigators said Nancy’s $1 million home in Tucson, Arizona (pictured on Tuesday) showed signs of forced entry, and forensic teams found blood inside the property
Why was Nancy Guthrie targeted?
Investigators say they have found no evidence that Nancy was abducted due to her rich and famous daughter, but say they have not yet ‘ruled it out’ either.
There has been no mention of any ransom demand and a $2,500 reward has been offered for information into the crime.
‘We’re doing all we can to try to locate her,’ Sheriff Nanos said. ‘Every tool we have, we will use.’
Nanos said Savannah has never received any similar threats.
Savannah, who is said to earn $8 million-a-year at NBC, is traveling with a ‘security team’, although there is no suggestion of any direct threats to her.
Investigators say they have found no evidence that Nancy was abducted due to her famous daughter, but say they have not yet ‘ruled it out’ either
Savannah Guthrie earns a reported $8 million salary at NBC, and has a net worth estimated at around $40 million
Why did cops say there is probably ‘no threat to the public’?
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told journalists Monday that there was no indication of any threat to the wider public after Nancy was kidnapped.
Indeed, there haven’t been any other reports of kidnappings in the Tucson area since.
But why just Nancy? Sheriff Nanos suggested there is no obvious link between Nancy’s kidnapping and her wealthy daughter.
Does that mean she was targeted because she is an independently wealthy and vulnerable elderly woman who lives alone?
Nancy’s husband Charles Guthrie died of a heart attack in 1988, with Savannah previously speaking of losing her father when she was 16.
And if Nancy was targeted just for those reasons – why her and not one of the many wealthy neighbors nearby?
What condition does Nancy Guthrie have that requires medication?
Soon after Nancy was reported missing, the search took on added urgency as officials said the 84-year-old needs daily medication.
At a press conference on Monday, Sheriff Nanos cautioned that even 24 hours without her medication could be fatal.
The sheriff did not offer details over what condition Nancy suffers from, or what medications she needs to stay alive.
On Tuesday, it was revealed Nancy’s pacemaker had stopped transmitting data to her Apple Watch around 2am Sunday.
She wasn’t wearing the watch, meaning it had disconnected from her pacemaker when she was taken out of range.
The pacemaker indicates that Nancy has a heart condition, although it is unclear if this is the same condition that necessitates her medication.
Sheriff Nanos added that Nancy does not have dementia and is ‘sharp as a tack.’
She cannot walk more than 50 years by herself, with the latest information suggesting a horrific dead-of-night kidnapping.
Officials say Nancy, 84, is frail and has poor mobility, and suffers from a condition that requiries her to take medication daily
Where were Nancy’s ‘staff’?
Savannah’s network NBC News reported on Monday that Guthrie ‘lives alone and employs staff members.’
It is unclear what these staff members did, or what hours they worked – although Nancy ‘living alone’ strongly suggests none of them were live-in workers.
Nancy was last seen outside her house at 9:45pm on Saturday night and reported missing when she failed to show up to church at 11am Sunday.
There’s no suggestion any alarms were raised by Nancy’s staff members.
Does that mean they get the weekend off – and if so, what happens if she is sick or if there is an emergency?
Outside Nancy’s Arizona home, where neighbors left a sign saying they ‘stand with’ the 84-year-old and her family
Investigators said they do not believe Nancy walked out of her Arizona home (pictured), and said she would not have been able to walk ’50 yards’
Is there any doorbell camera footage showing what happened?
Many American homes now have doorbell or exterior security cameras that offer crystal clear footage of what is going on outside their properties.
Nancy was among them, according to Fox News.
But when investigators arrived at her property on Sunday, there was no sign of that camera.
Her phone and Apple Watch were inside the house.
Was the doorbell camera removed by the person who abducted Nancy? Or had it just been taken down for a repair?
And if it was removed by the person who abducted her – did it manage to capture that person walking up to the lens just before it was ripped off its perch?
Nancy’s camera wasn’t connected to a software ‘cloud’, meaning investigators have to go through the lengthier process of getting a warrant to access data from a server that stores its recordings.
Investigators haven’t indicated whether Nancy’s neighbors saw anything on their doorbell cameras.
One person living nearby called Jeff Lamie told AzCentral he checked his doorbell camera, but only saw a single animal called a javelina appear in the frame the entire event.
Nancy and her neighbors live in large, well-spaced lots on a very dark street, offering her captor a very discreet exit route.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos (pictured) said his investigators have uncovered ‘very concerning’ evidence from Nancy’s home, including signs of a forced entry
Why have cops not identified a suspect?
In the three days since Nancy disappeared, investigators have shared pieces of evidence that point to an ominous outcome.
At a press conference, Sheriff Nanos said there was ‘very concerning’ evidence that Nancy’s home was forcibly entered, and also that investigators believe she was ‘driven away in a vehicle.’
But Nanos said there was no evidence of a specific vehicle, and he was waiting on data from intersection cameras and license plate readers that could offer any clues.
In an interview with AZFamily, Nanos also admitted that he was still waiting for DNA results from the home, because his Tucson laboratory was ‘down’ and he had to send samples to Phoenix.
The sheriff offered no further details over the form of DNA evidence seized from Nancy’s home.
Sheriff Nanos has refused to say whether he believes Nancy was abducted by one person or several.
It’s unclear if cops believe she knew her abductor or abductors – and no descriptions of suspects have been shared.
