Nancy Guthrie disappearance: Law enforcement to release image of alleged potential suspect
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(TUCSON, Ariz.) — ABC News has confirmed that law enforcement will imminently release an image of a potential suspect in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.
Guthrie was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on Sunday, Feb. 1, according to authorities. A Monday ransom deadline by persons claiming to be Guthrie’s abductors passed as the search for her continues.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County speaks during a press conference at the Montgomery County Police Department in Gaithersburg, Md., Feb. 2, 2026. (Montgomery County Police Department)
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md.) — Maryland and federal authorities announced Monday that they have shut down three Indian call centers linked to a gold bar scam that stole millions of dollars from American consumers.
Authorities said the operation netted almost $50 million from more than 600 victims across the U.S. through wire transfer, cryptocurrency and gold bar schemes.
The six alleged leaders of the scheme were also arrested, authorities said.
An ABC News investigation previously found that as the value of gold surged, grifters posing as federal agents convinced people — mostly older Americans — to convert their life savings into gold bars.
As part of the scheme, scammers sent “couriers” to pick up the bars in person to allegedly keep them in a secure location.
Last year, ABC News interviewed a suspected courier from jail as he faced charges in two states for his alleged involvement in the scam. He claimed he was hired by an individual in India and paid between $800 and $4,000 per job to pick up packages, some of which contained gold bars.
John McCarthy, the Maryland state attorney for Montgomery County, announced Monday that his office had indicted 10 couriers accused of collecting money from victims, and said that several of those cases have already resulted in convictions.
“They’re targeting people who have retirement money, who have pensions, who have investments, who’ve maybe sold their homes and have that money in reserve,” McCarthy said.
A still from a U.S. Coast Guard video showing the rescue of four people who became trapped on an ice floe during a seal hunting expedition naer Chefornak, Alaska, on April 12, 2026. (U.S. Coast Guard)
(ALASKA) — Four people, including a child, who got trapped on an ice floe during a seal hunting expedition in Alaska were safely rescued, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday, calling it one of the most “challenging missions” the helicopter crew has ever flown.
The daring rescue occurred early Sunday, approximately 10 miles west of Chefornak, a remote village in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region in southwestern Alaska.
Alaska State Troopers reported to the Coast Guard at 4:24 p.m. on Saturday that a “group of four people on a subsistence seal hunting expedition required assistance after being trapped on the ice for over 24 hours,” the Coast Guard said in a press release.
The group managed to free the 18-foot vessel overnight, but moving ice prevented it from reaching the shore, the Coast Guard said.
An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak reached the scene at approximately 5 p.m. Sunday, and all four people — three adults and one child — were safely hoisted aboard, according to the Coast Guard, which released video footage of the rescue.
The conditions at the time included 28-degree air temperature and 29 mph winds, the Coast Guard said.
The individuals were transported back to Chefornak with no reported injuries, the Coast Guard said.
“Our entire crew agreed this was one of the most challenging missions any of us had ever flown,” Lt. Cmdr. Alexis Chavarria-Aguilar, pilot-in-command for the helicopter, said in a statement. “We battled nearly every Alaska-centric aviation weather hazard imaginable, such as flying over 800 miles in near-zero visibility through mountainous terrain, blowing snow and icing conditions.”
“It was a long, difficult night, but I’m so proud of everyone involved who worked seamlessly together to bring four people home safely,” he added.
The Coast Guard noted that the hunting party had three forms of communication on their vessel — including satellite-based — which “greatly enhanced” the aircrew’s ability to find and rescue them.
“We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video, speaking directly to the camera.
“We believe our mom is still out there. We need your help,” she said. “Law enforcement is working tirelessly, around the clock, trying to bring her home.”
“She was taken, and we don’t know where, and we need your help,” she said. “So I’m coming on just to ask you … no matter where you are … if you see anything, if you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement.”
Savannah Guthrie thanked everyone for their prayers and love, and said she believes her mom is feeling those prayers, too.
The exact time of her kidnapping is not clear. Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera disconnected at 1:47 a.m., Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said, and then at 2:12 a.m., the camera software detected a person. At 2:28 a.m.,Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker app disconnected from her phone, which was left behind at her house, Nanos said.
This weekend, faced with a demand for a bitcoin ransom and a Monday deadline by someone claiming to be Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapper, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings said they’d pay for their mothers return.
“We received your message and we understand,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video this weekend. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
The message Savannah Guthrie references in her new Instagram post is the same message the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department said they were studying Friday, according to a source familiar with the investigation. Investigators have not confirmed the authenticity of the latest message, which was received by a Tucson television station, nor any of the other ransom notes mentioning Nancy Guthrie, according to the source.
As the search intensifies, a 5 p.m. Monday deadline set in an initial ransom note from earlier last week is the point of focus for authorities, though investigators are still not certain of the ransom notes’ authenticity and continue to pursue all leads, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News on Monday.
Investigators have returned repeatedly to the home of Savannah Guthrie’s sister, Annie Guthrie, where Nancy Guthrie enjoyed dinner and a game night before returning to her home a few minutes away on the night of Saturday, Jan. 31.
Investigators have also returned to Nancy Guthrie’s home, where they’ve examined rooftop cameras, towed away a car and made inquiries of neighbors.
The sheriff’s department said it is “an active and ongoing investigation,” but added that “investigators have not identified any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to this case.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
