Nancy Guthrie missing case update: FBI intensifies search in Catalina foothills as ransom notes raise concerns

The search for Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, is getting more intense by the day. The FBI has ramped up its investigation in the Catalina Foothills outside Tucson, Arizona.

It’s been over ten days since Nancy disappeared, and the case just keeps getting stranger. Now there are ransom notes demanding cryptocurrency, and nobody seems to know who’s behind them or if they’re even real.

What happened: The story so far

Nancy went missing on January 31, 2026. She didn’t show up at her usual church service, and her family couldn’t reach her. Since she relies on daily medication and has a pacemaker, her family panicked fast and called for help.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI jumped in right away, treating the whole thing like a possible kidnapping.Things looked bad from the start. Investigators found blood matching Nancy’s DNA on her porch. Somebody had ripped out her doorbell camera and taken it. It wasn’t hard to see why police immediately suspected foul play.

Where the investigation stands now

Now, by mid-February, the FBI had teams combing the area around Nancy’s house, fanning out across the foothills, the desert, and nearby properties.

They’ve got hundreds of people on the ground, and they’re asking the public for any tips, no matter how small. They seized Nancy’s car from her home and pulled a strange camera off the roof, hoping forensic tests would turn up something useful. The FBI also released security footage showing a masked figure with a backpack messing with Nancy’s security system the night she vanished, but nobody knows who it is yet.

Investigators are also checking out a black latex glove found about a mile and a half from Nancy’s place, looking for DNA or fingerprints — anything that could break things open.Then came the ransom notes, and they’ve only made this case weirder. Multiple messages showed up at TV stations and even TMZ, demanding millions in Bitcoin for Nancy’s safe return. The first note set a deadline for payment. The second increased the amount. Lately, someone’s been asking for one Bitcoin—about USD 70,000—just for the name of the so-called abductor.However, so far, none of these notes has led to real contact with Nancy’s family, and the FBI says nobody’s provided proof that Nancy’s alive.

Usually, kidnappers offer some way to talk and confirm the victim’s safety. Here, there’s been nothing, and that’s making detectives question how real these demands are.From the beginning, police have leaned toward abduction. They found blood at Nancy’s place, a missing doorbell camera, and evidence that somebody was in her home that night. Since then, the search has exploded. The FBI, sheriff’s office, and other agencies have scoured the Catalina Foothills and the roads nearby.

One day, they got more than 4,000 tips; now, they’re closing in on 18,000. People all over the country are paying attention and trying to help.As of now, investigators are leaving nothing to chance. They’ve got teams on foot, helicopters in the air, K-9 units, and forensic crews digging for anything that might point to Nancy. They’re still testing it for DNA and prints from the black glove they found miles from her house.However, despite all this effort, nobody has named a suspect or offered proof that Nancy’s alive. Police briefly questioned a man near the US–Mexico border, but he was released with no charges. Right now, they’re still chasing leads, hoping the next piece of evidence brings Nancy home.