$100K reward donor says Crime Stoppers safest path in Nancy Guthrie case

As multiple agencies gather information in the Nancy Guthrie case, the man who funded a $100,000 reward says Crime Stoppers – not the sheriff – offers the safest way for witnesses to come forward and an attractive way for people who want to be paid for credible information without giving their names.

“I believe people will come forward if they remain anonymous and get a reward,” said Wisconsin attorney Michael Hupy, president of Crime Stoppers Milwaukee.

In Pima County, Arizona, the local Crime Stoppers affiliate is known as 88-CRIME and its number is 520-882-7463.

Hupy paid $75,000 in rewards and paid another $200,000 to try to solve crimes in his hometown. But he told Fox News Digital this week that he put forward six figures in the Guthrie case because of the alarming circumstances of her disappearance.

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Savannah Guthrie will return to “Today” on Monday after a two-month absence since her mother, Nancy, disappeared on February 1. (Getty Images/Fox News Digital)

She is believed to have been taken from her bedroom in north Tucson around 2 a.m. on Sunday, February 1. Responding officers found a thin trail of blood droplets from her front door to the edge of her driveway. Its rear doors were left open. Her Nest doorbell camera was missing. And the trail seemed to end there, until the FBI and Google recovered home security video showing a masked man outside her door – who is still unidentified.

“I was very sad that an 84 year old woman in poor health was taken from her home, without her medication, her pacemaker stopped [synching]there’s blood at the crime scene, and I thought something needs to be done quickly,” he told Fox News Digital. “And I thought this was a place where I could intervene, like I did in Milwaukee.”

He also criticized the early handling of the investigation, saying the sheriff released the crime scene too quickly and made other missteps.

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Annie Guthrie, her husband Tommaso Cioni and Savannah Guthrie at the home of their missing mother Nancy Guthrie on Monday, March 2, in Tucson, Arizona. (Fox News)

“I don’t think they secured the scene long enough to deal with it,” he said. “They came in, looked, opened, and then they had to come back later.”

Hupy said he believed the anonymity guaranteed by Crime Stoppers could not be matched by the county sheriff’s tip line or even the FBI, whose tip line the Guthrie family publicly promoted.

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Tipsters can avoid being labeled “snitches” or facing retaliation, he said.

“That’s the goal,” he added. “They receive a reward anonymously and help society by getting criminals off the streets.”

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A close source told Fox News Digital that two photos of the suspect in Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell video were taken on different days. (FBI)

And as the investigation enters its third month this week, Hupy said the chances that someone who knows something about Guthrie’s alleged kidnapping will tell someone else has only increased.

“Someone will learn something,” he said. “An ex-girlfriend will get angry and tell the authorities or Crime Stoppers that her boyfriend confessed to her. A bartender will say a drunk came in and spilled the beans on himself or someone else. So the longer this goes on, the more likely we are to catch the criminal.”

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Tipsters who use Crime Stoppers can also avoid getting caught in the middle, as PCSD and the FBI independently compete for information on the case, Hupy said.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos provides an update on the investigation following the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of American journalist and television host Savannah Guthrie, who disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, United States, on February 5, 2026. (Rebecca Noble/Reuters)

“Avoid the arguments and nonsense and call Crime Stoppers,” Hupy said. “We know how to handle this. We’ve solved thousands of cases and we’re not in the middle of something.“

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And because Crime Stoppers is not a government agency, Hupy said it is not subject to freedom of information laws and does not keep records identifying the informants it pays.

Tipsters are not asked their name and are instead given a unique code number when they give information, he explained. If there is an arrest based on this information, they can collect it by giving the code, not their name.

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In an aerial view, law enforcement and news broadcasters are stationed outside the residence of Nancy Guthrie on February 10, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. The search continues for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of American journalist and television host Savannah Guthrie, after she disappeared from her home on the morning of February 1. Guthrie’s would-be kidnappers had set a deadline of February 9 at 5 p.m. for the $6 million payment. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“If your tip results in an arrest, you get a reward,” he said. “We don’t even know your name, or your address, or your phone number.”

And no records of these details are kept either, he added.

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The national crime-fighting organization has handed out tens of millions of dollars in rewards over the years, he said.

The Crime Stoppers reward is $102,500 for information leading to an arrest. The FBI is separately offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to either Guthrie’s recovery or his arrest and conviction. And “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie is offering $1 million for information that will bring her mother home.

“Find out, you will be anonymous…and if you have the right information, you will receive a reward,” Hupy said. “It’s that simple.”