Nancy Guthrie’s garage door closed, and the 14-hour mystery over her abduction began

It started out as a routine evening for Nancy Guthrie.

Around 5:32 p.m. Saturday, she left her home in the hills north of Tuscon to have dinner with a family member. She took an Uber to dinner but was driven home by family, officials said.

The 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie returned home at 9:48 p.m., authorities said, when her garage door opened. Data shows the door then closed two minutes later.

A mysterious timeline

Much of the next few hours remain a mystery but could hold the key to what happened to him. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said authorities believe she was kidnapped and are currently investigating a ransom note seeking money for her return.

Few details of how she was taken from the house have been revealed. But a rough timeline from Sunday morning offers some clues:

• 1:47 a.m. The house doorbell camera disconnected.
• 2:12 a.m.: Security camera software detected a person – or possibly an animal – in the home, but no video was available.
• 2:28 a.m.: Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker app disconnected from her cell phone. His phone never appears to have left his house.

It wasn’t until late Sunday morning that the family discovered she was missing, after someone at church noticed she wasn’t there and contacted her family. The first 911 calls to authorities came in just after noon, and sheriff’s officers were at her home by 12:15 p.m.

Savannah Guthrie and her mother Nancy Guthrie in June 2023.

(Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)

Blood found

Almost immediately, family and authorities noted suspicious circumstances: The 84-year-old woman was nowhere to be found, but her essentials – her cell phone, wallet, car and medication – were still at home.

Although she is of sound mind and without cognitive problems, Guthrie suffers from physical illnesses that prevent her from walking far, officials said.

“This isn’t someone who just wandered off,” Nanos said. “She couldn’t walk 50 meters alone.”

Authorities said they believed she was “taken from her home against her will” but did not reveal many additional clues.

Images reviewed by The Times showed a trail of blood droplets near a door to the house. Nanos confirmed Thursday that he tested blood from outside the home for DNA, which only appeared to match Nancy Guthrie.

Nanos said more evidence is being processed for DNA, but it will take more time.

The FBI called upon its Quantico Critical Incident Response Team as well as members of its Cellular Analysis Investigation Team to process the evidence.

“Right now, we think Nancy is still there. We want her to come home,” Nanos said at a news conference Thursday. He said a huge team of local and federal partners “is still working around the clock.”

Concern for his health

Nancy Guthrie lived alone in her ranch-style home in the Catalina Foothills community.

She took the medications she needed to survive every day. It appears that she no longer took this medication. Nanos said his life would be in immediate danger without it.

“We’re on day 4 or 5 and we still don’t know if she’s getting her medication and that could mean it could prove fatal,” Nanos said Thursday.

Several media outlets also reported receiving a ransom note demanding money in exchange for the release of Nancy Guthrie. The FBI appears to take the memo seriously and noted that it included a deadline of Thursday at 5 p.m.