President Donald Trump said Tuesday he hopes investigators find Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old Tucson woman who vanished from her home nearly five months ago in a case that has produced ransom notes, bloodstain evidence, and zero confirmed suspects, but no answers for a family that has spent every week since pleading for help.
"I hope they find her," Trump told reporters during a gaggle at Reading Regional Airport in Pennsylvania. "That family has gone through hell."
The remarks came the same day Savannah Guthrie, the missing woman's daughter and co-host of NBC's "Today," made another public appeal on the morning broadcast, urging anyone with knowledge to come forward. The search is now in its 20th week, and every lead so far, including at least two ransom notes, a detained individual, and an anonymous tip that sent teams across the border, has failed to bring Nancy Guthrie home.
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on February 1 after she failed to appear for virtual church services. She lived alone in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood north of Tucson, Arizona. Authorities believe she was taken against her will.
The FBI released recovered doorbell camera footage showing a masked individual wearing a backpack and what appeared to be a holstered weapon attempting to disable the camera at 1:47 a.m. on February 1, as National Review reported. Blood confirmed to be Nancy Guthrie's was found on her porch. Bloodstain expert Paulette Sutton described the pattern as "a drip trail, which means it's a continuous source of blood dripping from an object or from a person," adding that it was "continuous enough to indicate a bleeding individual."
That evidence pointed early on to foul play. But the investigation has moved with agonizing slowness for a family desperate for closure.
On February 10, the Pima County Sheriff's Department detained an individual during a traffic stop south of Tucson for questioning in connection with the abduction, Just the News reported. The detention came hours after the FBI released surveillance photos of a suspect. Law enforcement prepared to search a location associated with the detained person. No arrest has been publicly confirmed since.
The case has been plagued by ransom communications, some clearly fraudulent, others less easy to dismiss. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News Digital that investigators and the FBI have examined numerous ransom communications throughout the case. Some were determined to be fraudulent. Others were considered potentially credible.
At least one fraudulent ransom demand led to an arrest, according to National Review. Breitbart reported that early ransom notes included bizarre requests, one asking for an Apple Watch, another requesting a floodlight. The FBI announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie's return or the arrest of anyone involved.
A second ransom note, reported by a federal law enforcement source to Fox News, took a darker turn. It reportedly claimed Nancy Guthrie died shortly after being abducted, used the phrase "buried with nature," expressed remorse, and did not seek payment. Authorities have not confirmed the note's authenticity. They have not identified who sent it.
The family has also pursued leads that crossed international lines. An anonymous tip sent search teams into Mexico looking for Nancy Guthrie's remains, but the grave site came up empty.
Meanwhile, the Pima County sheriff's office confirmed that Mexican authorities had not reached out in connection with that search tip, raising questions about coordination across the border. The lack of contact from Mexican officials left yet another thread dangling.
Savannah Guthrie has stepped away from her NBC hosting duties at various points to focus on finding her mother. She has repeatedly vowed the family will never stop searching. On Tuesday, she addressed viewers directly.
"Somebody knows something."
She also said: "We are in agony." And: "We love our mom. We'll never stop looking for her, never."
The Guthrie family previously announced a $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie's location. A family statement released earlier in the case captured the limbo they have endured for months: "We cannot grieve; we can only ache and wonder."
That appeal echoed a pattern that has defined this case from the beginning, a prominent family leveraging every available platform to generate tips, while the investigative apparatus behind them has yet to produce a confirmed suspect or a clear account of what happened inside that Catalina Foothills home.
Savannah Guthrie's emotional on-air breakdown after the second ransom note surfaced drew national attention. But attention and answers are not the same thing.
Sheriff Nanos has faced scrutiny beyond the Guthrie case. He has confronted perjury allegations and calls for his ouster even as the disappearance neared 90 days unsolved. Whether those political pressures have affected the pace or quality of the investigation remains an open question, one that law enforcement officials have not publicly addressed.
Nanos has said his office is sharing "every piece of information, all the data that we can, to get this solved." FBI Phoenix Division spokesperson Heath Yonke said the bureau is taking every lead seriously, including the ransom letters sent to local and national media outlets.
But the public record raises uncomfortable questions. No suspect has been named. The doorbell camera footage showed a masked figure five months ago, and no identification has followed. The ransom notes have produced more confusion than clarity. The detained individual from February has not been publicly charged in connection with the case.
Law enforcement has said it continues to operate under the assumption that Nancy Guthrie is alive. The second ransom note's claim that she died shortly after the abduction has not been confirmed or refuted.
The Madres Buscadoras De Sonora, a Mexican search group, placed a sign reading "Nancy Guthrie Desparecida" approximately one mile from Nancy Guthrie's residence on February 24, a gesture that underscored how far the case's reach has extended, and how little certainty has come with it.
Nancy Guthrie has now been missing for five months. Her daughter has pleaded on television, on social media, and through family statements. The FBI has offered $50,000. The family has offered $1 million. The president of the United States has publicly expressed hope that she is found.
None of it has been enough. An 84-year-old woman vanished from her home in a quiet neighborhood in one of the largest metro areas in the American Southwest, and the combined resources of local, state, and federal law enforcement have not produced an arrest, a confirmed suspect, or a definitive account of what happened.
Trump's two sentences at Reading Regional Airport were brief. But they carried a weight the investigation itself has not yet matched. "That family has gone through hell" is not a policy statement. It is a plain observation that no one, left, right, or otherwise, can dispute.
The question now is whether the agencies charged with solving this case can deliver something more than hope before the 20th week becomes the 30th.
