Nancy Guthrie was targeted by an employee who knew Savannah, the expert said
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LAS VEGAS – A top forensic scientist who spent decades at one of the nation's largest medical examiner's offices told Fox News Digital over the weekend that he believes Nancy Guthrie may have been targeted by a local employee who thought the victim's family had money.
“I find it fascinating that anyone would take a woman of her age, but what I think is that there may be someone in the area, maybe a helper, maybe a service person, who once found out that Mrs.,'” Barbara Butcher said Saturday, speaking on the sidelines of CrimeCon Las Vegas. “That person is not alive.”
Butcher, a longtime legal death investigator and host of the Oxygen show “The Death Investigator,” also said the lack of a credible ransom demand raises concerns that Guthrie may have died shortly after the alleged kidnapping due to shock or an underlying medical condition, leading the suspect to hide evidence and disappear before the case was solved.
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FBI agents raid homes near Nancy Guthrie's Tucson home on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, as the investigation into his disappearance continues. Photo shows Nancy Guthrie and Savannah Guthrie in a photo provided by NBC. (Kat Ramirez of Fox News Digital; Courtesy of NBC)
“My second thought was that after a while, when there was no need for an effective ransom or any information coming that it was possible that Mrs. “Guthrie died of shock, fear, heart attack, whatever it was, shortly after he was removed,” he added.
“And that scares me…and now this kidnapper had nothing and maybe, unfortunately, he took his body to the desert and buried it there.”
Pima County deputies check a flyer taped to a mailbox outside Nancy Guthrie's home in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2026. Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of fellow “Today” host Savannah Guthrie, is believed to have been abducted from her home in the early hours of Feb. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
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Guthrie is believed to have been taken from his home in Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of February 1.
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She is the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, the “Today” editor, whose family offered to meet the ransom demands sent to TMZ in February.
Aerial drone footage shows the home and grounds of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Nancy Guthrie, the mother of 'Today' show host Savannah Guthrie, was allegedly kidnapped from her home earlier this week. (Fox Flight Group)
Despite that, Guthrie's whereabouts are unknown.
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The family urges anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. There is a combined reward of more than $1.2 million for infringing information.
Anonymous tips can also be sent to Tucson's Crime Stoppers, 88-Crime, at 1-520-882-7463.
