Update from Nancy Guthrie: It’s been eight weeks since “Today” host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother went missing from her Tucson home. On Tuesday, journalist Ashley Banfield advanced a new theory that revealed disturbing details about the kidnapping.
“Nancy’s Flower Pot”
Banfield said on the March 31 episode of “Drop Dead Serious” that the suspects allegedly used items from Nancy’s own home to carry out part of the plan.
“Another detail that really shocked me was that the perpetrators used Nancy’s flower pots to do this,” she said. “He took her beautiful flower pots – which I can only imagine she spent time cultivating and decorating her backyard – and he used them to carry out his nefarious plot.”
The cans were reportedly used to prop open the rear screen door and rear door, Banfield added. “He took her beautiful flowerpot and opened the screen door,” she added, suggesting the setup may have been well thought out and strategic.
This detail raises further questions. Addressing the unidentified suspect directly, Banfield asked: “What’s fascinating about this is why. Why would you leave them open? What’s the reason you need these things to stay open – the back door, the back kitchen door, the screen door, the heavy door?”
Savannah Guthrie reveals details
The timeline is also complicated by the separate reveal of Nancy’s daughter Savannah. In a March 26 interview with TODAY, she described her family’s initial assumption that a medical emergency might have occurred overnight.
“We thought she must have had some kind of medical incident during the night. Somehow the paramedics came because the back door was open, you know?” Savannah said. “We thought maybe they came and there was a stretcher and they took her out from the back. But her phone was there, her wallet was there and all her stuff. It didn’t make any sense.”
Savannah further noted that her mother’s mobility was limited due to chronic back problems, making it unlikely that she would leave the house alone.
“On a nice day, she can walk to the mailbox and get her mail. But most of the time, that’s not the case,” she explained. “So no one walked away. The door was open, there was blood on the front door step, and the ring camera was pulled away.”
