Retired FBI Agent Theorizes Nancy Guthrie Died Days After Kidnapping-For-Ransom Plot Went Wrong

TUCSON, Ariz. — A retired FBI agent has laid out a new theory about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, suggesting the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie was taken in a kidnapping-for-ransom plot that unraveled within days, possibly ending in her death from natural causes.

Frank Storey outlined the theory during an appearance on “True Crime With Jen Coffindaffer,” a podcast hosted by fellow retired FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer, on Sept. 2, seven months after Guthrie vanished from her Catalina Foothills home near Tucson. Storey suggested Guthrie may have suffered a fatal heart attack a day or two after being seized, though he stressed his account remains speculation rather than a confirmed finding, and investigators have not endorsed it. No suspects have been named, and authorities have not said whether Guthrie is alive or dead.

Storey pushed back against suggestions that the case has gone cold, arguing that senior bureau agents remain actively assigned to it and that a resolution is likely given his belief that more than one person was involved in the abduction. He said he expects the case to eventually break through the plea-bargaining system, predicting that if one of the participants is later arrested on an unrelated charge carrying a lengthy sentence, that person could offer investigators information about Guthrie in exchange for leniency.

“Somebody always talks,” Storey told Coffindaffer.

Storey is one of several former agents who have offered public theories about the case in recent months, though none of them is directly involved in the active investigation.

The known timeline of Guthrie’s disappearance remains short and largely unresolved. She was last seen alive on the evening of Jan. 31, 2026, at her Catalina Foothills home, after relatives dropped her off. The following morning, a friend contacted Guthrie’s family when she failed to arrive at church; relatives reached the property before noon and called the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff Chris Nanos moved quickly to treat the case as a crime, saying publicly that he believed Guthrie had been abducted and later telling NBC News she was taken from the home against her will. Investigators found drops of blood outside the front door that were subsequently confirmed to be hers.

Footage from a home security system initially yielded nothing, with Nanos saying the system may have been set to automatically delete recordings, leaving detectives to attempt a forensic recovery. Forensic evidence has since become both the center of the investigation and a source of friction among those involved. A mixed DNA sample recovered from the house has not been matched to anyone, and hair analysis failed to identify a suspect, with the sheriff saying several laboratories are working to separate the material found at the scene. FBI Director Kash Patel publicly criticized Nanos for sending samples to a private laboratory rather than the bureau’s own facility, a decision the sheriff has defended as an operational choice. Two men have been detained and questioned at separate points in the investigation, and both were released without charge.

Two ransom notes purporting to come from Guthrie’s kidnappers have also shaped the investigation. The sheriff’s department released both publicly on July 31 to mark six months since the disappearance. The first note was sent to Tucson CBS affiliate KOLD-TV on Feb. 2, one day after Guthrie was reported missing, and was addressed directly to her daughter. It described Guthrie as “safe but scared” and demanded $4 million in bitcoin, a figure that rose to $6 million depending on the timing of payment. The writer set a deadline, stated Guthrie would be held no longer than seven days, warned she would be killed if the ransom did not arrive, and said there would be no negotiation. Nanos said the note contained specific details about the house and about what Guthrie had been wearing at the time of her disappearance.

The second note struck a markedly different tone, claiming Guthrie had died shortly after being taken. The FBI has said some of the numerous messages received throughout the investigation were unserious extortion attempts, while others remain under active review, and the bureau has not specified which category either published note falls into.

Nanos said the department chose to release the notes publicly in hopes that their specific wording or phrasing might jog someone’s memory. Anyone who recognizes distinctive language from the notes has been asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the sheriff’s department’s tip line at 520-351-4900. A reward of $1.2 million remains available for information leading to Guthrie’s recovery, and Nanos has said he continues to expect an eventual arrest.

Seven months into the investigation, theories continue to outnumber confirmed facts, and the people who know what actually happened to Nancy Guthrie have yet to come forward.