NBC Host Savannah Guthrie's Mom MISSING in Arizona as Homicide Detectives Involved, with Matt Murphy

What this episode is about

Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, has been reported missing in Tucson, Arizona, with authorities involving homicide detectives after identifying her home as a potential crime scene. The 84-year-old was last seen on Saturday night following a church event, and substantial police resources are being deployed to search for her amidst growing concerns for her safety.

Key takeaways

• Missing in Tucson: When the stakes are highest, clarity is key - this isn't a simple elderly wandering.
• Crime scenes aren't just for TV dramas; police support in real life leverages a network of volunteers and agencies.
• An 84-year-old leaving her purse behind? A red flag bigger than Arizona's suns - something sinister may be afoot.
• Sharp as a tack but tied down by age; vulnerability knows no bounds in the face of predators lurking.
• In missing person cases, time is the enemy - every ticking minute can mean the difference between hope and despair.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Megyn Kelly (Guest) · 10 min speaking
• Matt Murphy (Guest) · 7 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Chris Nanos, Nancy Guthrie, Pima County Sheriff, Donald C. Murphy
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Nancy Guthrie
3. 6:00 – 9:00: FBI, Savannah Guthrie, US Customs and Border Protection
4. 12:00 – 15:00: Tucson, US Customs and Border Protection
5. 15:00 – 16:35: Birch Gold Group

Notable quotes from "NBC Host Savannah Guthrie's Mom MISSING in Arizona as Homicide Detectives Involved, with Matt Murphy"

• Police are making clear they believe that home is a crime scene. here is SAT 33C with the Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

  about Pima County Sheriff · at 0:53

• The sheriff said, We believe she did not leave of her own valition that she left behind her keys, her ID, her purse, her phone, everything. now no 84 year old woman leaves the…

  about Nancy Guthrie · at 3:11

• Desperate and again we don't know all the facts but yeah. This is this does not look good. I worked homicide for 17 years, but I did four years of sex crimes, too. And this is this has all the scary components of cases that don't end well.

  about Donald C. Murphy · at 5:26

• Sheriff said the following. my team just sent this to me. that the authorities are not aware of any threats against Savannah, who is in Arizona now.

  about Savannah Guthrie · at 7:30

• Want the best of the best they have at their disposal to work the case. the fact that the FBI is involved, that's totally appropriate. By the way, Megan, I've had really good…

  about FBI · at 12:26

• And lost. It's I mean the other problem is to your point on the border it's se Tucson's 75 miles from the border from the southern border. It's very close. now she didn't walk…

  about Tucson · at 14:15

• That gold has risen over 700% in the last 20 years. and a never- ending list of reasons smart Americans diversify a portion of their savings into precious metals with Birch…

  about Birch Gold Group · at 15:32

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Nancy Guthrie — Person · Missing person / subject of investigation · 2 mentions · first at 0:09
  Central figure of the segment: Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother reported missing in Tucson, with law enforcement stating the home is a crime scene.
• Chris Nanos — Person · Referenced law enforcement official / primary source · 2 mentions · first at 1:00
  Pima County Sheriff quoted describing the investigation, resources deployed, and the determination that the home is a crime scene.
  Yeah. The police officer, well, I mean the sheriff said, We believe she did not leave of her own valition that she left behind her keys, her ID, her purse, her phone, everything. now no 84 year old woman leaves the.
• Donald C. Murphy — Person · On-air legal analyst / guest commentator · 1 mention · first at 1:59
  Provides prosecutorial and investigative perspective on what it means for police to call the home a crime scene and why federal agencies might assist.
• Savannah Guthrie — Person · Referenced public figure / family member · 2 mentions · first at 0:02
  Referenced as the NBC News anchor whose mother is missing; noted as being in Arizona while authorities say there are no known threats against her.

Companies & orgs

• Pima County Sheriff — Company · Investigating agency · 1 mention · first at 1:00
  The Pima County Sheriff's department is leading the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.
• FBI — Company · Investigating agency · 1 mention · first at 7:42
  The FBI is involved in the investigation of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, indicating the seriousness of the case.
• US Customs and Border Protection — Company · Investigating agency · 3 mentions · first at 1:15
  US Customs and Border Protection is assisting in the investigation, possibly due to Tucson's proximity to the border.
  Yeah. Yes. Also, US Customs and Border Protection is also assisting.

Places & events

• Tucson — Place · Setting · 2 mentions · first at 0:15
  Tucson is where Nancy Guthrie lives and where the investigation is taking place.

Sponsors

• Birch Gold Group — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 15:41
  Birch Gold Group is mentioned as a sponsor in the podcast, promoting gold investment.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 There is a very disturbing situation out of Arizona involving the mother of NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie today. Uh her mother is missing. Her mother Nancy Guthrie is missing as of this hour uh around 2 p.m. Eastern. Uh she lives in Arizona out um in in Tucson. And she's been missing they believe since possibly Saturday night. That was the last anyone saw her. Her mother's 84 years old and was dropped off by a friend back at her house on Saturday evening after a church function around 9:45 in the evening. Was supposed to be at church the next morning and didn't show, which is when they started to worry about her. She did not show up. Uh she lives in a reportedly $1 million home. So it's a nice it's a nice home. It's got a swimming pool um out in Arizona. And the police are making clear they believe that home is a crime scene. Um here is SAT 33C with the Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

1:04 We expended a lot of res resources for a missing person that we typically always do. Our search and rescue volunteers, our search and rescue teams, um uh other uh agencies, Bore Star from Border Patrol sent their canines out. Uh they worked tirelessly all day yesterday and all day tonight. I'm sorry, all day yesterday and all all last night to know about. As I said yesterday, we saw um some things at the home that were concerning to us. We believe now after we've processed that crime scene that we do in fact have a crime scene. That we do in fact have a crime. Um and we're asking the community's help.

1:56 We do in fact have a crime scene. This is shocking. Um joining me now to discuss it is Matt Murphy. He's a former federal prosecutor. And Matt, this sounds about as serious as it can get. the you've got that's the sheriff on camera saying she was 84, she did not have dementia, she had limited mobility, but saying um they whatever they see inside of that home has led them to determine that it is a quote crime scene. What do you make of that?

2:27 Well, when it when it comes to appeals to the public like this, Megan, um people tend to come out of the woodwork. Uh, I know that she needs I read that she needs uh medication every hour or every 24 hours and if she doesn't get it, that can be fatal for her. So, time clearly is of the essence, but they seem pretty sure that a crime took place. We don't know what that that information is yet, but these are brutal because it's a it's a race against the clock. And look, this is one of the cases that you you see a lot where older people with dementia wander off, but they've been very affirmative that she was mentally sound. And uh this is uh this is really bad.

3:09 Yeah. The police officer, well, I mean the the sheriff said, "We believe she did not leave of her own valition that she left behind her keys, her ID, her purse, her phone, everything." I mean, now no 84 year old woman leaves the house without her purse. That is just a fact. They just don't leave without their purses, never mind their phone or their keys. And so all of that is left behind. And there's something else in the house I'm gleaning that leads them to believe it is a quote crime scene because he said there are other things at the scene that show she did not leave on her own. Maybe he's still referring to her belongings, but maybe there's something more. You know, this is um and this is wild speculation here on on my part, Megan, because we just don't know the facts yet, but when I was a junior law clerk, going all the way back to 1992, I was assigned to a project where a 79year-old woman um was brutally

4:05 attacked uh in her home. And you know there is no real age limit to what sexual predators and again there's no evidence to support that other than I'm just sharing my own personal experience like nobody ages out of that as being a potential victim and it's

4:24 so if you were the if you were the prosecutor in this in this jurisdiction and they looped you in on where do we begin you would not be ruling out sex predators. I mean, you would be looking at everywhere.

4:35 The first place I would look be the first place my my detectives would look again again again I don't know we we don't know the facts but right when you start a career as either a police officer or a prosecutor or even the mental health field um you know this is uh you the the shocking reality to um the most vulnerable among us which are the very very young and the very very old. um the way certain people will pray on them is it it undermines your faith in humanity um you know as we've talked about before with all the good people that will come out and hopefully help here and hopefully this this poor lady will be recovered safely but um but it's Monday now and she was last seen after being dropped off uh from a church event of all things on Saturday night and they are uh it sounds like they are really desperate and again we we don't know all the facts but Um, yeah. This is uh this does not look good. I worked homicide

5:33 for 17 years, but I did four years of sex crimes, too. And this is uh this has uh this has all the scary scary um components of cases that don't end well.

5:46 Oh god, the sheriff, this is awful. He said, I want to stress to you, and this is really important, Miss Guthrie, Nancy Guthrie, is of great sound mind. This is not a dementia related issue. She is as sharp as attack. The family wants everybody to know this is not somebody who just wandered off. Her physical limits are based on age. And you know, we get old, so it's more physical, but she clearly as sharp as attack. So, as you point out, it's not a dementia situation. Nor does she even sound capable of roaming far. Doesn't sound like she really could, you know, go for the long walk and just get lost or what have you. Hopefully what they find, Megan, is they will I mean and and again I would I I would love to know what what they found inside the house, but if her ATM card is gone, maybe somebody kidnapped her and they're they're going to ATM machines. That would that would almost be the best case scenario here.

6:37 Um but but usually um that that's going to be a few hours, not a couple of days. Um uh but yeah, we just don't have enough. But look, when you whenever you make an appeal to the public like like this, people really want to help. And the problem is is that you have limited resources in any missing investigation like this. And when you make an appeal to the public and you're up against the clock, they're going to get a ton of information from um well-meaning people that are going to want to help. That leads nowhere. So you've got to check off all those dead ends. And so they and this sheriff knows that. Any any law enforcement officer who's who's worked a missing case knows that. So, if they've made an appeal to the public like this, they are um they're semi- desperate. And that's that also is very scary.

7:28 I hesitate to even bring this up. The sheriff said the following. Um my my team just sent this to me. Uh that the authorities are not aware of any threats against Savannah, who is in Arizona now. the FBI is aware of the case and US Customs and Border Protection is also assisting. Now, that's interesting, Matt, because it's so close to the southern border. But now, I mean, that's a different element. And also, her neighbor, Nancy Guthri's neighbor, said they saw her front door open, wide open. I mean, we hadn't really factored in the Mexican border situation. What would you be doing about that?

8:07 Look, this is it. This is one of those things that I've this is I think the term is triggering for me. Okay. Um we have and and again this is blind speculation. We just don't know enough. But but that case I was just telling you about this poor 79year-old woman. What happened on that? Her name was Mary Ward. Um and she was a 79year-old Jehovah's Witness who was brutally raped in her home by a drunk uh a drunk immigrant. Okay. And this guy came up. he was a little bit older and I and this is not this is this is this is about sex offenders. This is not about politics, okay? But um there are there are a lot of places in Central America, particularly Guatemala, El Salvador, a lot of rural areas of Mexico that are populated by incredibly wonderful warm people who are also fiercely protective of their families.

8:57 And what happens, and this is something that nobody talks about, Megan, they have a thing called Lynchendi Mentos, which literally stands for the lynchings because the good people in those areas don't want sex offenders around them anymore than we do. Um, and they're fiercely protective of their families, and they will run some of these guys out of out of town because they don't have functioning judiciary. And technology hasn't caught up with with cooperation in law enforcement to the extent that hopefully it will one day. And that was a guy who came up. He was over 30 years old, Mr. Garcia, and he we knew nothing about him. We knew nothing about his background. It was really hard to try to figure out. And the thing is, in that case, that woman was a um she was suffering from terminal cancer. Well, after she was raped, she engaged and experienced the classic symptoms of what is known as rape trauma syndrome, and

9:45 she died in 31 days. So, our task was, can we figure out a homicide liability theory here? And we eventually did. We charged him with murder, but the homicide unit passed on it. And it was tried by the uh by the sexual assault deputy and they it was an acceleration of death. It's like a if you if your felony conduct

10:05 um accelerates somebody's death, should that be homicide liability? I believe very strongly it was. Um and look, I have had I personally I've had really good experiences working with uh local authorities in places like Mexico and some other places in Central America because we all agree sex offenders are the worst. And again, blind speculation here. I pray to God that that's not what happened here. But it is in a lot of these border border towns in Southern California. It can be an issue just because we don't know. We don't know who these people are when they come up. And the sex offenders a lot of times will get run out of their local towns because if they don't, they will get um they'll get lynched. Um and it's it nobody ever talks about this, but it's a real thing.

10:47 It's been studied down there. Um and I who could blame them? So these guys they they come north. Um I think the vast majority of people come up looking for a better life like my ancestors did. But there are certain people that do come up that are running away from this. And as we know sexual predators don't get better and sometimes they they just go they go north. Now again I I know I'm going to piss off a bunch of people.

11:12 We don't we don't have any reason to believe. Yeah. We don't have any reason. The audience

11:16 but you're asking you're asking me my experience and this is that how you would invest. This is the first place my twisted jaundice brain goes after working those cases for 21 years. So I I hope I'm wrong

11:29 because it said he said that they've got homicide detectives involved. So why would they you know he said that they have homicide detectives involved. We do in fact have a crime scene there. There are other things at the scene that show she did not leave on her own. So that is certainly suggesting she was kidnapped. She was taken in some way. I don't know you know if kidnapped is the right word but that she did not leave of her own valition and she is missing. So that means another person was involved

12:03 and and what does it tell us if anything that homicide is involved? Like when they make the decision of what cop what unit is going to go investigate the crime? Matt, how do they figure that out?

12:12 Well homicide detectives tend to be the most experienced and the very best. So hopefully, again, I pray that they just brought in their best detectives because it was such an urgent case. And that's not based on any any of the evidence that they found at the scene. They just want the best of the best they have at at their disposal to work the case. Um the fact that the FBI is involved, that's totally appropriate. By the way, Megan, I've had really good experiences on missing cases um with working with the FBI. Those agents are are tend to be hyper intelligent, super dedicated and really really impressive uh police officers. The fact that we got a uh what I which which agency did you say? Border Patrol that's working it.

12:55 Yeah. Yes. Also, uh US Customs and Border Protection is also assisting. Yeah. That uh that doesn't that doesn't that doesn't sound good. Um but the federal agencies again and and they're and they are fine. They're fine investigators and we did we worked with them as well. I mean I think I've worked with every federal agency that exists during my time as a prosecutor especially when you try to repatriate uh Americans that have run or foreign nationals that have committed crimes in the United States. Um, I've had I've worked with everything from the border the Czechoslovakian border police, you know, to the FBI, Mexican homicide units. And and by and large, when you're talking about vulnerable old women, people really tend to forget the borders very quickly and work together, hopefully seamlessly, to to solve this.

13:39 I hope that's what's happening here. Um, but this is uh I this doesn't this does not look good. I mean, it's possible that she, you know, at 84, you know, you can have a stroke pretty easily. You can I don't like dementia is not something that hits you all of a sudden,

14:00 but something could have happened. There could have been some sort of a neurological event that led her to wander in a way that was atypical of her.

14:08 It could, you know, without her keys, without her purse, like that that that would be a good scenario if she is just wandering and lost. It's I mean the other problem is to your point on the border it's se Tucson's 75 miles from the border from the southern border. It's very close. Um now she didn't walk 75 miles but somebody easily could have driven up 75 miles and but the the one thing we have going for us here Matt is that I think she had cameras. I read that there were cameras on her like at in her home. Now I don't know whether they were operational but you know the neighbors are going to have a Ring camera in today's day and age. somebody's got a camera on on the house or at least the neighborhood.

14:47 They were asking for that publicly. That was one of the things. Now, if she did have cameras on her house, um that may be why they're so sure that this was actually a crime. Um you know, and and look, my mom had a stroke, Megan, and um she she had a series of strokes that ultimately um she passed away because of it a couple years ago, but she she started to wander and she and and strokes do hit people suddenly. So hopefully it's something like that. But I did I did see the sheriff say that they were that they were searching for her last night using thermal cameras.

15:20 They were searching the area. Um and they and that met with negative results. International disputes, inflation, rising national debt, digital currency. There is a never- ending list of reasons that gold has risen over 700% in the last 20 years. and a never- ending list of reasons smart Americans diversify a portion of their savings into precious metals with Birch Gold Group. Gold can thrive during uncertainty, which is why it's a crucial part of a balance strategy. It gives you peace of mind given all the events that could impact the US economy. See if holding gold in a tax sheltered retirement account is right for you.

15:57 Birch Gold can help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into an IRA in gold. Just text MK to the number 989898 to receive your free info kit on gold. There's no obligation, just useful information. With an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers, consider letting Birch Gold help you diversify with gold so you too can have peace of mind regardless of the uncertainty. Text MK to the number 989898. Thanks so much for watching. If you like what you just saw, hit the subscribe button for more clips and full episodes.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "NBC Host Savannah Guthrie's Mom MISSING in Arizona as Homicide Detectives Involved, with Matt Murphy"?

Megyn Kelly (Guest), Matt Murphy (Guest).

What is "NBC Host Savannah Guthrie's Mom MISSING in Arizona as Homicide Detectives Involved, with Matt Murphy" about?

Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, has been reported missing in Tucson, Arizona, with authorities involving homicide detectives after identifying her home as a potential crime scene. The 84-year-old was last seen on Saturday night following a church event, and substantial police resources are being deployed to search for her amidst growing concerns for her safety.

What is mentioned in this Megyn Kelly episode?

9 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Nancy Guthrie, Pima County Sheriff, Chris Nanos, Donald C. Murphy, FBI, Savannah Guthrie. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "NBC Host Savannah Guthrie's Mom MISSING in Arizona as Homicide Detectives Involved, with Matt Murphy"?

The episode runs 17 min; the transcript is about 3,079 words in 29 timestamped sections.

More from Megyn Kelly

• All analyzed episodes
• Books mentioned on Megyn Kelly
• People mentioned on Megyn Kelly
• Sponsors mentioned on Megyn Kelly
• Topics mentioned on Megyn Kelly