Fresh doubt has been cast on the tip off that first led to alarms being raised over Nancy Guthrie’s shock abduction this weekend, the Daily Mail can reveal.
A fellow congregant at Nancy’s church in Tucson, Arizona, was initially reported to have alerted the 84-year-old’s family after she failed to attend a morning service on Sunday.
Curiously, however, a source has now told the Daily Mail that the elderly mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, 54, had not been at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church for years.
Ever since the Covid pandemic, she has been worshipping ‘online’.
It is understood that St. Andrews does not have a large-scale Zoom call for online viewing, as some religious organizations do.
Instead, the church’s 9am and 10.45am services on Sundays are live-streamed and it is impossible for other participants to know who else is watching.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said a congregant called Nancy’s family at 11am on Sunday after she failed to arrive at church.
Our source did not know who called the family, but said Nancy was ‘known and loved in the whole community.’
The Guthrie family rushed to Nancy’s $1million home in the affluent Catalina Foothills neighborhood, arriving at 11.10am Sunday to find the mother-of-three missing. They reported her disappearance to police at 12.15pm. Her phone, wallet, daily medications and car were all still at the property.
Nancy Guthrie’s abduction from her $1million home on Saturday night was discovered after a church congregant alerted her family that she missed the 11am service
Nancy was a parishioner at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona, which hosts live streams of its 9am and 10.45am services
Pictured: An aerial view of Nancy Guthrie’s house, from where she was allegedly abducted
The previous evening Nancy had enjoyed a dinner with Savannah’s 56-year-old sister Annie before playing mahjong, a popular four-player tile game.
Guthrie has been a member at St. Andrew’s for at least 30 years.
‘It’s a big church and we know everyone,’ a source at the church said. ‘Nancy is known and loved here and in the whole community. She was a faithful member here for so long, just a lovely person.’
The mother of $8million-a-year TV Savannah also attends seasonal services at daughter Annie’s church, Saint Philip’s in the Hills, five miles away and where a candlelit vigil will be held for her Wednesday night.
Savannah, who is believed to be holed up at the $650,000 home shared by her sister Annie and her brother-in-law Tommaso Cioni, 50, will not be attending the vigil due to her overwhelming anguish, the Daily Mail has been told.
Nor will mom-of-one Annie or Cioni.
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‘They wish to deal with this in private at such a painful time,’ said interim rector The Rev. Dr Richard Mallory.
Investigators have said Nancy’s kidnapper forced entry into her home and grabbed her from her bedroom. She needs regular medication for a health condition, and cops have warned she could die if she doesn’t get it.
Footage shared on Monday shows blood drops on the doorstep, while a doorbell camera was missing from its holder when cops arrived at the scene.
Nancy’s Apple Watch stopped synching with her pacemaker at 2am, suggesting she was taken from the home, where the device was found, around that time.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos (left) said that after the congregant alerted the family, they rushed to her Catalina Foothills home, arriving at 11.10am to find her missing
Nancy also attends seasonal services at daughter Annie’s church, St. Philip’s in the Hills, five miles away, where a candlelit vigil will be held for her Wednesday night
Savannah, believed to be staying at the $650,000 home she shares with sister Annie and husband Tommaso Cioni, 50, will skip the vigil due to overwhelming grief
Annie and Cioni, who were seen leaving their Tucson home on Tuesday morning, will also skip the vigil
Blood was spotted on the walkway of Nancy’s $1million Tucson, Arizona home
Nancy’s Ring doorbell camera was also missing, though it is unclear whether it was removed prior to her disappearance
Sheriff Nanos has told the Daily Mail: ‘She did not walk away. We believe she was forced to leave that residence. It was against her will.
‘This is about an 84-year-old woman who is sick, who needs her medications, who, in the middle of the night, was taken from her bedroom.’
Lights in the common area were all on and Nancy’s front door was unlocked, but there were signs of forced entry.
Ransom notes were delivered to TMZ and local news outlet KOLD on Tuesday afternoon demanding an undisclosed amount of digital currency Bitcoin.
The notes are reported to have shared details of damage to Nancy’s home and what she was wearing at the time of the abduction that have not been publicly released.
Pima County Sheriff’s Office has acknowledged them but has refused to verify the contents or confirm if deputies have received any ransom demands.
The FBI is helping with the case, and President Trump has offered assistance. There is a $2,500 reward for crucial information regarding the disappearance.
A day after the abduction, Sheriff Nanos welled up when asked if he thought Nancy was still alive. He conceded the window in which she would be realistically found unharmed was closing.
Nanos told the Daily Mail separately: ‘We know she could not walk out of that house. Talking to her doctors, we know she had some physical elements that definitely limited her.
Pima County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged a ransom note sent to TMZ on Tuesday afternoon, three days after the 84-year-old was snatched from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Pictured: The TMZ reporters speaking about the note in their newsroom
Nancy (bottom right) with Guthrie (top right) and her other two children
‘She is very sharp-witted, of good mind, suffers from nothing in the form of dementia or Alzheimer’s – nothing.
‘So, we know she would know what was going on around here.’
No suspects have been named. Of the abductor, Nanos said: ‘It could be more than one person, we don’t know that yet.’
Savannah’s NBC show has led with the story ever since but its reporters admitted Wednesday there was little new information to share.
The star, who had only returned to the studio full time after taking weeks off for vocal cord surgery, issued a statement Monday requesting prayers.
She has dropped out of hosting the Milan Winter Olympics while the hunt for her mother continues.
