‘Nancy Guthrie might be dead’: Expert gives huge blow to Savannah after family's desperate plea

‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie and her family issued a new statement, desperately pleading with the Tucson community and Pima County officials

‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie and her family issued a new statement, desperately pleading with the Tucson community and Pima County officials for new information on her mother Nancy's missing case. This comes as search for the 84-year-old entered its seventh week. While authorities have released a survelliance video of the alleged suspect, no one has been identified yet.

Notes are written on a photo of Nancy Guthrie that is displayed in front of the KVOA television station on March 01, 2026 (Getty Images via AFP)

Savannah Guthrie's new statement

“We are deeply grateful for the outpouring from neighbors, friends and the people of Tucson. We are all family now,” the broadcaster said.

“We continue to believe it is Tucsonans, and the greater southern Arizona community, that hold the key to finding resolution in this case. Someone knows something. It’s possible a member of this community has information that they do not even realize is significant. We hope people search their memories, especially around the key timelines of January 31 and the early morning hours of February 1, as well as the late evening of January 11,” the statement further read.

"We desperately ask this community for renewed attention to our mom’s case — please consult camera footage, journal notes, text messages, observations or conversations that in retrospect may hold significance. No detail is too small. It may be the key."

‘Nancy Guthrie may be dead’

However, an expert said that he believes that the Nancy Guthrie case is no longer a ‘missing person case’. Morgan Wright, a former law enforcement officer and CEO of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, spoke to Brian Entin, pointing to key evidence suggesting a far more serious scenario.

"At some point, you have to realize it's not a missing person anymore. We have to realize Nancy is an 84-year-old with cardiac compromise,” he said. “You are violently confronted at 2 o'clock in the morning in your own home. We know it's violent because there was blood."

'No-body homicide’

Wright added that the presence of blood at the scene, along with signs she was forcibly removed from her home, indicates a violent encounter.

“You still have blood. Still forced out of your house. That's a violent confrontation. "So my question was, 'I realize everybody said, well, we want to, you know, we're hoping for her return,'" he said.

“I'm more of a pragmatist. It's like you have to be left-brain, right-brain when you investigate stuff. You have to compartmentalize,” Wright added. “I said you need to treat this like a no-body homicide because it tells the public something different about what you're looking at and where you're looking for things.”

According to Wright, continuing to treat the case as a missing person scenario may limit the scope of the search.

He explained that in areas like Catalina Foothills or the Sonoran Desert, investigators might overlook critical clues if they are not actively searching for signs of a concealed burial.

“When we have a no-body homicide, we're looking for clandestine grave sites, open grave sites, and concealed grave sites—things that when you're out walking in the foothills, you need to be looking for these kinds of things.”

There is no confirmation, from family and authorities, that Nancy is dead.

Who is Morgan Wright?

Wright previously served 18 years in state and local law enforcement as a trooper and detective and is now an internationally recognized expert in cybersecurity, intelligence, and national security.

He has held roles including senior advisor in the US State Department’s Antiterrorism Assistance Program, senior law enforcement advisor for the 2012 Republican National Convention, and has taught behavioral analysis at the National Security Agency.