Investigators working the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "TODAY" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, are now asking her neighbors a pointed question: Did your internet go down the night she vanished?
Both the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI were canvassing Guthrie's neighborhood in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Arizona, going door-to-door and talking to residents. Among the standard questions about suspicious activity, investigators specifically pressed homeowners about any disruptions to their internet service on the night of January 31, when Guthrie was last seen alive.
One couple living adjacent to Guthrie's home discovered something that caught their attention. They have four Ring cameras on their property. When they checked for overnight footage from the night Guthrie disappeared, one of those cameras showed "not available." The couple called the coincidence "uncanny."
The detail is small but loaded. A Ring camera that fails to record on an ordinary Tuesday night is a glitch. A Ring camera that fails to record on the same night an elderly woman disappears from the house next door is something else entirely.
The adjacent couple put it simply: "That's really weird, isn't it?"
The FBI and the sheriff's department have not commented on the reported internet issues or explained why investigators are pursuing this line of questioning. Ring has also been contacted for comment. But the implication hangs in the air. Wi-Fi jammers, devices that disrupt wireless signals and can disable security cameras, are commercially available and have been linked to burglaries and home invasions in recent years. When NBC News asked Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos whether he believed the suspect may have used one, he offered a careful but telling response:
I've not looked at that closely, but yeah, I know that my team has looked at it with the FBI every angle.
That's not a denial. It's a deflection designed to protect the investigation without shutting the door.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:45 p.m. on January 31 after having dinner with her other daughter, Annie Guthrie. She was reported missing the following day, February 1, after she failed to show up at a friend's house in Tucson to watch a livestreamed church service.
Last month, the FBI released doorbell camera videos and images of an armed and masked man wearing gloves outside of Guthrie's home in the early hours of the day she went missing. Officials are looking for a man described as:
The person has been described as a suspect, but investigators have not identified the man. More than a month after Guthrie's disappearance, no suspects or persons of interest have been publicly named. Authorities have said the case appears to be a kidnapping or abduction.
There is also a curious thread investigators are pulling that remains unexplained. Two homeowners said investigators additionally asked about any video footage from January 11, roughly three weeks before Guthrie disappeared. Authorities have not confirmed they are looking into anything on that date and have not said why they are asking homeowners about it. If someone was surveilling the neighborhood weeks before the abduction, that would suggest a level of planning that makes the internet disruption question even more significant.
The Guthrie family announced on February 24 that it is offering a $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy's safe return. A banner bearing her name and image was displayed in Tucson as recently as March 3.
Savannah Guthrie has been on leave from her position at the "TODAY" show and in Arizona with her family. She visited the studio in New York City and said she plans to return to her post. A "TODAY" show spokesperson said:
While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home.
This case should unsettle every American who has invested in a home security system and assumed it made them safe. Ring cameras, smart locks, and Wi-Fi-connected alarm systems have given millions of homeowners a sense of control. But that sense of security rests on a wireless signal that can be knocked out by a device small enough to fit in a backpack.
If investigators confirm that a Wi-Fi jammer was used in this case, it will force a national conversation about a glaring vulnerability in consumer home security. These systems work brilliantly when a porch pirate wanders into frame. They are far less reliable against someone who arrives prepared.
An 84-year-old woman vanished from a quiet neighborhood in the Catalina Foothills. An armed, masked figure appeared on camera outside her home. And the camera next door went dark at exactly the wrong moment.
More than a month later, investigators are still knocking on doors. Nancy Guthrie is still missing.
