This is the kind of update no family ever wants to hear.
The search for Nancy Guthrie has taken a devastating turn, as sources inside the FBI now tell TMZ that her disappearance is inching closer to what investigators say could become a “cold case.” Ugh. Those two words land with a thud. And the implication is chilling: leads drying up, time stretching on, hope becoming harder to hold onto.
The outlet reported so on Tuesday when it cited anonymous FBI insiders who used those exact two words to describe the unfortunate path along which Nancy’s case is currently winding. One investigator involved in the case told the news outlet that it’s quickly heading that way.
However, hope has not been entirely extinguished. In many kidnappings, breakthroughs come months later — sometimes when someone talks too much, brags, or lets something slip. And per the news org, law enforcement sources believe that could happen here, months down the road, when somebody starts talking about their involvement in this ordeal and a keen-eared listener rats them out to the cops.
What makes this even more unsettling is the recent revelation that the man believed to be involved in Nancy’s abduction may have been at her home weeks before she vanished. Authorities have obtained a still image of the presumed kidnapper, but it has not led to any meaningful breakthroughs… yet. And without a clear timestamp, investigators are left piecing together fragments of a timeline that refuses to fully form.
As we’ve been reporting, Nancy’s home security subscription through Nest did not include video archiving with time stamps. The images and clips were ultimately obtained through Google, but crucial metadata that might have pinpointed the exact date is missing. Investigators believe the man could have shown up as early as January 11 — weeks before the February 1 abduction — but they cannot say for certain. And that uncertainty is haunting.
Plus, despite sweeping the surrounding area for surveillance footage of suspicious vehicles or individuals, authorities have ultimately come up empty-handed. Neither the still photo nor any video captured on February 1 has helped identify a getaway car or positively confirm the suspect’s identity.
Meanwhile, the Guthrie family is facing an unthinkable reality. They’ve announced a staggering $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy’s return, adding to the FBI’s previous $100,000 offer. And in a recent heartbreaking video message, TODAY host Savannah Guthrie acknowledged what no daughter should ever have to say aloud — that it would take a miracle for her mother to still be alive.
Interestingly, to that end, TMZ‘s sources insist investigators never specifically told the family that Nancy’s chances of survival were slim, but that the painful conclusion was one the family arrived at on their own. Ugh. We honestly can’t even imagine.
For now, the waiting and not knowing continues. And the longer the silence stretches on, the heavier it becomes.
Savannah Guthrie and her family are offering up to $1 million for information that leads to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie. NOTE: The family reward of up to $1 million will be paid only for recovery of Nancy Guthrie, consistent with FBI criteria for payment of its reward in this case: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/nancy-guthrie
Authorities have encouraged anyone with information or tips to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, 88-CRIME or tips.fbi.gov. You can also contact the Pima County Sheriff’s office by calling 520-351-4900 or submitting a tip HERE.
As of February 18, the Guthrie family has been cleared of suspicion for their matriarch’s kidnapping. The FBI conducted a SWAT raid on a home February 13, detaining two people but arresting no one. There is a physical description of one suspect, obtained through home-surveillance footage, but no name has been attached.
Below, everything we can confirm about the disappearance and search for Nancy so far.
Guthrie was last seen the evening of Saturday, January 31, when she ate dinner at her daughter Annie’s Tucson home. Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, dropped Nancy off at her house around 9:45 p.m. local time and says he made sure she made it inside safely before driving away.
When Nancy didn’t show up to her regular church service on Sunday, February 1, friends notified the Guthrie family, who went to her home to see if something was wrong. They discovered her belongings — including a wallet, phone, and daily medications — were there, but she was not. The family called 911, and after an initial investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department determined this was a criminal case, not a situation involving a senior citizen who had willingly left or wandered off.
On February 16, Pima County sheriff Chris Nanos officially cleared the Guthrie family. “The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” he wrote. He’d previously told Arizona’s KTVK-TV, on February 13, that no one had been ruled out as a suspect, even the Guthries. “Everybody — particularly the Guthrie family, but everybody — has been very cooperative with us,” he said, but also “Nobody’s cleared.”
A DoorDash driver, who identified himself as Carlos Palazuelos, told Telemundo on Wednesday, February 11, that he was detained by law enforcement for questioning, then ultimately let go. He said that his Rio Rico house was searched with a warrant, during which both his front and back doors were damaged. Palazuelos said that, though he works as a delivery driver, he does not remember ever delivering anything to Nancy’s house.
On February 12, the FBI released a physical description of one suspect. Based on security camera footage, the suspect is thought to be a male between five-foot-nine and five-foot-ten, per the BBC.
On February 13, PCSD revealed it had found DNA at Nancy Guthrie’s home that does not belong to her or those in close contact with her. Police would not disclose anything else about the DNA or where exactly it was found. Police also said several gloves were found, with the closest being two miles from Guthrie’s home. No gloves were found on the property.
The FBI and PCSD worked with “private partners” to unearth photos from Nancy’s front-door camera, which they released on February 10, including via a tweet by FBI director Kash Patel. The images show an armed masked individual tampering with Nancy’s front-door camera on the same day that she went missing.
Clockwise from top left: Photo: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s Department
Clockwise from top left: Photo: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: P… Clockwise from top left: Photo: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentPhoto: Pima County Sheriff’s Department
The PCSD arrived at Nancy’s home around noon on February 2 and discovered evidence that, according to Sheriff Chris Nanos, gave officers “grave concern.” This included red splatter on her front doorstep, signs of forced entry, and a missing doorbell camera. Homicide detectives were called in because of “what the scene was telling us,” according to Nanos. “It’s not standard. Typically, our homicide team comes out when he have a homicide, a body,” he said at a Sunday briefing. “She did not leave on her own; we know that.”
DNA testing later confirmed that the red splatter was Nancy’s blood. Investigators also learned that the missing camera was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. and that her security system had a “person on camera” alert at 2:12 a.m. At a February 5 press conference, Nanos said that Nancy’s cameras were not connected to a subscription service and there was no recording of the detected movement, which authorities said could have come from an animal and not necessarily a person. An external company’s efforts to recover the footage were unsuccessful, and PCSD is exploring other methods to extract any information from the software.
The immediate worries for Nancy’s safety include fears about her health. Her pacemaker disconnected from her Apple Watch and iPhone at 2:28 a.m., just after her security system detected movement. A cardiologist interviewed by the New York Postsaid the likely cause of the disconnection was Nancy being physically taken out of range of her devices and that the disconnect does not necessarily indicate anything medically worrisome occurred.
Law enforcement said Nancy is in good cognitive health but cannot walk more than 50 yards on her own and takes daily medication for unspecified pain and cardiac issues. Beyond the complications that the stress of the situation could have on her heart, the interruption in her medication regimen could be serious. Pharmacies in the area are on alert for anyone suspicious picking up the medicines she needs.
Savannah Guthrie didn’t appear on the Today show on February 2, with fellow anchor Craig Melvin reading a statement in her absence: “On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers, and messages of support. Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear mom. We thank law enforcement for their hard work on this case and encourage anyone with information to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.”
Today co-hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones shared the statement again during the third hour of the show, with Bush Hager reminding viewers that Nancy urgently needs her medications. It was later announced that Savannah would no longer be covering the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina.
On February 4, Savannah and her elder siblings, Annie and Camron, posted a video to Instagram, tearfully pleading for information about the whereabouts of their mother, whose husband, Charles, died in 1988. “Our mother is a kind, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light,” Savannah read from a statement. “We, too, have heard the reports about a possible ransom letter in the media. As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen.” The FBI provided “expertise” ahead of the video, but the Pima County sheriff was not made aware of it until his wife showed him the video on social media.
Later that day, President Trump called Savannah to offer support from federal law enforcement, a day after the White House encouraged anyone with information to come forward in an official post on X. Around 400 people from the Tucson area attended a candlelight prayer vigil at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church to offer support for the Guthries, who did not attend.
On February 15, Savannah Guthrie posted another direct plea to her mother’s kidnappers on Instagram. “It’s been two weeks since our mom was taken, and I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope,” she said. “I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is, it’s never too late. And you’re not lost, or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. We believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it’s never too late.”
On February 3, TMZ and local news stations received ransom letters via e-mail from a purported kidnapper, asking for millions of dollars in bitcoin for Nancy’s safe return. The note allegedly included two deadlines for the payment — 5 p.m. on February 5 and 5 p.m. on February 9 — but did not specify a time zone. Law enforcement has not provided any more details, and no developments were publicly announced after the first deadline passed.
At 5 p.m. on February 5, Camron Guthrie released another statement via Savannah’s Instagram account, saying, “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact.”
Authorities haven’t revealed any specifics of the letter, but TMZ founder Harvey Levin told CNN the letter contained credible details about Nancy’s Apple watch and a floodlight on her property. Levin added that the author of the note took care to not reveal any identifying information but said Nancy is “okay but scared.” Without elaborating, Levin called the February 9 deadline “far more consequential.”
Also on February 5, the FBI arrested 42-year-old Derrick Callella of Hawthorne, California, for sending ransom text messages to the Guthrie family. FBI Phoenix special agent in charge Heith Janke said this “impostor ransom demand” was unrelated to the letters sent to the media. Callella allegedly sent the texts using an app that created a fake phone number for him, and authorities were able to trace it back to an email address he used. According to a DoJ press release, Callella is facing charges of “transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce, and without disclosing his identity, utilizing a telecommunications device with the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass a person.”
On February 7, Savannah Guthrie released a video stating that the family would “pay” for the safe return of their mother. In the video, she is seated on a couch next to her brother, Camron, and sister, Annie. “We received your message and we understand,” Savannah Guthrie said. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace.”
It is unclear which ransom note Guthrie is directing her plea to. There have been three news outlets contacted with possible ransoms, and the video did not directly address any one in particular.
On Sunday, February 8, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it was securing Nancy Guthrie’s residence. This came a day after police were seen searching the home. They were seen searching the septic tank on Saturday, per “Page Six.” According to Variety, PCSD will “maintain a presence at Nancy Guthrie’s residence for security” at the request of the family.
The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Friday, February 6, that they were aware of a new message from the alleged kidnappers and that they were verifying its authenticity.
As of the press conference on February 5, PCSD and the FBI do not have any suspects or persons of interest in the disappearance. An Uber driver who dropped Nancy off at her daughter’s home for dinner was interviewed and cleared of suspicion. Several issues have hampered the investigation, including a lack of surveillance footage from neighbors’ security systems and the harsh outdoor conditions search parties could face in the Catalina Foothills area where Nancy lives. Per AZ Central, her neighborhood is close to both the sprawling desert and the Santa Catalina Mountains, so the ground and air-rescue teams are dealing with “uneven topography, limited visibility, and temperature changes” with nighttime temperatures in the upper 30s and low 40s.
The FBI also announced it is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy’s return. “If those that may have Nancy are watching this, the family is ready to talk, get proof of life, because there has been no contact after that ransom note went to the media,” Janke said at the briefing.
On CNN, James Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisory special agent with experience in hostage negotiations, said the family’s video pleas indicate “they have not received any other reach-outs and they’re basically in the dark right now, so that’s what makes this such a tough case from the motivation perspective. Was it revenge or was it for profit? I think investigators have reached a dead end, and that’s why the sheriff of Pima County is basically saying they’re going to start putting up literal physical billboards to try to crowdsource this and get more people to come forward with information.”
“Right now, we believe Nancy is still out there,” Nanos said at the Thursday press conference. “We want her home.”
The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department are still asking anyone with tips to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Whether or not you’ve been following the Nancy Guthrie case, anyone who came across Savannah‘s latest Instagram video knows how absolutely gut-wrenching it was.
On Sunday, the Today Show host shared a difficult-to-watch video in which she spoke directly to her mother’s captor, urging them to “do the right thing” and bring her home. Everything about it seemed raw and vulnerable, and it was a clear reminder of how torturous the last two weeks have been for this poor family. And it wasn’t just fans thinking this.
Many of Savannah’s friends found the video “profoundly disturbing,” according to a source via Page Six on Monday, who added:
“She looks devastated. She looks like she’s struggling. She can’t be doing well.”
Who would be at a time like this? It’s horrific and so stressful.
The insider went on to share that Savannah’s friends are increasingly concerned:
“Anyone who knows her is obviously so worried about her.”
They added that “it looked like the light has gone out of her eyes” in the new video. Oof. Heartbreaking.
Savannah received an outpouring of support from colleagues, friends, and fans in the comments section. We hope she feels that love and support!
The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie, and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance. Authorities have encouraged anyone with information or tips to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, 88-CRIME or tips.fbi.gov. You can also contact the Pima County Sheriff’s office by calling 520-351-4900 or submitting a tipHERE.
TUCSON, Arizona, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Nancy Guthrie’s family has been cleared as possible suspects in her abduction, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said on Monday, as the case involving the mother of “Today” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie entered its third week.
Guthrie’s family, which includes “all siblings and spouses,” has been cooperative and gracious as authorities investigate the kidnapping, Nanos said.
“To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel,” he said in a statement. “The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple.”
Investigators on Sunday said they had obtained a DNA sample from a glove that was found near 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home and appears to match the pair worn by a masked prowler seen in doorbell camera footage before she was abducted two weeks ago.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31 when family dropped her off at her home near Tucson after she had dined with them, and relatives reported her missing the following day, authorities have said.
(Reporting by Herbert Villarraga in Tucson, Arizona and Hannah Lang in New York; editing by Scott Malone)
As the desperate search for her mother stretches into its third heartbreaking week, Savannah Guthrie will remain off the Today show for what insiders are calling the “foreseeable future.” And honestly, how could it be any other way?
The veteran journalist, who has co-anchored the NBC morning staple since 2012, is still in Tucson as authorities continue their urgent hunt for her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie. Fifteen days have now passed since Nancy was last seen, and with each passing hour, the worry only deepens.
As speculation inevitably swirled about what this absence might mean for Savannah’s future at the network — particularly with her lucrative contract reportedly nearing its renewal window — those close to the situation say such talk feels painfully misplaced.
To that end, an insider at NBC made it clear that right now, ratings and renewals are the furthest things from anyone’s mind. They told Page Six on Sunday:
“The entire show and network is rallying together in support of our beloved colleague and friend as we navigate this unimaginable time.”
That sentiment is apparently shared across the entire staff. Production teams, anchors, executives — all of them are said to be focused on one thing: giving Savannah the space to be a daughter first.
The source said:
“Everyone at Today is taking this day by day, and of course giving Savannah the grace, time and support she needs.”
Behind the scenes, there is also a quiet vigil happening. Staffers are reportedly praying constantly for answers, for closure, for some break in a case that has grown more chilling by the day.
In the meantime, former co-anchor Hoda Kotb has stepped back into the anchor seat this week. She has also thus far remained stateside rather than traveling to Milan to assist with coverage of the Winter Olympics, as did Savannah’s current co-anchor Craig Melvin.
But for now, the question of contracts and careers feels almost trivial. What matters is a family in crisis, a daughter waiting for answers, and a network standing behind one of its own during an unimaginable time.
The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie, and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance. Authorities have encouraged anyone with information or tips to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, 88-CRIME or tips.fbi.gov. You can also contact the Pima County Sheriff’s office by calling 520-351-4900 or submitting a tipHERE.
A man was arrested after allegedly attempting to kidnap a child and assaulting another child inside a Walmart, Lincolnton Police Department says.
WCNC reports Tristan Blain Coleman, 25, is charged with one count of attempted kidnapping, two counts of indecent liberties with a child and one count assault on a female.
Reports say Coleman approached one girl and tried to get her to leave with him. He allegedly grabbed her and may have taken a picture of “inside the child’s clothing,” according to Lincolnton police.
Before Coleman fled the scene, he allegedly assaulted another child.
Lincolnton police arrested Coleman after the incident was reported.
Sartell, Minnesota, police rescued a woman who a man said was held against her will, according to city officials.
Police said they responded to a home on the 400 block of Seventh Street North early Friday morning after a man called them from Arizona, saying he received a text message from his fiancée.
The woman had been visiting a male friend, later identified as a 45-year-old man, in Sartell and said that when she attempted to leave, the he assaulted her and threatened to shoot her if she attempted to leave.
Officers encountered the man and the woman standing in the entryway. The woman was able to run to safety. Police say they gave the man commands, but he retreated into the home. Shortly afterwards, he attempted to flee by jumping from a third-story window.
Police were able to quickly apprehend him. He received minor injuries from the jump.
According to police, the man and woman had been in a prior relationship.
The man was booked into jail, charges against him are pending. He also has an arrest warrant out of Stearns County after being accused of fleeing law enforcement in a car.
“It’s Monday morning quarterbacking,” Nanos said. “I do it all the time, so you can do that for me. I’ll take that hit.” And to a question about whether possible evidence could have been contaminated? That’s a later problem. “I’ll let the courts worry about that.”
Even a widely reported SWAT action at a residence near Guthrie’s home Friday night was accompanied by little context: Media assembled at a designated point, expecting an update, but were told hours later that there would be no formal statement. “Because this is a joint investigation, at the request of the FBI – no additional information is currently available,” the PCSD said via X. According to CNN, no suspects were detained in the law enforcement swarm, which blocked a road about two miles from the primary scene.
Day after day for almost two weeks, a growing number of people—media professionals and self-appointed citizen investigators alike—have flocked to Nancy’s home in the Catalina Foothills outside Tucson, where information comes out in drips and drabs, sudden flurries of activity erupt and then abruptly die out, and that crime scene tape goes up and down again and again. Consider that though the FBI on Tuesday released several still shots and clips of a person approaching Nancy’s door, recovered from home surveillance cameras, law enforcement continues to decline to confirm or deny that there were signs of forced entry to the home. “I have no clue where that comes from,” Nanos said in that news conference. “We are not discussing that at all.”
In the same media briefing, he seemed to shut down hope that any footage would be recovered, saying, “the tech company that we sent that camera off to, they’ve run out of ways to recover any video.” Because Nancy didn’t have an active subscription, the footage wasn’t saved.
Then, those images were released on February 10, along with a joint statement from law enforcement citing “residual data” on “backend servers” that “uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.” What change that made this possible? They’re not saying.
FBI and SWAT units during an operation related to Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping on February 13.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Ford Hatchett, a journalist with Phoenix’s ABC15, arrived at Nancy’s house on Monday, February 1, the morning after her disappearance, and has been back and forth between Phoenix and Tucson several times in the days since. He tells Vanity Fair that while he’s covered crime stories before, “this particular case has been pretty bizarre.”
On the one hand, families who spoke to The Associated Press share in the deep pain that Nancy Guthrie’s children, including the well-known “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, have expressed publicly.
On the other, people like Tonya Miller — whose own mother disappeared under suspicious circumstances in Missouri in 2019 — say they feel frustrated as they watch seemingly endless resources flood into the search for Guthrie.
“Families like ours that have just your normal missing people, they have to fight to get any help,” Miller, 44, said.
Miller’s mother, Betty Miller, is one of the thousands of people who are listed as abducted each year, according to federal statistics. In most cases, families like Tonya Miller’s say it’s a full-time job advocating for a fair and thorough investigation.
The country has been engrossed by the apparent kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, after authorities said they believe she was taken against her will. People in her neighborhood have tied yellow ribbons to tree to express their support.
Multiple news outlets have reported receiving ransom notes, and the Guthrie family has expressed a willingness to pay — although it’s not known whether ransom notes demanding money with deadlines that have already passed were authentic.
In the meantime, several hundred detectives and agents are now assigned to Nancy Guthrie’s investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said.
FBI spokesperson Connor Hagan declined to say how many of those agents were federal law enforcement, and how many were already assigned in Arizona. He also didn’t clarify how the federal agency prioritizes different missing persons cases.
However, he said agents from the Critical Incident Response Group, technical experts and intelligence analysts are working to bring Guthrie home. There is also a 24-hour command post where dozens of agents parse through the 13,000 tips that have flooded in from the public, among other responsibilities, according to a post the agency made.
The vast majority of people who are reported missing are believed to be runaways — not kidnapped or abducted.
Throughout all of 2024, the latest year that National Crime Information Center published the data, over 530,000 missing person records were entered. By the end of the year, just over 90,000 cases remained unresolved on that list — some going back decades.
Roughly 95% of the hundreds of thousands of cases filed in 2024 were believed to be runaways and only 1% were listed as abducted.
Often, the abductor is a parent who doesn’t have legal guardianship over a child, the report said. It’s even more rare for someone to be abducted by a stranger.
The FBI names five kidnapped or missing people, including Nancy Guthrie, from Arizona on its online database of 125 missing or kidnapped people. All five from Arizona are listed as Native American or otherwise disappeared from tribal communities, except for Guthrie.
That racial trend holds true for the rest of the country, too.
A disproportionate number of Black and Indigenous people were among the abducted in 2024, according to the National Crime Information Center report. Roughly a third of the 533,936 missing people listed as abducted in 2024 were Black, even though the U.S. Census reports only 13% of the U.S. population as Black. Similarly, almost 3% of the missing people listed as abducted were Indigenous, compared to the 1.4% of people who are Indigenous in the U.S. writ large.
“Every person deserves to be safe, and when someone is missing, there should be an immediate, coordinated, and effective response,” Lucy Simpson, the chief executive officer for the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center said. “For many Native women, longstanding gaps in resources, coordination, and systemic support for Tribal Nations have made prevention and response more difficult.”
Experts have said that sometimes the attention on high-profile cases can be a major obstacle to law enforcement operations. But Savannah Guthrie’s celebrity status has also garnered extensive resources from the federal and local government — including a $100,000 FBI reward for accurate information about her whereabouts or that could lead to an arrest and conviction of whoever took her.
That’s in stark contrast, Miller said, to the dearth of help she’s received in Sullivan, Missouri, where she’s had to use her own time and money to search for her mom, who was last seen in her apartment in the roughly 7,000 person town. A box of Betty Miller’s prescribed fentanyl patches were missing from the apartment and her prescription eye glasses were left on an armchair, Tonya Miller said. There was a massive scratch on her mom’s front door that wasn’t there before.
The Sullivan Police Department didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment Friday.
Despite those suspicious circumstances, local police didn’t treat her mother’s apartment like a crime scene, Tonya Miller said. She had to beg them to take fingerprints and often had to prod them to follow up on tips filed by the public. In the weeks that followed, Tonya Miller organized search parties, printed out fliers and held fundraisers to scrape together a $20,000 reward for her mother.
Tonya Miller said it has become harder as the years go by to know how to help find her mom. She’s written letters to elected officials at all levels of government, including President Donald Trump.
“I feel so helpless,” Miller said, “because you just don’t know what to do anymore.”
___
Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
(Corrects time frame of video release to this week, in paragraph 4 and second bullet point)
By Herbert Villarraga, Jana Winter and Jasper Ward
TUCSON, Arizona Feb 13 (Reuters) – The Arizona sheriff leading the investigation into the abduction of U.S. television journalist Savannah Guthrie’s elderly mother says the biggest clue by far in the nearly two weeks since she vanished is the video of a masked prowler tampering with her doorbell camera.
“That individual is who we’re looking for,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in an interview with Reuters as the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, presumed kidnapped for ransom from her home near Tucson, stretched into its 13th day.
“Are there others? We don’t know that until we find him, or other evidence comes in to indicate that, but right now, he’s who we want. Somebody out there knows who this is,” Nanos said.
Nanos was referring to the release earlier this week of then-newly discovered video footage showing an armed man — wearing a ski mask, gloves and a backpack — tampering with Nancy Guthrie’s Google Nest doorbell camera outside her house shortly before she vanished.
“The strongest evidence is that video,” Nanos said. “That’s really what we’re focused on. We’ve got to find that guy. And that’s what everybody is trying to do.”
Experts have said that investigators were likely seeking to bring facial recognition analysis to bear on the video to produce a composite image of a suspect that they can run against a national database that includes all U.S. drivers with Real ID licenses.
The sheriff said the release of the video, which took days to retrieve and reassemble from discarded digital data likely left unarchived on Google servers, immediately generated a flood of nearly 5,000 calls from tipsters. By then, he said, the sheriff’s department and FBI had already fielded some 30,000 calls together.
He said investigators are “constantly taking in video” from other sources, ranging from traffic cameras to license-plate scanners to neighborhood surveillance cameras.
“Everything is being gathered in and looked at,” he said. “It is a long process.”
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31 when family dropped her off at her home following an evening dinner with them, and relatives reported her missing the following day, authorities said.
The sheriff has said the elder Guthrie had extremely limited mobility and could not have wandered off far from home unassisted, leading investigators to conclude early on that she had been taken against her will.
Traces of blood found on her front porch were confirmed by DNA tests to have come from Guthrie, officials said last week. Law enforcement and family members have described her as being in frail health and in need of daily medication to survive.
At least two purported ransom notes have surfaced since she disappeared, both delivered initially to news media outlets and setting two deadlines that have since lapsed.
Savannah Guthrie, 54, co-anchor of the popular NBC News morning show “Today,” has posted several video messages with her brother and sister, appealing to their mother’s captors for her return, pleading for the public’s help in solving the case, and even expressing a willingness to meet ransom demands.
Nanos confirmed to Reuters that no proof of life has surfaced since the abduction, but he was quick to add: “there’s not been any proof of death either.”
The sheriff went on to reaffirm his working presumption that Nancy Guthrie remains alive.
“Hope is sometimes all we have, it really is,” he said. “I have a team of 400 officers from federal government, state government, local government. I have a community of a million people here who are invested in this, who want her back. Sometimes all we have to go on is hope. I’m not going to kill that.”
The FBI on Thursday doubled the reward offered for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie, or the arrest and conviction of a suspect in her abduction, to $100,000.
(Reporting by Herbert Villaraga in Tucson, Arizona, and Jana Winter and Jasper Ward in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
The FBI conducted searches along several Tucson roadways on Wednesday in its search for Nancy Guthrie. CBS News reporter Andres Gutierrez has the latest.
TUCSON, Ariz. — The urgent investigation into the apparent kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie continued Sunday, a week after the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing in Arizona.
Savannah Guthrie solemnly told the potential kidnappers in a social media video released Saturday that the family was prepared to pay for her safe return. Flanked by her siblings, Guthrie said “we received your message” and that: “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
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Last seen at her home on Saturday, January 31, Nancy Guthrie has now been missing for over a week. The 84-year-old mother of TODAY anchor Savannah Guthriewas abducted from her home just outside of Tucson, Arizona, late that night, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department says. But through local investigators and the FBI have investigated numerous tips, they have yet to identify any suspects, local police confirmed on Saturday. Complicating the investigation are a proliferation of ransom notes sent to local news outlets, some of which have been revealed as fake. But the latest note was soon followed by a message from the Guthrie family, which announced on Saturday that it would follow the kidnappers’ demands.
The newest message from Nancy Guthrie’s children follows a Thursday video featuring Nancy’s son Camron Guthrie, which was posted to his sister’s Instagram account. “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you,” he said then. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward.”
A new video, posted by Savannah, Camron, and sister Annie Guthrie on Saturday, suggests that this requested communication has occurred. “We received your message, and we understand,” Guthrie says, looking directly a the camera as she holds her siblings’ hands.
“We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
Speaking with CNN’s Dana Bash, Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said that “There is no question in my mind that every word of that statement was carefully honed with the assistance of the FBI experts who are advising the family.” McCabe says that he believes the Guthries are working with hostage negotiators as well as “very experienced agents” who “have dealt with many, many kidnapping and ransom situations.”
In between Camron’s plea for communication and the Guthrie siblings’ assurance that they would pay, Tucson television station KOLD received a ransom note and passed it along to authorities, the New York Times reports. The note’s contents have not been officially divulged, but during a Saturday broadcast on local station KGUN, reporter JJ McKinney said “It is unclear which letter the Guthries are responding to” in their latest message, as “Multiple ransom notes have been sent out to the media, including one that was sent to us.”
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Savannah Guthrie told the potential kidnappers of her mother Nancy Guthrie on Saturday that the family is prepared to pay for her safe return.
“We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her,” Guthrie said in the video, flanked by her siblings. “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
It was not immediately clear if Guthrie was referring to a new message from someone who might have kidnapped Nancy Guthrie. The Associated Press reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s department seeking additional details.
The frantic search for the 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie has entered a seventh day. Authorities have not identified any suspects or ruled anyone out, Sheriff Chris Nanos said this week.
Authorities think she was taken against her will from her home just outside Tucson over the weekend. DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s front porch was a match to her, Nanos said.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Some 2.8 million people tune intoTODAY, NBC’s flagship morning show, every day, and for many, hearing about the latest news updates, affordable fashion trends, upcoming movies, and whatever other hot topics is a longstanding part of their daily routine, and co-anchor Savannah Guthrie isn’t just a newscaster, she’s a familiar presence, something of a friend.
Guthrie, an apple-cheeked 54-year-old who has worked for NBC since 2007 and at TODAY since 2011, is just as likely to appear at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as she is to interview Donald Trump, as she did for a town hall ahead of the 2020 election that won her an Emmy.
When her mother, Nancy Guthrie, was reportedly abducted in Tucson, Arizona last week, a global audience took notice.
Like the Guthrie case, the Lindbergh story was a desperate search for the vulnerable family member of an American household name, front and center in the public consciousness, and a crime that riveted a country.
Charles Lindbergh Jr. disappeared from his crib in Hopewell, New Jersey, on the night of March 1, 1932. His parents, nanny, and several other staff were in the house, and the boy’s bedroom was on the second floor. The crime immediately drew attention because of the baby’s parents: his mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was the first woman to earn a glider pilot license, and was a socialite, the daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and a writer. His father, Charles Lindbergh, was one of the most famous people in the world thanks to his 1927 flight from New York to Paris, the first successful solo transatlantic one in history. The morning after his disappearance, the New York Times rushed to remake the paper’s front page, topping four columns in the lead story slot on March 2 with the headline “LINDBERGH BABY KIDNAPPED FROM HOME OF PARENTS ON FARM NEAR PRINCETON; TAKEN FROM HIS CRIB; WIDE SEARCH ON.”
The attention was relentless, and especially bruising for someone like Lindbergh, a Midwesterner by birth who begged for privacy after his Spirit of St. Louis notoriety: For weeks, a garage at Pop Gebhart’s general store, near the Lindbergh house, was the ad hoc headquarters for the hundreds of reporters who flocked to the scene. Tourists gawked at the house. Thousands of Princeton undergraduates took it upon themselves to search the nearby woods, despite official concerns about contaminating potential evidence. An estimated 100,000 total people, official and private, participated in the search in the first 24 hours after the news broke. President Herbert Hoover offered the investigation support from the Secret Service, FBI, the IRS, the US Postal Service, and more. Awareness of the case was such that anyone seen with a small blonde child was looked at twice.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — It’s been a week since “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie ‘s mother disappeared from her home in Arizona in what authorities say was a kidnapping.
Investigators have been examining ransom notes and looking for evidence but have not named a suspect. On Friday, officers returned to 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie ‘s home near Tucson and to the surrounding neighborhood to continue their search.
Here’s what to know about the case:
Family members told officials they last saw Guthrie at 9:48 p.m. on Jan. 31 when they dropped her off at home after they ate dinner and played games together. The next day, family learned she didn’t attend church. They reported her missing after they went to check on her.
Guthrie has a pacemaker and needs daily medication. Her family and authorities are worried her health could be deteriorating by the day.
Authorities think Guthrie was taken against her will from her home in an upscale neighborhood that sits on hilly, desert terrain. DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s front porch matched hers, the county sheriff has said.
Investigators found her doorbell camera was disconnected early Sunday and that software data recorded movement at the home minutes later. But investigators haven’t been able to recover the footage because Guthrie didn’t have an active subscription to the service.
“I wish technology was as easy as we believe it is, that here’s a picture, here’s your bad guy. But it’s not,” Nanos told the AP on Friday. “There are pieces of information that come to us from these tech groups that say ‘This is what we have and we can’t get anymore.’”
The president of the Catalina Foothills Association, a neighborhood group, thanked residents in a letter for being willing to speak with law enforcement, share camera images and allow their properties to be searched.
At least three media organizations reported receiving purported ransom notes, which they handed over to investigators. Authorities made an arrest after one ransom note turned out to be fake, the sheriff said.
It’s unclear if all of the notes were identical. Heith Janke, the FBI chief in Phoenix, said details included a demand for money with a Thursday evening deadline and a second deadline for Monday if the first one wasn’t met. At least one note mentioned a floodlight at Guthrie’s home and an Apple watch, Janke said.
Investigators said they are taking the notes seriously.
On Friday, KOLD-TV in Tucson said it received a new message, via email, tied to the Guthrie case. The station said it couldn’t disclose its contents. The FBI said it was aware of a new message and was reviewing its authenticity.
Concern about Guthrie’s condition is growing because authorities say she needs daily medicine that’s vital to her health. She has a pacemaker, high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.
Police have not said that they have received any deepfake images of Nancy Guthrie.
Savannah Guthrie described her mother as a “kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light” and said she was funny, spunky and clever.
“Talk to her and you’ll see,” she said.
She spoke some words directly to her mom, saying she and her siblings wouldn’t rest until they’re all together again.
The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information about Guthrie’s whereabouts.
The White House said President Donald Trump called and spoke with Savannah Guthrie on Wednesday. He posted on social media that he was directing federal authorities to help where they can.
On Friday night, he told reporters flying with him to his Florida estate on Air Force One that the investigation was going “very well” and investigators had some strong clues.
Other notorious kidnappings in U.S. history have included the son of singer Frank Sinatra, the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and the 9-year-old girl for whom the AMBER Alert was named.
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Nancy Guthrie‘s family just released a new video within the last hour, begging whomever may have kidnapped or otherwise abducted the 84-year-old woman to please get into contact with them.
In the brand-new video, which was posted to Instagram on Thursday evening, Cameron Guthrie is the one seen on camera speaking to the unknown perpetrator of this evidently awful crime.
We honestly can’t even imagine what it must be like to have to make a video like that.
A tip line has been set up: see HERE. The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie, and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The U.S. has dispatched a small team of military officers to Nigeria, the general in charge of U.S. Africa Command told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.
General Dagvin R.M. Anderson said the move followed his meeting with Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu, in Rome late last year.
“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a small U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years,” Anderson said.
It is unclear when the team arrived in Nigeria.
The military officers are the latest step since the U.S launched airstrikes against a group affiliated with the Islamic State last year on Dec. 25.
Nigeria has been in the diplomatic crosshairs of the U.S. following threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to attack the country, alleging the West African nation is not doing enough to protect its Christian citizens. Following the allegations, the West African country was designated as a Country of Particular Concern, a congressional designation in the U.S. for countries responsible for religious oppression.
The diplomatic dispute has led to increased military cooperation between the two countries. The terms of the cooperation have been unclear. The U.S has supplied Nigeria with military equipment and carried out reconnaissance missions across Nigeria.
Nigeria has been battling several armed groups across the country. The groups include Islamist sects like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.
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Today show host Savannah Guthrie is facing an unimaginable nightmare as authorities in Arizona reveal a deeply troubling theory about what may have happened to her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing since the weekend. And the more details that emerge, the heavier this situation feels.
Police now officially believe that Nancy, who is 84, was likely taken from her home while she was asleep. Let that sink in for a second: a woman in her mid-80s, apparently taken from her own bed in the middle of the night, from what should have been the safest place in the world.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos did not mince words when he spoke to CBS News on Monday:
“I believe she was abducted, yes. She didn’t walk from there. She didn’t go willingly.”
Hearing that out loud is devastating. There had been quiet speculation about this possibility, but for the sheriff himself to say it so plainly makes the situation feel far more dire and painfully real.
As we’ve been reporting, Nancy was last seen at her Arizona home on Saturday night, and she was officially reported missing around midday on Sunday.
By Monday, authorities confirmed what everyone feared: this is no longer being treated as a simple missing persons case, but it is now considered a crime. Speaking later on Monday night on OutFront with host Erin Burnett, Sheriff Nanos emphasized that while Nancy has physical limitations, her mental state was not a concern:
“Her wits are about her. This isn‘t somebody who wandered off. This is an elderly woman in her mid-80s who suffers some ailments that makes her mobility, her ability to walk around very difficult.”
According to Nanos, Nancy could not have walked more than about 50 yards on her own. He also referenced undisclosed details at the scene that suggested she was removed from her home against her will — something he says experience has taught him not to ignore.
Nanos said:
“I‘ve been doing this for 50 years. I have a gut feeling, but it came to me yesterday… that she was abducted… something about that scene made me believe that there’s more just a missing person. Today we still hope she’s alive… but you can’t ignore what you’re seeing at the scene. Time is of the essence.”
Wow…
Now, neighbors are now being urged to review any home surveillance footage from Saturday night that could help piece together what happened. Authorities are also working closely with Savannah’s security team, though they’ve thus far said this is not being treated as a ransom situation.
What ultimately raised the alarm was heartbreakingly ordinary. Members of Nancy’s church noticed she didn’t show up for Sunday morning services and became concerned. To that end, Nanos said:
“This is a big case to this community because it‘s not often… that we see somebody in the middle of the night in their safe home environment and bed all of a sudden disappear.”
Nancy Guthrie is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and weighing around 150 pounds.
Per Nanos on OutFront, anyone with information is urged to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at (520) 351-4900.
And for now, a family, a community, and so many millions more are watching from afar are holding onto hope in the middle of something truly terrifying.
SPOKE WITH SOME FAMILY MEMBERS WHO HAVE NOT LOST HOPE. KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AND HELP US FIND OUR GRANDCHILDREN. A PLEA FOR HELP. AS A SACRAMENTO FAMILY CONTINUES TO SEARCH FOR THEIR MISSING LOVED ONES WITH NO NEW INFORMATION AND NO CLOSURE, THINGS ARE JUST. IT’S A LOT QUIETER NOW AND. WE JUST MISS HIM A LOT. YEAH, OUR LIFE IS NOT AS FULL AS IT WAS, YOU KNOW? IT JUST SEEMS MORE EMPTY WITHOUT THEM. FIVE YEAR OLD ATHENA AND THREE YEAR OLD MATEO LEE WERE LAST SEEN A YEAR AND A HALF AGO, SHORTLY BEFORE THEIR MOTHER, 28 YEAR OLD ANGELICA BRAVO, WAS FOUND DEAD INSIDE A NORTH SACRAMENTO HOME, LEAVING INVESTIGATORS WITH A COMPLEX AND ONGOING CASE. WHAT WAS COMPLEX ABOUT THIS CASE WAS WE WERE WAITING ON A CAUSE AND MANNER OF DEATH FOR ANGELICA BRAVO. SO WHEN CAMERON WAS MISSING, THE KIDS WERE MISSING US. WE DIDN’T HAVE A MURDER WARRANT FOR CAMERON AT THAT TIME. WHAT WAS DIFFICULT WAS HE’S ALSO THE CUSTODIAL PARENT FOR THE KIDS. SO WE DIDN’T HAVE A KIDNAPING CASE AT THAT POINT. INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE ATHENA AND MATEO ARE WITH THEIR FATHER, CAMERON LEE, WHO POLICE SAY IS A SUSPECT IN ANGELICA’S KILLING. WITH THE CHILDREN’S WHEREABOUTS STILL UNKNOWN. THE FBI REMAINS INVOLVED. WE DON’T KNOW WHERE THE CHILDREN ARE, SO OUR REACH IS GLOBAL. AND CERTAINLY WE WANT TO BRING THEM BACK WHEREVER THEY MAY BE. AND AS TIME PASSES, WITHOUT ANY NEW DETAILS, WE THINK ABOUT THEM EVERY DAY. WE PRAY FOR THEM EVERY DAY. JUST TWO DAYS AWAY FROM MATEO’S FOURTH BIRTHDAY, THE FAMILY SAYS THEY’RE HOLDING ON TO MEMORIES. WE USED TO CALL. WE CALL ATHENA THINKING THAT WAS HER NICKNAME. AND MATEO, HE HAD A COUPLE, BUT TITO WAS ONE OF THEM. AND WHILE THERE ARE STILL NO ANSWERS, THE FAMILY IS DOING EVERYTHING THEY CAN. STAYING ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA, HOPING SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE MAY RECOGNIZE THE CHILDREN AND SPEAK UP. I JUST REALLY HOPE THAT IF ANYBODY DOES SEE, EVEN IF THEY THINK THEY’RE LIKE, OH, THAT, THAT LOOKS LIKE THAT COULD BE THEM, YOU KNOW, JUST REPORT IT. MARICELA DE LA CRUZ KCRA 3 NEWS. AT THIS TIME, LEE FACES CHARGES FOR MURDER AND POSSESSION OF AN ASSAULT STYLE WEAPON. A FEDERAL ARREST WARRANT HAS ALSO BEEN ISSUED FOR UNLAWFUL FLIGHT TO AVOID PROSECUTION. THE FBI IS OFFERING A REWARD OF UP TO $25,000 FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO HIS ARREST, AS WELL AS AN ADDITIONAL $25,000
Sacramento family seeks help in finding missing children Athena and Mateo Lee
Ahead of National Missing Persons Day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Sacramento Police Department are intensifying efforts to find 5-year-old Athena Lee and 3-year-old Mateo Lee, who have been missing for more than a year and a half, as their family continues to hope for their safe return.”Keep your eyes open and help us find our grandchildren,” said Dawn Bodea, a family member, as the Sacramento family continues to search for their missing loved ones without any new information or closure.”Things are just a lot quieter now. We just miss them a lot. Our life is not as full; it seems more empty without them,” Bodea said.Athena and Mateo were last seen shortly before their mother, 28-year-old Angelica Bravo, was found dead inside her ex-boyfriend’s home in North Sacramento, leaving investigators with a complex and ongoing case.”What was complex about this case was we were waiting on a cause and manner of death for Angelica Bravo, so when Camron was missing, the kids were missing, we didn’t have a murder warrant for Camron at that time. What was difficult was he’s also the custodial parent for the kids, so we didn’t have a kidnapping case at that point,” said Anthony Gamble of the Sacramento Police.Investigators believe Athena and Mateo are with their father, Camron Lee, who police say is the suspect in Angelica’s killing. With the children’s whereabouts still unknown, the FBI remains involved.”We don’t know where the children are, so our reach is global, and certainly we want to bring them back where they may be,” said Gina Swankie of the FBI. “These children are changing rapidly. They may not even remember what happened that day, so they may be going about their everyday day-to-day lives.”As time passes without any new details, Bodea said, “We think about them every day, we pray for them every day.”Just two days away from Mateo’s fourth birthday, the family is holding on to memories.Despite the lack of answers, the family is staying active on social media, hoping someone, somewhere, may recognize the children and speak up. “I just really hope that if anybody does see—even if they think—that looks like it could be them, you know, just report it,” Bodea said.At this time, Camron Lee faces charges for murder and possession of an assault weapon. A federal arrest warrant has also been issued for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to Lee’s arrest, as well as an additional $25,000 for information that leads to the safe recovery of Athena and Mateo.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Ahead of National Missing Persons Day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Sacramento Police Department are intensifying efforts to find 5-year-old Athena Lee and 3-year-old Mateo Lee, who have been missing for more than a year and a half, as their family continues to hope for their safe return.
“Keep your eyes open and help us find our grandchildren,” said Dawn Bodea, a family member, as the Sacramento family continues to search for their missing loved ones without any new information or closure.
“Things are just a lot quieter now. We just miss them a lot. Our life is not as full; it seems more empty without them,” Bodea said.
“What was complex about this case was we were waiting on a cause and manner of death for Angelica Bravo, so when Camron was missing, the kids were missing, we didn’t have a murder warrant for Camron at that time. What was difficult was he’s also the custodial parent for the kids, so we didn’t have a kidnapping case at that point,” said Anthony Gamble of the Sacramento Police.
“We don’t know where the children are, so our reach is global, and certainly we want to bring them back where they may be,” said Gina Swankie of the FBI. “These children are changing rapidly. They may not even remember what happened that day, so they may be going about their everyday day-to-day lives.”
As time passes without any new details, Bodea said, “We think about them every day, we pray for them every day.”
Just two days away from Mateo’s fourth birthday, the family is holding on to memories.
Despite the lack of answers, the family is staying active on social media, hoping someone, somewhere, may recognize the children and speak up.
“I just really hope that if anybody does see—even if they think—that looks like it could be them, you know, just report it,” Bodea said.
At this time, Camron Lee faces charges for murder and possession of an assault weapon. A federal arrest warrant has also been issued for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to Lee’s arrest, as well as an additional $25,000 for information that leads to the safe recovery of Athena and Mateo.