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FBI Announces $50,000 Reward in Nancy Guthrie Case; No Suspect or Person of Interest Identified in the Abduction of Nancy Guthrie So Far; FBI Says Any Action Taken on Ransom is Ultimately Decided by the Family. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 05, 2026 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

L. M. BOYD, SENIOR REPORTER, ARIZONA PUBLIC MEDIA: -- for the neighborhood where Nancy's home is, can you give any more details on that trespassing incident?

SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: I don't have them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dela Mundo, Jesus Gonzalez (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is for the FBI. I just have a question. Can you confirm if the FBI Director is coming for the investigation?

HEITH JANKE, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: Yes, Director Patel is being briefed several times a day on this investigation back in D.C. He does have a trip scheduled to Tucson that was pre-scheduled before this. But he is receiving consistent and constant updates from our team here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he coming today?

JANKE: He is not coming today.

NANOS: And before you go to the next one, I know you may have had a follow-up question, but I think I overstepped you, so if you wanted to ask, I'll give you that opportunity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.

NANOS: Absolutely.

BOYD: At what point do you deem the ransom note not credible if there is no communication that follows up since you received it? What's that timeline where you say, no proof of life, there's no more, this isn't credible?

JANKE: I think we start to look at what the deadlines were in the note. First, I think it was five o'clock today, and then it had a second deadline after that. So, we are continuing. In a normal kidnapping case, there would be contact by now trying to discuss that. But those are the timeframes we are looking at as we move forward.

BOYD: Are you able to say that second deadline that was given? JANKE: I don't have that with me right now.

BOYD: Sorry about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Entertainment Tonight, Denny Directo.

DENNY DIRECTO, CORRESPONDENT, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: Yes, my question actually is for Agent Janke. There was a report that said the ransom came from an email that the FBI was actually looking into the IP address. Any update on that?

JANKE: Nothing that I can release. Thank you.

DIRECTO: And then also, there's also conflicting reports about who was the last person to actually see Nancy and drive her home. We know she took an Uber to Annie's house, but can you confirm whether it was Annie or her son-in-law, Tommaso, who took her home that night?

JANKE: I think the timeline that the sheriff provided was a family member, but --

NANOS: Just family. We're going to go with family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Record TV, Vandrie Piera (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First, we are foreign nationals, so we're not familiar with the area, so we think that it's a remote area. So my question is, why is it so hard to track a car or something suspicious that has passed through the area at that time? How difficult is this, throwing (ph) cameras around or something?

NANOS: Yeah, you're talking about the challenges we face in being in a rural area like this. You know, those are challenges we face all the time. We'd love it to have all the cameras in what we would consider a more urban nature type area. But once you get out into the community, that's not the only part of Tucson that is that way, and we just find ways to overcome those challenges.

We don't just disregard it. We still look at ways to find, for example, ring cameras that might catch just a piece of something, goes back to the car, those kinds of things. We don't give up. We still go out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least a car that came out at midnight. By the way, I mean like miles from your house.

NANOS: We have cameras all over, and those things are being reviewed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arizona Republic, Richard Ruelas.

RUELAS: I'm a different person, (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he get two?

RUELAS: It's the second one.

NANOS: Was that you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry. All right. Thank you guys for keeping us honest. No, you already asked your question, so we're going to go to The New York Times with Reese. And I apologize for getting your name wrong here, Reese Tebow (ph) .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, sir.

NANOS: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The camera that detected movement at 2:12, was that a different camera than the one that was disconnected at 1:47, and where was it pointed?

NANOS: We don't know that. We don't know which camera that was. When we did the software, it just told us that a person was detected. But I'm unaware of which camera that was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, there were multiple cameras and you're not sure?

NANOS: Sure. Yeah, there were multiple cameras at the home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And is there a possibility that this is not a ransom situation? And if so, what else could it be?

NANOS: Your guess is as good as mine. I would say, absolutely, there's a possibility that this has nothing to do with the kidnapping. But we cover all angles. We're not going to dismiss something until we actually know for a fact that it's one way or the other.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: PEOPLE Magazine, we have Danielle.

DANIELLE BACHER, SENIOR REPORTER, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: So I wanted a little more clearly to follow up on (inaudible). Is there anything more you can say? Was this actually targeted or not? Do you have anything?

NANOS: That's why we have the FBI to look at those areas where there may have been a target. Maybe it is a kidnapping.

[14:05:00]

But no, we don't have anything to rule that out or to say it is.

BACHER: And as far as the ransom notes, there was a part in there about Bitcoin. Are you looking into that now investigating?

JANKE: Yes, that's part of the investigation.

BACHER: Can you go in and elaborate any further if you found anything or if there's any ties or any suspects tied to that Bitcoin?

JANKE: There is not at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Associated Press, Sejal Govindarao. SEJAL GOVINDARAO, REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Hi, sir. Just a follow- up to a prior question.

NANOS: You're Joe?

GOVINDARAO: I'm sorry?

NANOS: You're Joe?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Govindarao.

NANOS: Oh, I thought you said Joe. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a follow-up to a prior question. You had said early in the investigation that authorities don't believe Nancy Guthrie was targeted. Why don't authorities think that Nancy Guthrie was targeted?

NANOS: Who said that?

GOVINDARAO: You had said that early in the investigation.

NANOS: Boy, if I said, I absolutely bespoke. I don't -- I've never thought she was or wasn't targeted. We've always believed that that is certainly a possibility. You'd be silly not to think that. Somebody disappears in the middle of the night out of their home, you can understand where I'm coming from. But, no, if I said that, obviously, I misspoke or maybe somebody misheard me. But I've never believed that she was or was not a target.

GOVINDARAO: Is there anything more specific you can say about what you believe (inaudible) at this time?

NANOS: Motive is always going to be a question. And we'll know more as we go what that motive is. But right now, my guesswork is as good as yours.

GOVINDARAO: And can you tell me --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then we also have -- the final one will be from KBOA right here in Tucson, Monica Garcia.

MONICA GARCIA, REPORTER, KVOA-TV TUCSON: OK, so let's talk about that 5 p.m. You say 5 p.m. deadline today. Is that the deadline of maybe that's where FBI is?

JANKE: Yes.

GARCIA: Can you just give us some sound on that? Because that's a big deal that's within hours, about that 5 p.m. deadline per the ransom note.

JANKE: We are on it (ph).

GARCIA: And then what's supposed to happen after that? JANKE: So the ransom note that was distributed to the media did make a demand for 5 p.m. today. And if a transfer wasn't made, then I think a second demand was for next Monday. We're not going to go beyond that -- the ransom note that the media received.

GARCIA: Did it indicate what would happen if they didn't meet that ransom?

JANKE: We're not going to go into those specifics. Thank you.

NANOS: 5 p.m. Eastern? I'm sorry. I know that's not (ph) Arizona? It was 5 p.m.? I don't know.

JANKE: It was 5 p.m.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then, sorry about that, Inside Edition, Jim Murray.

JIM MURRAY, REPORTER, INSIDE EDITION: Special Agent Janke, given the fact that the FBI participated in the creation of this family video, does that suggest your belief that the author or authors of that ransom note in fact have Nancy Guthrie?

JANKE: Again, we are taking the ransom note serious, and we are following that part of the investigation.

MURRAY: And does the fact that there is a ransom note suggest to you that Nancy Guthrie was taken specifically because she's Savannah's mom?

JANKE: There's nothing to indicate that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you guys so much for all of your questions. The sheriff does have just one more note about what happens next here, or what doesn't happen next.

NANOS: Well, what happens for us is we're going to continue working. For you, though, I hope this worked out well for you. But right now, I have no plans to schedule any further press conferences unless we have some real evidence or something to bring up to you. It's pretty pointless to just keep hounding the same things over and over.

And as SAC, Special Agent in Charge Janke said, please give us some space, and that's not just physical space. Give us some space, give my team some time, because these things do take time, and they are difficult. And everybody out there is really working hard, and mistakes are going to be made. And if I made them mea culpa, it won't be the first mistake I've ever made. But more important than me is we want Nancy back. That's the key. OK?

So thank you very much, and thank you for your concern in this.

JANKE: Thank you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right, we're hearing there from Chief Nanos of Pima County. He says, we believe Nancy is still out there. And we learned quite a lot from the chief and from the FBI Special Agent in Charge there. They said that that blood that was found just outside of the front door of her home, they have tested that for DNA and confirmed that that is Nancy Guthrie's.

[14:10:00]

That's the only DNA specimen that they have received back at this time. There are other ones that they are testing, but they haven't received back. And on the issue of suspects, they haven't identified a suspect or person of interest in this case. But also, twice they went back to this idea of a prime suspect. They haven't considered a -- they don't have anyone they would consider a prime suspect.

And just a timeline that really told us so much, right?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah, a lot of detail on this timeline. It begins essentially Saturday at about 5:30 p.m. when Nancy goes to a local family home. Apparently she was picked up by an Uber driver. Officials have interviewed that driver. She gets back home at about 9:48 p.m. The garage door opens. At 9:50, the garage door closes.

And then at 1:47 a.m., the doorbell camera to Nancy Guthrie's home is disconnected. Now, officials would not go into detail about how that came about. The sheriff there seemed to dispel the notion that cameras were destroyed. Notably, he said that at 2:12 a.m., software detected a person on camera. He said it may even be an animal. So it's not confirmed whether it was --

KEILAR: They don't have the video.

SANCHEZ: They don't actually have the video in part because he says the family didn't have a subscription on those cameras. And so, the footage itself was reset. They were incapable of actually gathering it. Aside from that, the FBI announcing a $50,000 reward in the case. 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie remains missing now. And there's a lot more to get to.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more details.

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[14:16:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANOS: At this time, we have not identified a suspect or a person of interest in this case. We are working our best to do that. But to be clear, we have nobody of interest or any suspects that you would consider a prime suspect. We're just not there. We're not there yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That was the Sheriff of Pima County, Chris Nanos, going over details. A number of details in that press briefing just a moment ago about the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie on a number of different levels.

You had details about the DNA that was discovered outside the home, about footage that was not gathered by security cameras, also important details about this alleged ransom note, this purported ransom note that officials are basing themselves off of.

They essentially say that there was a demand for some action to be taken by 5:00 p.m. today, and if it didn't happen, there was a call for a separate action by next Monday. A lot of questions still to be answered as officials try to piece together what evidence they do have.

KEILAR: Yeah, but there wasn't a communications protocol.

SANCHEZ: Right.

KEILAR: It was interesting hearing them talk about how that's not normally, in a kidnapping, they're saying -- and actually, let's bring in CNN's John Miller to talk a little bit about this. We also have Josh Schirard, who's a former SWAT Team Commander, and Mary Ellen O'Toole, former FBI Special Agent.

I wonder, John, first off, a couple things. $50,000 reward being announced here, it seems like that could make a difference, just this surge of resources coming in, digital investigators, you know, a team from Quantico.

But also, what we spoke to there about the ransom note, of there not being this way to communicate with the kidnappers, and they're saying that that's unusual in a kidnapping.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's a real challenge for them in that this is a one-way set of communications, and it's not a set of communications with the family. It's a set of communications that travels through the cutout of three different media organizations on the idea that it will find its way to authorities and then the family.

What they're trying to establish, and one of the messages that the FBI's Heith Janke put out today, the Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Division, was we need that communication to start between whosoever the person or persons who are holding Nancy Guthrie and the family. They need to make that a two-way communication.

The deadline that they referred to is five o'clock tonight. They mentioned another deadline on Monday. Why are there two deadlines? It suggests that they've asked for a large amount of money and that they want a certain amount by the end of today and perhaps another amount Monday. That's the suggestion.

But it means the clock is ticking not just because of her medical condition but also because of their demands, and one thing is to say, if you're on that time clock, you've got to reach out. We need that proof of life.

The other thing to do is to push past that deadline and say we're not going to do anything until we are actually in communication, we know you have her, and we know she's alive. So, we're at a very critical period here.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Proof of life, which investigators say they don't currently have. That's something that they are seeking. Let's go to CNN's Ed Lavandera, who was at that press briefing and was asking questions.

Ed, a lot of notable details. What stood out to you?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT : Yeah, a lot.

[14:20:00]

I mean, clearly, there's a ramp up in the amount of support that the local sheriff's department here is getting in terms of what they're doing. They talked a lot about the action that we saw last night at the home of Nancy Guthrie and the investigative work that's being done there, apparently to give FBI investigators another look at the property and where all of this unfolded.

And the very specific timeline about how all of this and when all of this unfolded. So clearly, in that 1:45 a.m. early Sunday morning to about 2:30 a.m. really seems to be the crux of whatever happened in that home. Investigators seem very confident that this is the moment where this abduction took place.

Now, that can help maybe people out in the public. Obviously, they're hoping that in that amount of time, if you live in that area, you know how to pinpoint a specific time if you're still trying to go through video and that sort of thing. But what we did not see here is, any kind of presentation of a car or a partial license plate that has been captured.

And it kind of speaks, I think, Boris, to what we have been talking about for several days out here, is just given the landscape of that neighborhood, the difficulty that door cameras and neighborhood cameras were going to have in capturing everything, especially around 2:30 in the morning in the darkness.

KEILAR: Yeah. And Josh Schirard, former SWAT Team Commander, bringing you into this conversation. What stood out to you about that press conference?

JOSH SCHIRARD, FORMER SWAT TEAM COMMANDER: You know, there are definitely a couple of things. One, the release of the deadline, and obviously, that brings things to a precipice. And that's going to be the next question, is what will be the next step? If we don't hear anything after the deadline, or will there be more reaching out to whoever is involved in order to try to re-establish any kind of communication as well?

And the other is the timeline as well from the video inside the house. You know, we have a very, very, you know, succinct time period that we know that something occurred now. But that 30 minutes, 45 minutes from the time that the camera was disconnected, which definitely tells us somebody didn't want you knowing what was going on in between that time frame, until the time that they saw some sort of movement outside and then her pacemaker disconnecting.

So this really gives us kind of an established, you know, at least something to go on, on her actions late that night. And then, we couple that with the blood that has been confirmed as hers on that stoop. And we even take a little closer, deeper look at that blood and realize that some of that looks like it dropped straight down. It could have been from an injury. It could have been from a weapon.

But then some of that blood, in my experience, appears aspirated, like it was a fine mist, maybe coughed up. So, really taking a look at this blood pattern analysis to see what could that have come from to try to help piece together that timeline and really give us an insight and look into Nancy's actions in those last minutes when we believe she was at the house.

SANCHEZ: Let's go to Mary Ellen O'Toole. Mary, what do you make of all these details we're gathering?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: Well, I think they are all very critical. And the information, the assessment about the blood spatter is excellent because that can give a picture of what happened.

And the one thing that struck me, there were many things, but I paid particular attention to a piece of information that they had to correct today. And that was there was no evidence of forced entry into the home. And yet, that was something that they had discussed several days ago. And that makes a big difference.

And so, for the profilers on the case, I think what they're going to do is to go back and say, what was Nancy's pattern in securing her home at night? Was she -- did she check the doors and the windows? Or did she sometimes just say, oh, what the heck? This is a safe neighborhood. I don't have to lock the doors.

That becomes critical because if the offender did not have to force their way inside that home, then how did they get inside? And that, again, with her being a very low-risk victim, she didn't live a life of crime, in a very low-risk environment, it was her home in a nice neighborhood and no forced entry, then, again, the circle of suspects, at least in my experience as a profiler and working kidnappings, that really shortens the list of possible suspects.

Again, you're looking at low-risk victim, low-risk environment, and no forced entry, really brings in a tight circle around who they could be looking at.

KEILAR: Mary Ellen, I want to ask you about something, though, because something stood out to me about that, which is -- and I wrote a note to myself as that was being said.

[14:25:00]

Also, the issue of -- he used similar language on the cameras being smashed or destroyed around the house and the forced entry. He said on the forced entry, I have no clue where that comes from. We are not discussing that. I have no idea where anyone got that information. He doesn't though, Mary Ellen, explicitly say it isn't true.

And he also, on that, the cameras being smashed or destroyed around the house, he's not saying that it's false, right? And I wonder if that stood out to you because as they're pointing to this alert from one of the cameras, of there being a person, they're not saying that they even know which camera it came from.

I don't know what you gleaned from that, if it might be coming just from the notifications that pop up on a phone, for instance, and sort of what you made of, even for his language of, he seemed to kind of correct himself on the idea of a suspect. At this time, we have not identified a suspect or a person of interest in this case.

And then he said, we have nobody you would consider a prime suspect, so let's stop there, he said. Some questions about his semantics, I would say.

O'TOOLE: Yes, and they become confusing because if it's a person of interest, I think he's distinguishing that from a prime suspect, which is fine. But if you want to distinguish them, I think that has to be clear. So a person of interest may be just someone that you're looking at, whereas a prime suspect is somebody you're really focused on.

So -- and the whole idea about the cameras, maybe it was an animal, but I can't say. At some point, clarifying that really does become critical, because what you do want to do, again, is solicit information from the public. But you also want to -- the offender is watching the press conferences. They are listening to everything.

So, you want to put out messaging that is directed to the offender in terms of you are totally on top of this investigation. You know what happened. And sometimes when you come across with messages that aren't as precise, that may not be the message that you want to communicate.

Again, we know offenders will listen to the FBI and the Sheriff's Department to glean information about how close are they to me. Do they have any information that could lead them to me? So being precise is really important.

SANCHEZ: That is a really fascinating perspective. Thank you all for being with us. Before we go to break, we do want to play some sound for you from White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who spoke about the Nancy Guthrie case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I apologize for the delay. The president and I were watching the press conference about the search for Savannah Guthrie's mother, which is just a heartbreaking situation. The president, as you all know, spoke directly with Savannah yesterday and told her that the federal government is here to help. Any requests that are made by state and local officials in the search of Ms. Guthrie will absolutely be accommodated.

I spoke with the FBI directly about that today as well. And our hearts and our prayers are with Savannah and her entire family as they search for her dear mother. I also --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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