The mystery surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance has taken an even darker turn, with a private investigator now suggesting the 84-year-old may have been swept up in a terrifying crime that escalated fast.
Lisa Ribacoff-Mooney, a polygraph expert and owner of Interpoint Investigative Services, believes what may have started as a simple break-in could have spiraled into something far more sinister.
“I think that this was a burglary gone wrong that resulted in a kidnapping,” she said.
According to Ribacoff-Mooney, there is a possibility Nancy was not initially the intended target because of her connection to daughter Savannah Guthrie’s fame. Instead, she suspects the home may have been chosen for a routine burglary before the situation suddenly escalated.
The investigator theorized that Nancy may have tried to identify herself during the frightening encounter, possibly revealing who she was and mentioning her daughter in hopes the intruders would back off. But instead of fleeing, the suspect or suspects may have seen an opportunity for something even bigger.
That chilling possibility has only added to the agony surrounding the case, which has now dragged on for nearly two months with no sign of Nancy.
Ribacoff-Mooney has also warned that if the case ended in the worst possible way, finding Nancy could become exponentially harder for investigators.
“It is looking for a needle in a haystack,” she said, noting that if a victim is moved by car or any other form of transportation, they may not even remain in the same state where the crime first unfolded.
The emotional toll has been written all over Savannah Guthrie, who stepped away from her duties on Today in the aftermath of her mother’s disappearance. Over the past several weeks, she has used social media to plead for answers, sharing heartbreaking messages and videos as the desperate search continues.
Now back on television for her first major interview since the ordeal began, Savannah gave a gut-wrenching glimpse into her family’s pain.
“We are in agony. It is unbearable,” she said in a preview of the sit-down. “I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night. And in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought. And I will not hide my face. But she needs to come home now.”
Nancy was last seen on the night of January 31 after dinner with her daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni. Alarm bells went off the next day when she failed to show up for a planned church livestream gathering and loved ones could not reach her.
When authorities searched her Catalina Foothills home, they found her phone, wallet, medication and car keys still inside — a disturbing sign that she likely did not leave on her own. Blood discovered on the porch and driveway only intensified fears that something violent had happened.
Even more haunting were the doorbell camera images later released by the FBI, showing a masked man near the property who appeared to be carrying a weapon.
So far, the suspect has not been identified, and Nancy remains missing.
With no arrests, no clear answers and a family still living in what Savannah described as unbearable agony, the disappearance has only grown more haunting by the day.
If you want, I can also make this even more explosive and tabloid-heavy, closer to pure Radar style.
