Today show host Savannah Guthrie's 85-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, was kidnapped from her bed in the early morning hours of February 1, 2026. Fortunately, FBI and local Arizona investigators now say the Nest camera footage has been recovered.
Although Nancy did not have a subscription to the Nest cam service, the camera recorded images because the armed kidnapper forcibly removed it from the door. Longtime private investigator Andy Kay informed Page Six that this act helped authorities to obtain the valuable footage.
“The cameras will record to the servers as long as they have internet,” Kay explained. “According to Nest, without a subscription, usually they are quickly overwritten by next images. But if the camera is disconnected, there should be nothing to overwrite on the server."
This mean that since the camera was disconnected, the footage from the night of Nancy's kidnapping was preserved. The kidnapper is seen wearing a balaclava, but not obscuring his eyes with night glasses, leading Kay to describe him as a "rookie."
He was also carrying a backpack, and Kay says if he had been there to rob the million-dollar home, he would have been carrying large bags instead.
On Tuesday, authorities detailed their efforts over the past eight days: "The FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home that may have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible due to a variety of factors — including the removal of recording devices was recovered from residual data located in backend systems."
The statement continued: “Working with our partners — as of this morning, law enforcement has 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. Anyone with information, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI, 520-351-4900, 88-CRIME or visit tips.fbi.gov. We do not have any further information to share at this time."
The video and photos were released on Tuesday and are shown above. In one of the photos, the perpetrator is seen holding up a plant he pulled from the garden to try to obscure his face as he removed the camera. DNA evidence has been collected from inside the home and authorities have taken DNA swabs from people who worked around Nancy Guthrie’s home to rule them out -- or identify a suspect. Nancy and her daughter Annie had taken an Uber home from dinner at Annie's house, and the FBI has questioned the driver.
The kidnapper(s) demanded a ransom of $6 million in cryptocurrency, which has not yet been paid.
Earlier this week, a man was detained for questioning, but has since been released.
Following the release of the video and images on Tuesday, Savannah issued a statement on Instagram, pleading for her mother's safe return. “We believe she is still alive. Bring her home,” she wrote, adding, “Someone out there recognizes this person. We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.” ~Alexandra Heilbron