Rotten Mango
Kidnapping Of 84-Yr-Old Nancy Guthrie: Who's The Man In Camera? EVERYTHING We Know So Far
08 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What happened on February 1st, 2026, regarding Nancy Guthrie?
Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boo. February 9th, 2026. A shelter in place alert goes out to all of the local residents. Not only should you shelter in place, aka get inside and don't go outside, but also you need to urgently turn off the air conditioning in the building for the time being. This is Tucson, Arizona. February 9th, 2026, it's a little hot, a high of 84 that day.
It's actually unusually hot for this early on in February, but that is besides the point. The point is stay inside, turn off your AC unit. If you really must peek outside your window and you're really unlucky, you've got sweat dripping down your nose and you see this outside, a dark swirling cloud just floating around and it's moving fast, going left, going right.
It doesn't really have a strong sense of direction. It looks unpredictable. If you decide to peek open the window to hear what's going on, it's like this humming noise. Just like a strong, powerful, overwhelming buzz. It's a bee swarm. There isn't exactly a number count of how many bees there were. It's not like the bees are lining up to a census.
However, a typical swarm is documented to have tens of thousands of bees. And these ones in Arizona, they're called killer bees. They tend to be a bit temperamental. They will attack in greater numbers with less provocation. They could just decide that they don't like you and they will chase you a quarter of a mile if they see you as a threat. Even if you're begging them to stop.
Bee swarms typically happen when bees are looking for a new hive. Maybe they need to upgrade their space or their hive is now soaked in pesticide. It really depends. Or sometimes the big bee colonies, they'll split into two. So one queen bee leaves with half the colony while the new queen bee takes over the old hive.
regardless of the reason it is best not to be around the bee swarm also you have to turn off the ac because bees when they're looking for a new hive they love anything that has a little bit of moisture and has vibration which is an ac unit so then they'll try to make a hive in your ac unit and god forbid those bees get sucked into your house now they're pissed off they just went on a tumultuous turbulent ride and they have no escape not great things are gonna happen in that situation
It's not going to end well for you, the bees, or the AC maintenance guy. Thankfully, the bee swarm in Tucson, Arizona is contained.
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Chapter 2: Why is the FBI involved in Nancy Guthrie's case?
The shelter in place is removed, but that's not the only swarm Tucson is dealing with. On the other side of Tucson, there is a completely different swarm taking place.
they call it tent city it's like an rv show but with tents it almost feels weird because it's like an entire street in a residential neighborhood has been sectioned off they've got tents lined up it's like they're trying to sell tents that's the feeling it's just tent after tent after tent all lined up if someone was in the market for tents it almost seems like the perfect place to walk down the street and see which tent is holding up in the arizona sun the best
But Tent City is not a real tent selling street. It's just a gathering of tents. Dozens of tents set up on the side of a residential road staying all day, all night. There are people underneath full makeup studio lights. Typically next to each tent is an SUV, blacked out windows, one or two people hiding inside away from the heat, someone on a phone call.
It seems like all the tents are here for a specific house on the street and they're all facing it. They're parked as close as they can get to this house, setting up their tents, filming, recording the house. The house itself from drone footage looks more like a compound, but that could just be the type of homes in this area. It's Arizona, it's in the mountains. It looks isolated.
The house is surrounded by cactuses that are two stories tall. And it's all one floor. It's a ranch-style home. It looks like a government building. It's just red brick buildings with an arched doorway to the front porch, glass windows all around. Architecturally, I mean, I know nothing, but it does look beautiful. But the tents are not here to appreciate craftsmanship.
They're all waiting for something weird to happen. And they don't have to wait that long. A lot of weird things are happening in Tent City. A woman arrives in front of the tents, in front of the red brick house, and she's just sobbing, breaking down. Another woman claimed that she had a vision of what happened and it led her to the red brick house.
There are four to five foreign men and you have to look for a basement. Fortify for men? Yeah. Just a vision. Just a feeling that she got.
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Chapter 3: What unusual events occurred outside Nancy Guthrie's home?
And then a woman comes wearing a super short black crop top that just covers her chest. Short mini shorts with big black boots. I mean, the outfit is very reminiscent of what Kanye's wife, Bianca Sensori, would wear. She's seen taking photos, posing in front of the tents outside of this big red brick house. Some people are shouting at her from the tents, embarrassing!
And she's like flicking them off. What is she doing? She's like posing. She's having a desert photo shoot in front of the tents, in front of the house. It's just a mess over in Tent City. That, of course, mixed with the constant presence of SUVs with tinted windows and yellow do not cross tape that keeps going up and down, up and down, taken up, taken down, taken up, taken down.
There's helicopters circling this red brick house. There are people camping out in the trees like they're practicing guerrilla warfare, but all they have is a super zoom lens camera in their hands and they're taking pictures. Everybody's in a tent and all of these people are documenting the days after Nancy Guthrie has gone missing.
Nancy Guthrie, the woman that lived in the red brick house, she's missing and they're documenting day one, day two, day three, now going on over 30 days of her being missing and of her being taken from her home. And even with a $1 million reward, the head of the FBI getting involved, Trump getting involved, there are still no solid answers.
And when there's no solid answers, people tend to start creating their own. Like, is this case a cover-up for something else? What do they not want us to know about this case? This is the case of Nancy Guthrie and all of the conspiracies, speculations, and rumors, including is this case used as a headline cover-up to bury everything else that has been happening in the U.S. ? Thank you.
We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to follow in Savannah Guthrie's footsteps and donate to NECMEC, aka the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in an effort to raise visibility and action for various missing person cases that haven't received widespread attention.
This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team And we'd also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes are available at rottenmingopodcast.com. Today's case involves mentions of kidnapping, not of minors, but of elders, which is still a very vulnerable population.
So if kidnapping elder abuse is sensitive, please watch with discretion. And a few housekeeping disclaimers.
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Chapter 4: Who are the key family members involved in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance?
Statements and quotes may be condensed for brevity and everyone is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law. All we did was try to, we tried to touch base on everything in this case as neutrally as possible.
There has been a lot of internet debate and discourse about who could be possible suspects, but I do want to mention that there have been no suspects named by any law enforcement. This is just people coming up with answers in a time when there are none. So with that being said, if you have seen anything, please call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.
So with that, let's get started. I think tall people are scary. Okay, to clarify, I think abnormally tall people are scary. I'm not even talking like humanly tall. Seven feet, eight feet, I've never met people that are that tall. But even the tallest man in history, which is close to nine feet, Robert Wadlow, I don't think he's scary. I'm talking even taller.
There is something about super tall human-like forms I think that just freak people out. It's the center of a lot of urban legends and stories. Slenderman, skinwalkers, technically Bigfoot. But even those are rarely 40 feet tall. 40 feet tall is like a four-story building.
If you're walking in a neighborhood at night and you see the shadow of a 40-foot figure with three arms sticking up into the air, I would probably scream. But I also don't live in the Catalina foothills, and I've never seen a saguaro cactus. These cactuses... are huge. They're 40 feet tall and they look kind of human in the night.
And Tucson, Arizona is a very unique place where they have anti-light pollution ordinances in place. So they don't let you have bright city lights or even in the suburbs, you can't have those really bright lights that light up your driveway, light up the outside exterior of your home. Really? Yeah, so it's dark. Is it to protect the wildlife or?
No, there's, I mean, Tucson is known for just beautiful astronomy. Oh, I see. So you can go there and the sky is stunning, but it's not bright that it's just like reflecting everything onto the street.
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Chapter 5: What theories are circulating about Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping?
There's no street lights in most residential areas. It's dark. And so you've got that coupled with these 40 foot tall saguaro cactuses and It's an interesting environment. The Catalina foothills specifically tend to have nicer homes. It feels kind of suburban but not suburban.
I know with this case in particular, a lot of people thought that Nancy Guthrie was just living in like a regular residential neighborhood where the houses are kind of close together, which comes to the question of why did anybody not see anything? How does that make sense? These houses are sitting on a one acre lot. You don't see your neighbors from your own house window.
If you're standing in your backyard, it's highly unlikely that you'll spot a neighbor. Even if you go to the front yard, most of the homes are so deep into the lot with a ton of cactuses and brush just like in the front. You don't even see anyone at the front door if you're driving by. It also doesn't help that there's no street lights.
And it's also very scary at times because everything in the area has thorns, cactuses that are taller than people. Everything is pokey. And it's in this neighborhood that a member of the very well-known Guthrie family is kidnapped from this red brick house. And all we have is the doorbell footage. We don't even have the doorbell. The doorbell is gone.
Whoever did this seems to have, appears to have, though it's unconfirmed. A lot of things are unconfirmed. Ripped off the doorbell and taken it with them. But before they rip off the doorbell, you see this really creepy footage. And it's at night around 2 a.m. Did someone like yank the ring doorbell off the wall? Yeah. Yeah. Google-ness, but yes. What?
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Chapter 6: What details do we know about the ransom note?
So naturally, the footage is in all black and white. The camera captures the arched brick entryway and this small porch area before you get to the front door. And there is a man, fully clothed, ski mask with just the eyes and the mouth cut out, walking up to the door. Off the bat, there are a few startling things to note in this footage. He seems to have a really full backpack on.
The backpack looks stuffed with something and probably nothing good. And then there's a gun holster right in front of his crotch, which is an odd placement. Nobody puts a gun holster right in front and center. Nobody, like nobody wears their gun like that. It's such an odd thing to do unless you really just want to look as terrifying as possible. I mean, I can't think of any other reason.
I think walking up to a woman's home dressed as such with a gun placed on the groin area would add an additional terrifying element. Side note, it is also believed that the front holster, the gun holster, was made for a longer barrel gun, but the gun that they had in was a small semi-automatic gun. So it's not even, it's not like safely secured right in front of their crotch.
He has gloves on and a flashlight inside of his mouth, and he's using that to guide himself in the dark. We know based off the footage, the suspect is around 5'9", 5'10". They have an average build. They had an Ozark Trail hiker backpack that you can buy exclusively from Walmart. He walks up to the front door. He's very casual.
He isn't constantly glancing around behind him to check if somebody is driving up or is on the road. He seems like he's at least familiar with the front door. Whether that means he's seen pictures of it, gone there before, went there last year trick-or-treating. Like, we don't know. It's just public speculation.
But it just seems like someone that has seen this door and knows exactly what to expect. Except it doesn't seem like he expects a doorbell camera. Camera. He tries to cover the Google Nest front doorbell camera with his gloved hand. So he keeps like shoving his hand in front of it.
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Chapter 7: How has social media reacted to Nancy Guthrie's case?
Okay. And then later he walks back out of the porch to go grab some foliage, some leaves, some branches, some flowers. And then he tries to shove it into the camera to cover it. And when that doesn't work, it's presumed that he just rips the camera from the door, disconnecting it entirely.
And once that footage disconnects, the only thing that the public will know soon after is that around 2 in the morning, February 1st, 2026, Nancy Guthrie, the woman living alone in that house, will be gone. And there will be droplets of blood on the ground of the front porch that are confirmed to belong to Nancy Guthrie.
The Guthrie family are very well known all over the US, but especially so in Arizona. So the family consists of Nancy and Charles Guthrie. Charles Guthrie passed away a long time ago, so it's mainly just 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie. Nancy and her husband Charles went to the University of Kentucky and that's how they met. And the two of them have three children.
Annie, Cameron, and Savannah Guthrie. Annie is a writer and a jeweler. She teaches classes, creative writing courses at the University of Arizona Poetry Center. She also has a book on the craft of jewelry making. She's married to a man named Tommaso. He's very important later. They share a young child. And I say important later because of the online discourse, not because of anything else.
Okay, so you've got Annie and her husband, Tommaso. Then you have the next child, Cameron. He is a former pilot of the Air National Guard. So he retired as an F-16 pilot. Then there's Savannah Guthrie. She is an attorney. She's also a massive TV anchor. So she previously worked at Court TV covering a lot of criminal cases. But now she's most known for being the co-host of the Today Show for NBC.
And just because everyone's partners are being, you know, poking about and brought up, Savannah was previously married to a BBC journalist, Mark Orchard. Then she divorced and remarried to a man named Michael Feldman, who is a political consultant.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the investigation into Tommaso, Annie's husband?
They also have young children. Savannah was going to be co-hosting the Olympic ceremony for NBC as a co-host for the Winter Olympics, but she could not attend because February 1st, someone kidnaps her mother. But who would want to take 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie?
I know it sounds morbid, but a lot of the conversation online was, I mean, if you had to bet money, and I know that sounds weird, but I think it just points to the confusion that people have. If you had to assume that someone was going to get kidnapped, maybe it's the one that's nationally known. Like, it just doesn't make sense.
Why would you take an elderly woman from her home when she's sleeping? What do you want from her? She can barely walk a hundred feet on her own. Now I will say that she is 84, but all reports and the Guthrie family have been steadfast in the fact that she is so mentally sharp. She's all there.
Like cognitively, she's sharp as a tack, but she does have mobility issues and she is on medications every day. And that's another thing. She can't walk on her own. She's heavily, you know, needs these medications. She has a pacemaker. This is a high risk crime. What would be the purpose? What's a pacemaker? I think it's like it helps your heart pump. Oh. Yeah.
There are a few things that almost all ransom notes have in common. And I think it can be tracked and studied by authorities because you don't see a lot of cases of kidnapping a human for ransom. But you do see a lot of cases these days of hackers sending ransom notes with threats of going public with security breaches, data, information, personal accounts.
And each ransom note has a format that it follows because ransom notes are not in the business of standing out. It's not about the stylistic word choices or the plot. It all starts with communication. It's the claim. We have something valuable, your asset in our possession, whether that's a human, whether that's data, whatever it may be. then demand, deadline, and threat.
What do they want in exchange for their claim of possession? Typically money, and more often than not, they're very specific. They don't want things to get lost in translation. They don't want it to go to some random dude because you got one number wrong in the bank account. The more a ransom maker has to contact the victims, the more chance that they're gonna get caught.
So they will tell you the exact value, payment method, how to deliver the payment, and then the deadline. They will give victims a range typically of six to 20 days as the deadline. And then it's the threat. For example, JonBenet Ramsey's ransom note read, any deviation of my instructions will result in the immediate execution of your daughter.
Speaking to anyone about your situation, such as police, FBI, will result in your daughter being beheaded. If we catch you talking to a stray dog, she dies. Ransom notes used to be handwritten, but nowadays most ransom notes are in the form of an email sent to the victims or the targets, the ones with the money. Except in Nancy's case, it just gets strange.
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