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Chapter 1: What happened in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie?
You guys came here in the 70s and you'd been moving all around. What made you want to stay in Tucson and Aunt Ruth's? It's so wonderful. Just the air, the quality of life. Play back and gentle. Yeah, I like to watch the javelina eat my plants.
But the best thing about Tucson is coming home and seeing you guys. Should we raise a glass? Prickly pear margarita? Cheers. Cheers. Love you. Love you. That was Nancy Guthrie speaking to her daughter Savannah in her last appearance on the Today Show before she was reported missing on Sunday. And that is our main story of the week.
Nancy is the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, a household name for many of us in the States, whose face millions of Americans wake up to every morning. At the time of this recording on Wednesday, here's everything we know so far. Nancy was last seen around 9.45 p.m. on Saturday. She was reported missing after she didn't show up to church the next morning.
A key digital clue has narrowed down the timeline. Her pacemaker stopped syncing with her Apple Watch around 2 a.m. on Sunday. The watch was found inside of the home. Police say Nancy is mentally sharp but physically frail. She needs daily medication to survive and was taken without it.
Investigators are examining alleged Bitcoin ransom notes sent to TMZ and a former hostage negotiator says the evidence may suggest more than one person was involved. The FBI is assisting and police say all leads are being followed. But as of now, there is no suspect and no person of interest. Savannah Guthrie said in part in a statement on Instagram, please pray.
Now, senior investigative reporter Steve Helling joins us to break this down in detail. We'll also bring you the verdict in the Brandon Banfield case and the charge against Jill Biden's ex-husband accused of murdering his wife. This is The Trial USA. I'm Kayla Brantley. We'll be back in just a moment with our main story. I'm joined now by senior reporter of the Daily Mail, Steve Helling.
Steve, you have been covering this case since it broke. And I really want to start with a timeline. We know that Nancy Guthrie was last seen Saturday night. What have we learned since then? If you could walk us through Saturday night.
Well, Saturday night was a normal night. Nobody thought anything weird. She went out. She came back with the family. They dropped her off at her house, and she went inside, which is exactly what you would expect. She was supposed to go to church the next morning, and Nancy Guthrie was a very regular churchgoer. She never missed a service unless she was sick. And she didn't show.
And so members of the church were actually nervous that something, you know, she's an 84 year old woman who, you know, could get sick or whatever. So they contacted the family and Savannah Guthrie's sister went and checked. And that's when we started seeing that there were signs of something wrong. And, you know, the police were called and that began this whole thing.
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Chapter 2: What evidence was found at Nancy Guthrie's home?
But 2 a.m. it synced and then it didn't sync after that. So at some point after 2 a.m. she was taken from...
away from the house that she that she's in and you know the other thing is um what does that mean and that there's that's a big question that you know cops are asking and so forth is it that she's far away from her devices is that what it is or is it that the heart isn't beating it could be either and you know um that is obviously going to make everybody really nervous
We're hoping that all it means is that she was taken away from proximity from her Apple Watch. That's what we're hoping.
A lot of theories have been swirling around, and I think it's important to talk about her daughter, Savannah Guthrie. This is why the story has gained such national attention, because she is the mother of someone who's very popular and very famous. She is a journalist, a well-respected journalist, but it's someone that you turn on your TV every morning and watch and kind of feel like you know.
So can you just talk us through who Savannah Guthrie is and her relationship with her mother, Nancy?
Well, Savannah Guthrie is, of course, one of the hosts of The Today Show. She's been there for several years now, you know, and she has a devoted following. One thing that people don't necessarily realize is that these morning show people tend to have a really strong following because they're in your home every day. You see them every day.
They're kind of getting you ready in the morning as you're going to go off to work. So people get really attached to, you know... the people from Today Show or Good Morning America or whatever. And, you know, Savannah was no different. I think, you know, she is smiley and bubbly and very pleasant, you know, on air. And I think a lot of people feel like they know her and they feel like...
That there there's some sort of familiarity there. So one thing that Savannah Guthrie has going for her that maybe some other newscasters don't have is this level of not just trust, but, you know, like people like her people like. are attracted to her and want to hear what she has to say, and they care about her.
And she's never been shy about talking about her family or her life or that type of thing. She will talk about it on air if it makes sense at the time to do it. So people kind of know her. They did a segment at one point about hometowns where they introduced her mother. So Savannah Guthrie is... Somebody with a really high favorability rating.
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Chapter 3: How did investigators determine this case is a crime scene?
William Stevenson, he's 77 years old, is now being held in custody in Delaware after being charged with first degree murder in the death of his wife, Linda Stevenson, who was found unresponsive at the Wilmington home late last year. Police were called to the house just after 11 p.m. following reports of a domestic dispute. Despite lifesaving efforts, Linda was pronounced dead.
Authorities have not yet released an official cause of death and no motive has been made public. William Stevenson was previously married to Dr. Jill Biden in the early 1970s when she was a college student. They divorced in 1975 before she later married Joe Biden in 1977.
In the past, Stevenson had previously claimed that Jill Biden had an affair with Joe Biden, but representatives have strongly denied those claims. As for what happens next, the case now moves into the pretrial phase. Stevenson remains jailed after failing to post a $500,000 cash bail, and prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin filing motions and preparing for a potential trial.
First degree murder is the most serious charge under Delaware law and carries the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted. Jill Biden has not commented publicly on the charges and future updates are now expected to come from the courtroom. We have an update on the Brandon Banfield murder case. He has been found guilty of murdering his wife.
A jury in Virginia has delivered the verdict in the case of the father accused of orchestrating his wife's murder and killing a stranger to cover it up. Prosecutors said the plan was chilling. Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, lured an unsuspecting stranger to his home as a fall guy, then staged the killing to look like self-defense.
Jurors found him guilty on all major counts, including two counts of aggravated murder, using a firearm in a felony and child endangerment. The prosecutors argued Banfield wanted a life with the family's Brazilian au pair with whom he was having an affair.
To make that happen, they said he and the au pair impersonated his wife online using a BDSM site to lure Joseph Ryan to the house under the guise of a sexual fantasy. When Ryan arrived, prosecutors said Banfield shot him, then stabbed his wife, Christine Banfield, and tried to frame Ryan as the attacker.
The au pair later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and testified against Banfield, describing the plan in detail. Banfield denied this plot, but after two days of deliberations, the jury rejected his version of events. He now faces the possibility of life in prison with sentencing scheduled for May 8th. That's all for this week. Thank you for joining. I'm Kayla Brantley, and this is The Trial USA.
We'll be back next week. See you then.
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