Things About Savannah Guthrie's Mom Nancy's Kidnapping That Aren't Adding Up

Tragedy struck "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie when her mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing and was believed to be kidnapped. Nancy had been dropped off at her home on January 31, and there was odd activity that night: Both the apps for her home camera system and her pacemaker were disabled. Alarm bells were raised on February 1 when Nancy did not attend church. Initially, there were conflicting reports, as Nancy was not expected to physically attend church. For several years, she had livestreamed church service at a friend's, according to People, but she did not show up that morning.

The case, which is one of the biggest tragedies to hit a member of the "Today" cast, became muddled when a ransom note was sent to TMZ and other news outlets on February 3, two days after Nancy's disappearance. In the note, the supposed kidnappers demanded $6 million in Bitcoin, and they gave a deadline of February 9. "They say, 'It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible,'" TMZ founder Harvey Levin read from the note while appearing on CNN on the day of the deadline.

However, some experts were "skeptical" about the veracity of the ransom note. A day before its deadline, former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker explained why he did not believe Nancy's kidnappers made the demand. "If this was a kidnapping, it would be a very simple matter to authenticate and provide proof of life," Swecker said during a Fox News appearance on February 8, adding he believed a "third party" was involved. "You have to allow for the possibility that this was something more or something other than a kidnapping," Swecker said. He was not the only expert who had doubts about the kidnappers.

While some debated whether the ransom note for Savannah Guthrie's mother was legitimate, another expert shared a wholly different theory about Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. "I don't think she was kidnapped. We would've heard," veteran homicide detective Paul Ciolino told the New York Post on February 9 — only hours before the deadline laid out on the ransom note. Ciolino was bothered by the alleged kidnappers neglecting to offer proof of life, or any type of proof that they held Nancy. "No one's called up and said, 'Hey, where is my money?' That hasn't happened, for the simple reason, is nobody has kidnapped her," said the detective, who has offered his expertise on other televised cases. There were also other elements of the case that didn't sit right with Ciolino. "The total lack of forensic evidence of anyone being in that house, of grabbing her, is another clue she wasn't kidnapped," he added.

Meanwhile, Savannah took the demands in the notes provided to news outlets seriously. On February 9, before the deadline hit, she was nearly in tears as she issued a plea to the public to aid in the safe return of her mother. "We believe our mom is still out there. ... She was taken, and we don't know where," she said on Instagram Live as she asked people around the nation to alert authorities if they had any information about her mother's whereabouts. "We are at an hour of desperation," she added.

The deadline came and went, and, at the time of this writing, no word has been heard from the kidnappers, which has caused some folks online to question whether Nancy was actually kidnapped, a fate that has befallen a few celebrities.