Authorities in Arizona have issued a plea for online amateur investigators to stop posting unverified information about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie. The case has attracted significant attention on social media since she was believed to be taken against her will from her home near Tucson a week ago.
Posts on platforms including Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook and YouTube have featured tips, theories and even videos of people walking through the neighbourhood. Some shared photos of blood found on her front porch, later confirmed to match Guthrie, while others accused individuals connected to the case of acting suspiciously. The posts have garnered millions of views but have also fuelled rumours.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos explicitly stated that the department has no suspects or persons of interest, directly countering a claim reported by NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield that a family member was a prime suspect. “I plead with you to be careful of what it is we put out there… You could actually be doing some damage to the case, you could do some damage to the individual,” Nanos said during a news conference.
Experts offered mixed assessments of the online activity. Michael Alcazar, a retired New York Police Department detective and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the positives outweigh the negatives, comparing it to the widespread response to Gabby Petito’s disappearance. However, Calvin Chrustie, a negotiation specialist with 30 years of experience in kidnapping and ransom cases, argued that pure speculation on social media makes it “more difficult for the families and more difficult for the police to secure the safe return of the hostage.”
Julie Urquhart, an elementary school teacher from New Brunswick, Canada, has been posting updates based on news conferences and national reports. One of her videos on TikTok and Instagram reached over 4 million views. “That’s 4 million eyes that now saw that story and now maybe will see something or know something,” she said. Police have asked the public to rely only on official sources to avoid hindering the investigation.
