Nancy Guthrie Motive Involving Savannah Finally Identified—They Wanted to Make the ‘Haunted’ Host ‘Suffer’
Nancy Guthrie has been missing for several months, and police have yet to name a suspect or motive. Many forensic experts and criminal profilers have shared their thoughts on the case, and even revealed a few theories regarding the reason for Guthrie’s alleged kidnapping.
In the TV special NewsNation Presents: The Nancy Guthrie Mystery, which aired on May 6 on The CW, host Brian Entin met with leading analysts to examine the evidence and discuss the ongoing investigation.
When asked about a potential motive, forensic nurse Dr. Ann Burgess—who’s work inspired Netflix’s hit series Mindhunter—said it reportedly all leads back to Guthrie’s daughter, Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.
Related: Chilling Nancy Guthrie ‘Revenge’ Theory Backed by Ex-FBI
“Well, the motive—first you want to always ask who’s suffering the most of this, who is hurt the most?” she explained on the program. “And in this case, it doesn’t have to be the mother. It could be somebody in the family. Somebody— Savannah.”
Dr. Burgess claimed that the suspect might’ve wanted to see Savannah “suffer,” and criminologist Dr. Casey Jordan added that Savannah’s completely “haunted by that” notion.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Gary Brucato suggested that the suspect may have even targeted Savannah’s 84-year-old mother to be associated with the Today show personality forever.
“What happens when you target a celebrity or somebody tied to them is that forever, you look in the encyclopedia, you know, you look up the well-known person, the name of the offender targeted at them is attached in eternity, in perpetuity,” Brucato said. “You can’t look up Abraham Lincoln without seeing John Wilkes Booth.”
He continued, “And so, you get this parasite quality that also can happen with some of these people. And I wonder also about that, that if attention seeking and resentment of somebody’s notoriety is not embedded somehow in the story.”
In late March 2026, during her first interview since her mother’s disappearance, Savannah admitted she feared she might be to blame for everything that happened.
She recalled asking her brother, Camron, whether she was somehow at fault for the alleged abduction, and he said it was possible.
“I hope not. I mean, we still don’t know,” she told Hoda Kotb. “Honestly, we don’t know anything. We don’t know anything.”
Savannah continued, “I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl—that lady has money, we can make a quick buck.’ I mean, that would make sense, but we don’t know. But yeah, that’s probably … which is too much to bear. To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me? And I just say I’m so sorry, mommy. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law. I’m just so sorry. I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry.”
