Scammers are trying to cash in on the disappearance of an 84-year-old woman, and the sheriff investigating her case wants the public to know: every single one of those fundraisers is fake.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos warned the public not to give money to fundraising campaigns tied to the search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie. In a statement posted on social media, Nanos asserted that no fundraisers or GoFundMe campaigns are associated with the search.
"Billboard displays are funded through official channels. Any claims suggesting otherwise are fraudulent and will be investigated accordingly."
As reported by People, the warning lands nearly two months into a case that has produced no suspect, no arrest, and no resolution for a family living through what Savannah Guthrie herself described, through tears, as unbearable agony.
What happened to Nancy Guthrie
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31, when she was dropped off at her Tucson home following dinner with family members. Authorities believe she was taken against her will sometime in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
Investigators released surveillance footage from Guthrie's doorbell camera showing a masked man outside the door of the home. Nearly two months later, a suspect has still not been identified.
Both authorities and the Guthrie family have offered a reward, though details on the amount or terms have not been made public. The FBI is involved, and anyone with information has been directed to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
A family's anguish goes public
Savannah Guthrie recently sat down with her co-host Hoda Kotb for her first interview since her mother's disappearance. The interview is set to air on Thursday, March 26, and Friday, March 27.
Her words were plain and devastating: "Someone needs to do the right thing." "We are in agony. We are in agony. It is unbearable."
There is no spin required to feel the weight of that. An elderly woman vanished from her own home in the middle of the night, and her daughter is begging the public for help on national television. That is the reality of this case.
Predators follow tragedy
It is one of the grimmer features of modern life that high-profile tragedies attract grifters as reliably as they attract media attention. A missing person case generates public sympathy, and public sympathy generates donations. The formula is simple, and the people who exploit it are counting on emotional generosity outrunning basic skepticism.
Sheriff Nanos did the right thing by getting ahead of it publicly. Fraudulent fundraising campaigns don't just steal money. They erode the trust that investigators and families depend on to keep the public engaged. Every dollar sent to a scammer is a dollar that didn't go anywhere useful, and every person burned by a fake campaign is one less person willing to help when legitimate calls for assistance come.
This is worth restating plainly: if you see a GoFundMe, a crowdfunding page, or a social media post soliciting money for the Nancy Guthrie search, it is not affiliated with authorities or the family. The sheriff's office has made that unambiguous.
Two months and no answers
The deeper problem here extends well beyond fundraising fraud. An 84-year-old woman was taken from her home, on camera, and nearly two months later, no one has been identified as a suspect. Doorbell footage exists. A masked figure was captured on video. The FBI has been called in. And yet the case remains open with no visible movement toward resolution.
Cases like this test public patience, and they test institutional credibility. Law enforcement asks the public to remain vigilant, to call tip lines, and to trust the process. That ask gets harder to sustain with every week that passes without a break in the case.
For the Guthrie family, the wait is not abstract. It is not a news cycle. It is every single day without their mother, without answers, without even the cold comfort of knowing what happened.
Someone out there knows something. The question is whether they have the conscience to act on it.
