How could Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper avoid surveillance cameras?
- - How could Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper avoid surveillance cameras?
Chris Kenning, Jay Stahl, Richard Ruelas and Ramon Padilla, USA TODAYFebruary 5, 2026 at 11:16 PM
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TUCSON, AZ. – It’s just past 7 p.m. In the Catalina Foothills, not far from where authorities say "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother was apparently kidnapped, and already it’s pitch black.
There are no streetlights. Nobody is out walking on darkened residential roads, which wind past the muted lights on adobe walls of the upscale homes tucked among mesquite trees that perfume the desert air. And above the dark silhouettes of giant saguaro, a sky unimpeded by light.
It's a neighborhood whose rural nature in a celebrated dark-sky region may have helped shroud what is suspected to be the abduction for ransom of the octogenarian Nancy Guthrie, 84, on Jan. 31.
Still, the home had multiple security cameras and more than a dozen outdoor light fixtures. Other homes in the area had cameras too. Yet so far, despite ongoing efforts, authorities said on Feb. 5 that no camera footage has yet led police to identify a vehicle or a suspect.
How could a possible kidnapper escape unseen at a time when everything from home surveillance cameras to license-plate reading technology to biometric facial recognition seem to be everywhere in America?
“We are asking everyone to please check any security or doorbell camera footage, especially from Saturday night after 8:00 PM,” the Catalina Foothills Association said in a Feb. 2 email to residents obtained by USA TODAY. “Your help could make a difference.”
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators are still working to collect and analyze video from residents and businesses, going door to door. But that's happening in an area with fewer cameras and less light than in an urban setting.
“Being in a rural area like that, those are challenges we face all the time,” Nanos said, adding that they’re pursuing any hint of evidence, even when cameras “might catch just a piece of something that goes by. It doesn't catch the whole car. Those kinds of things. We don't give up.”
Security cameras on Guthrie’s home are also being scrutinized. There were multiple cameras on the property, Nanos said. The home’s doorbell camera at her home was disconnected at 1:47 a.m., officials said Thursday. A camera’s software registered motion at 2:12 a.m.
But it didn’t record because Guthrie lacked a subscription.
“Could that be an animal? I imagine that's possible,” Nanos said. “We don't know that.”
The sheriff revealed that blood found on the porch of Nancy Guthrie's home was confirmed to belong to her. "The only DNA evidence we got back is on the porch," he said. "We saw the importance of that blood. It came back to Nancy."
Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home "against her will" after traveling to her family's house for a game night. The family began to worry after she failed to show up for church the next day.
Jan. 31 at 5:32 p.m. Guthrie traveled to her family's house for a game night.
Jan. 31 at 9:48 p.m. Her family dropped her back at home, and the garage door opened.
Jan. 31 at 9:50 p.m. The garage door closed.
Feb. 1 at 1:47 a.m. Doorbell camera in front of Guthrie's home disconnected.
Feb. 1 at 2:12 a.m. Software for the smart home detected a person on the camera, but no video is available.
Feb. 1 at 2:28 a.m. Guthrie's pacemaker app shows it was disconnected from her phone.
Feb. 1 at 11:56 a.m. The family checks on her.
Feb. 1 at 12:03 p.m. Family calls 9-1-1 to report her missing.
Feb. 1 at 12:15 p.m. Patrol cars arrive.
Authorities are now offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to finding her.
FBI special agent Heith Janke confirmed on Thursday that a ransom letter seeking "a monetary value” had given two deadlines of Feb. 5 and Feb. 9. Officials reiterated that she is in need of daily medication.
"They know time is of the essence, and if those that may have Nancy are watching this, the family is ready to talk, get proof of life, because there has been no contact after that ransom note went to the media,” he said at a briefing.
While the investigation continues, some residents of the rural neighborhood from which she is thought to have been taken say they also understand why the characteristics of the neighborhood have complicated finding quick video evidence to identify a suspect.
More: Nancy Guthrie abduction timeline: Authorities offer chilling new details
The home of Nancy Guthrie, mother of today show anchor Savannah Guthrie photographed February 3, 2026 just after sunset. The area has no street lights and gets dark quickly.
More: Man behind Nancy Guthrie 'impostor ransom demand' is arrested
Catalina Foothills is extremely dark
For one thing, it’s dark. Very dark.
In 2023, Saguaro National Park in Pima County was certified as an Urban Night Sky Place. The area also has lighting codes for properties that include shielding outdoor lights. It’s largely viewed as an amenity, not a problem.
“We don’t have streetlights because people love the night sky, the sky is full of stars and astronomy is a big part of Tucson’s economy,” said Tom Pew, a board member of the Catalina Foothills Association.
Residents enjoy the starry skies and natural rock landscape of black bark mesquite trees dotted with bobcats and javelinas, he said.
Mary Wombat, 65, who has lived in the neighborhood for 50 years, said her security camera captured a black bear near her house three times. One of the times, it was just after sunrise. For the other two, she said, the bear got close enough to trip off a light and the camera.
“This is how rural we are,” Wombat said.
Pitch-dark nights mean dog walking is done in daylight. Or, if needed, accompanied with a flashlight, said neighborhood resident Karen Lane, 44.
Some residents noted crime is typically lower in foothills and the area has long felt safe.
A USA TODAY analysis of photos and video from the scene showed Guthrie’s home had at least 14 outdoor light fixtures, including flood lights near the garage and out building. It’s not know which or any were on the night of her disappearance.
Those are in addition to multiple cameras cited by investigators.
More: The search for Nancy Guthrie – and the loss felt by her community
Camara footage isn't helping Guthrie investigation
But resident Chris Wilkey, 50, wasn’t surprised cameras in the area weren’t as useful so far as some might assume.
“It’s going to be hard for, like, a doorbell, a Ring, to pick up a vehicle that was getting away from the scene,” he said.
While many doorbell cameras use infrared to illuminate night scenes, many can reach just 15 to 30 feet, according to PCWorld, making them poor at identifying details over longer distances at night.
Real estate agent Russell Long, who lives near Guthrie, said three law enforcement officers came to his door Wednesday, asking about his home’s security cameras and asking if he had cameras pointing towards the street.
Long said many homes sit on at least an acre, and parcels are surrounded by vegetation and plants including saguaro cactuses and palo verde and Mesquite trees. Houses hidden by desert landscape, or with long driveways, make it difficult to capture activity from the road.
“Even if you have cameras, they're not going to show much,” Long said.
Long said more people in the neighborhood have security alarm systems than security camera systems.
While the Guthrie case has some rethinking security, including Wilkey. But Long said he views Guthrie’s disappearance as “an anomaly" in the Catalina Foothills.
“I think probably most people feel it was a targeted situation and not a random attack,” he said.
Nanos said his team could not determine whether Guthrie was targeted in a crime or not.
"We'll know more as we go on what that motive is, but right now, my guesswork is as good as yours," he said.
More: Nancy Guthrie abduction timeline: Authorities offer chilling new details
For now, the FBI and local investigators are examining a range of digital evidence, including from nighttime camera footage, hoping for a break in the case. Officials are still hoping they can find ways to glean information for the unrecorded camera detection at the Guthrie home.
Authorities already found one ransom demand to be fake when a Southern California was arrested on suspicion of allegedly transmitting a false ransom demand to Nancy Guthrie's family.
Derrick Callella was arrested in Hawthorne, California – a city just south of Los Angeles International Airport – on Feb. 5, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona announced.
But both investigators and Guthrie's neighbors knew clock was ticking. By 5 p.m. on Feb. 5, the first deadline on another ransom note had passed.
For now, investigators – and the Guthries – remained in the dark.
Contributing: Shawn Sullivan, Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In Guthrie's dark neighborhood, lack of cameras complicates search
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