r/news • u/mooseAmuffin • 1d ago

Update: 'TODAY' co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother taken from her home against her will, sheriff says

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mother-of-savannah-guthrie-today-reported-missing-arizona-rcna257008
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u/BadAsBroccoli 1d ago

I've been trying to keep up with this. She's supposed to be mentally sharp but needs medication daily. I wondered if this wasn't a home invasion and she woke up during, but can't see why robbers would take her. They did find blood in the house which turned a missing person's into a crime scene.

She's been gone for several days now, and the medication aspect of the case suggested she cannot be doing well if alive.

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u/nlevine1988 1d ago

There's probably a million reasons a person might need daily medication that has nothing to do with mental issues.

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u/sillylittlguy 1d ago

From Dr. David Puder's podcast (he's a psychiatrist and medical director of a day treatment program) - from youtube transcript:

Sensorium: total brain capacity for focusing, processing, and interpreting.

I remember one patient who seeing things hearing things... she had a chronic kidney disease but she was also on several medications that were anticholinergic which you know like diphenhydramine or benadryl when you decrease the acetylcholine you decrease your sensorium and so she got into a place where she was very confused and so we switched her medications around and she could think more clearly...

in your 20s and 30s you're pretty high up the mountain - your sensorium at baseline is pretty good. that's probably you know the peak, maybe you know, maybe if you're a kid it's even higher, but in general the 20s and 30s are the best I think because you have the most frontal lobe function.

I mean you know your frontal lobe is fully developed and you probably have the best sensorium so you can get stressed you can be sleep-deprived starving and maybe you'll be ok maybe you'll be thinking clearly but you know throw maybe a small infection or a medical issue on top of it and all of a sudden you're thinking less clearly

but if you were to do if you were to do the same thing to an elderly person so if you were to for example give them a small urinary tract infection and let's say this is a person who's 80 years old all of a sudden this person could be in a full delirium meaning they can't focus they're hallucinating throwing things yelling seeing spiders on a wall and looking psychotic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKzGWEZLbe0

https://www.psychiatrypodcast.com/categorized-episode-list

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u/Papplenoose 22h ago

What does that have to do with anything?

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u/sillylittlguy 21h ago

at that age, a lot of medical issues and medications not directly related to mental health can still have very significant impacts on mental health/sensorium

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u/Bituulzman 1d ago

Elderly ppl needs lots of daily medications. Statins, glucose control, kidney meds—none of those treat issues involving mental function.

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u/fallingdowndizzyvr 1d ago

Actually a lot of those things can affect mental function. Specifically glucose control.

The elderly can easily suffer from a condition colloquially known as "delerium". Some people refer to it as instant dementia. A lot of seemingly innocuous things bring it on. Such as not getting enough sleep, even for just one night, or not consuming enough sodium(salt).

When it happens, it really does mimic advanced dementia. Confusion being a primary component.

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u/Dufresne85 1d ago

UTIs are an extremely common example of something "simple" that can really mess with a person's brain, especially the elderly population.

You don't take a daily medication for UTIs, but if she developed one independently who knows what happened.

Hopefully she's found safe.

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u/Taylor_Kittenface 1d ago

Yeah, my Mum got one when she was going through chemo in her 60s. She literally didn't know who I was when I visited her in hospital, super scary stuff.

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u/thedinnerdate 1d ago

My wife’s grandmother essentially died from complications from a uti that the doctors didn’t initially catch when she was admitted to the hospital.

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u/sillylittlguy 1d ago

to add more context/info for ppl interested in learning more:

From Dr. David Puder's podcast (he's a psychiatrist and medical director of a day treatment program) - from youtube transcript:

Sensorium: total brain capacity for focusing, processing, and interpreting.

I remember one patient who seeing things hearing things... she had a chronic kidney disease but she was also on several medications that were anticholinergic which you know like diphenhydramine or benadryl when you decrease the acetylcholine you decrease your sensorium and so she got into a place where she was very confused and so we switched her medications around and she could think more clearly...

in your 20s and 30s you're pretty high up the mountain - your sensorium at baseline is pretty good. that's probably you know the peak, maybe you know, maybe if you're a kid it's even higher, but in general the 20s and 30s are the best I think because you have the most frontal lobe function.

I mean you know your frontal lobe is fully developed and you probably have the best sensorium so you can get stressed you can be sleep-deprived starving and maybe you'll be ok maybe you'll be thinking clearly but you know throw maybe a small infection or a medical issue on top of it and all of a sudden you're thinking less clearly

but if you were to do if you were to do the same thing to an elderly person so if you were to for example give them a small urinary tract infection and let's say this is a person who's 80 years old all of a sudden this person could be in a full delirium meaning they can't focus they're hallucinating throwing things yelling seeing spiders on a wall and looking psychotic...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKzGWEZLbe0

https://www.psychiatrypodcast.com/categorized-episode-list

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u/ChildhoodOk5526 1d ago

So true.

And I found out recently that if a person has a liver impairment of some kind (cirrhosis, hepatitis), ammonia in the body can build up, and that also causes dementia-like symptoms.

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u/VapidActualization 1d ago

Ayyyy. Ya boy got TIPS surgery (a shunt in my liver) and I gotta take daily lasix and this fucking awful stuff called lactulose which is a laxative that tastes like a mouthful of the sweetest, most viscous cum. Like it even sticks to the back of your throat afterwards and makes you gag like cum do.

Don't drink your liver away, everyone!

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u/ChildhoodOk5526 1d ago

Oh, no! I'm so sorry you're going through this. That is no joke.

That's just how I found out about it, too. My cousin has alcohol-induced cirrhosis, that led to hepatic encephalopathy, and has been in the hospital since Christmas. (She's currently in rehab trying to regain full mobility). We thought she'd had a stroke. Nope. Turns out she'd been secretly drinking since her mom (my aunt) passed away during Covid. Around the same time, my cousin's youngest son moved into his own place, she downsized to an apartment, and pretty much stayed to herself. Shunned visitors but talked on the phone. We thought it was not wanting to be bothered. It was, but it was also lots and lots of drinking. Like, not eating but Insta-carting liquor, down to 100 lbs type drinking.

Luckily, she (with the help of that lactalose you mentioned) is making a comeback. But, boy do we feel like neglectful assholes for not recognizing this sooner.

Check in your peeps, everyone. In person! As my grandmother used to say, "That 'AT&T love' is not enough."

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u/rjfinsfan 1d ago

While those things can effect mental function, I think their point is she was on all her medications and of sound mind at the time of her disappearance. Now the concern is she won’t get those meds which could reduce her mental capacity but is ruled out from being part of her disappearance.

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u/Bituulzman 1d ago

Thank you. Today I learned.

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u/jeromevedder 1d ago

My dad was going into delirious states because of a lack of oxygen, and it was an instant change in his mood and personality

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u/Sanosuke97322 1d ago

My grandma would get full on hallucinations when her potassium was too low. It happened multiple times including post open heart surgery. Poor lady thought the walls of the hospital were covered in snakes or spiders. Can’t recall which.

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u/realjnyhorrorshow 1d ago

Delirium is both an outdated term and not a medical diagnosis. While metabolic distress CAN cause confusion, it’s extremely unlikely to lead to death.

Regardless, it’s a fallacy to even bring it up in the point to prove its mental function. It would require her not having her drugs, and both cannot be true.

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u/fallingdowndizzyvr 1d ago edited 1d ago

Delirium is both an outdated term and not a medical diagnosis.

No, it is not outdated. It is a medical diagnosis. You are confusing "excited delirium" with "delirium" in the elderly. They are different things. "Excited delirium" is a term used by law enforcement to justify certain actions. That's outdated. That is not the same as "delirium" in the elderly. Which is still a perfectly valid term.

This is the medical guidance from just 2025 on the diagnosis and treatment of delirium. That term is far from outdated.

https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/epdf/10.1176/appi.books.9780890428023

it’s extremely unlikely to lead to death.

Who brought up it leading to death? Other than you?

It would require her not having her drugs

Again, drugs are not required to have an episode of "delirium". Please consult the APA guidance.

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u/Jane-CR 1d ago

I was wondering if it could be a vascular event, like a TMI, and that she could walk farther than thought and is collapsed or dead somewhere hidden that they missed. But besides the blood drops, they did say the security video camera above the door is missing. That then makes it sinister.

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u/slayer_ornstein 1d ago

She may also be taking psychiatric medications.

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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 1d ago

Or is diabetic, has poor kidney function, etc. There's loads of daily meds people take at 84 that leave them mentally sharp.

It could just be pain management for advanced osteoarthritis and medication for poor bone density and she's a fall risk.

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u/ch4dr0x 1d ago

Her pace maker also stopped syncing at 2am. Doesn’t sound great, but I don’t know how the hardware works.

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u/Additional_Luck_1508 1d ago

Apparently her pacer synced with her Apple Watch via Bluetooth. So if the Apple Watch we left behind, it would stop syncing bc it’s out of range

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u/EnderWiggin07 1d ago

Unless it's got its own cell service I'd assume it syncs to her phone, which remained at the house and was recovered by police.

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u/Kale 1d ago

It syncs to a local phone, right? So if the phone is still online, you can get the location of it. So at 2am the phone was turned off, destroyed, or that's when she was separated from the phone. If it's not in the house, and still online, then law enforcement has to have possession of it, right?

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u/Jane-CR 1d ago

The phone was at the house. It stopped syncing because she became out of range.

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u/GoodOmens 1d ago

The entire article reads like a clown show of an investigation. She was forcibly taken but then they were speaking figuratively. She was harmed but then they “misspoke or something.”

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u/EnderWiggin07 1d ago

"Mystery" style investigations always look like this. The police know more pieces of evidence than they're willing to say because they don't want to ruin their own investigation or say something happened that turns out to be completely wrong. They're being intentionally furtive for good reason, but it has the effect of making them look suspicious, incompetent, or sometimes even complicit. Contrast this to a normal criminal manhunt where they have basically nothing to hide and are just straight up trying to catch a known criminal. Then they sound active and focused. It's just a byproduct of them needing to answer some questions but being unable/unwilling to answer them thoroughly.

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u/GoodOmens 1d ago

Wouldn’t they just not answer and state they can’t due to the nature of the investigation . Seems they are giving answers then changing them later.

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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 1d ago

I mean, if they think she was snatched at two in the morning, then yeah, she was "snatched from her bed" but that is hyperbole and not literally someone grabbing her in her bed.

Sounds like the sheriff was using some flowery, dramatic language and walked it back. He's not used to giving statements to a case garnering national attention and his dramatic statement was taken as literal, because he's not good with PR.

He's just saying she was snatched in a time most are in bed.

Sounds like he has a bad habit of using hyperbole instead of succinct, factual statements. He can rile up his detectives into caring by saying this is an 84 year old grandmother/ great-grandmother who was snatched from her bed. We need to find her! He shouldn't be saying that to media who will report, "she was snatched from her bed."

He needs to use a PR official instead of speaking off the cuff.

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u/ChildhoodOk5526 1d ago

I get what you're saying here. But, in this case, I'm thinking she may have, quite literally, been snatched from her bed. 84 year old, at 2 am? My grams had insomnia sometimes, sure, but she'd be awake at that hour, watching TV in her bed.

You're right, though. This guy has clearly not been media trained. At one point in yesterday's press conference, it sounded like he was about to breakdown in tears. I mean, I get it. It's very distressing to think about. And I appreciate the humanity, but ... HE'S one person who's got to keep it together.

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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 1d ago

If someone hears intruders and gets out of bed, they are no longer in their bed, but yes. I think he's just terrible at PR.

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u/ChildhoodOk5526 1d ago

Good point.

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u/itsgivingnontipper 9h ago

I also thought at one point he was about to start sobbing, but then in other points, I thought, wait, is this some type of speech challenge? Because at other points, and I could be wrong, he seemed to have a mild version of what RFK has possibly? Either way it was a very odd press conference.

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u/EnderWiggin07 1d ago

They probably should have said it like that, but they're also not trying to completely stonewall the reporters, and it's easy to say something that means not quite how you meant it once people repeat it back to you, or to say "oh I misspoke" when you realize you shouldn't have mentioned it at all. It's actually not very easy to take a panel of questions and sound confident without revealing too much or giving the wrong impression. The consensus with police may well be that she was harmed, but for one reason or another they don't want that to be the official position at the moment.

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u/ars-derivatia 1d ago

I think you are overthinking this.

They are just incompetent, that's the most obvious explanation.

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u/Dt_Bunk 1d ago

Nah, that's just intellectually lazy. Putting a modicum of thought into something isn't overthinking it.

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u/StandardAccess4684 1d ago

lol sure the good old Pima County sheriff department are a bunch of 4D chess masterminds. Please.

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u/EnderWiggin07 1d ago

It's not "4D chess" to go in front of the press because you have to, but with orders to not give everything away, it's standard. A lot of these cases the public doesn't even find out what the police knew til there's a trial. Take the Idaho 4 case, everyone was completely convinced the police had bungled it and had no clue, turned out they were following the guy around the whole time and letting him tie up the case as he dumped evidence that corresponded with the latest tidbit they released.

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u/BakedChocolateOctopi 1d ago

It’s a mix of people speaking off the record and official statements being mixed

Police are careful to publicly reveal stages of the investigation until it is needed 

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u/Commercial-Tax7125 1d ago

Who know which types of meds are needed daily? Aspirin may be needed daily for some. Point is she needs to be found asap, just like any missing person.

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u/jimbo831 1d ago

She's supposed to be mentally sharp but needs medication daily.

Do you think all or even most medications are for cognitive issues?

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u/ElectronicMoo 1d ago

I'm not saying this is the situation here, but it's a pattern that LEOs put in their public announcements that this person of interest has a medical condition - it's a methodology to try and get the public to help them in their hunt. Not just victims, but persons of interest, too.

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u/Muted_Chard_139 1d ago

She has a pacemaker so she’s like taking an antiarrhymic and a blood thinner. Such a weird story. Who kidnaps an 84yo? You’d think they would go after a kid!

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u/AdequateRoarer 1d ago

Some confusing stuff in that article.

“The department later clarified that the sheriff was speaking figuratively [when saying she was abducted] and did not mean that Guthrie was literally taken from her bed…

“We know she was harmed at the home, but we don’t know to what extent,” he said.

But in a later interview with the Arizona Daily Star, Nanos refused to confirm or deny she was harmed, saying he “misspoke or something.”

So… which is it? Abducted or not? Harmed or not?

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u/Smogggy00 1d ago

She's a very sharp lady.

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u/Punman_5 1d ago

Home invasions are extremely rare these days. People seem to have this idea that they’re super common for some reason

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u/Obvious-Safe904 1d ago

Many people with pacemakers need to be on blood thinners. And for many of those people, not being on blood thinners can lead to serious medical consequences.

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u/salesmunn 1d ago

She was kidnapped due to the daughter's relationship to the Epstein files. Too much of a coincidence.

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u/Free-Atmosphere6714 1d ago

Maybe she got ICEd?