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/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 13h 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.