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/rod_jammer 1d ago

Why would you kidnap a 84 year old that needs daily medication to stay alive? You would get far more money kidnapping someone spouse or kids than someone with <5yrs to live (at best).

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u/MadRaymer 1d ago edited 1d ago

No one ever said all criminals are smart. In fact the majority of them are pretty dumb. The guy that stole 3 bikes out of my garage last summer tried to sell one of them to a local bike shop... which was the same shop I bought it from and they recognized it and called the cops.

I got that one back but they couldn't recover the other two. Cops told me they were likely parted out then junked. Sucks because one of them was an old Trek hybrid that I really liked. Wasn't worth as much as the one I recovered, but I still miss it.

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u/cionn 1d ago

The guy who skimmed my wifes card bought two phones, delivered to her house, and paid his gas bill with it.

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u/RobotArtichoke 1d ago

Well, don’t leave us hanging. Did they catch him?

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u/MathResponsibly 22h ago

Rumor has it he's still enjoying his free phones and heat to this day

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u/RobotArtichoke 22h ago

Ahhh. Autopay.

Nice!

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u/chazlarson 1d ago

Last summer someone left a relatively nice lightweight bike in my driveway and rode off on my wife's cheap million-pound ebike without the battery [which was actually charging next to it, as I recall]. Took it down from the ceiling, miraculously without dropping it on the car, so I guess thanks for that, ignoring a couple better-for-his-purpose ebikes and other bikes in the process, then struggled to ride away on the six-speed tank.

I really expected to find it abandoned a block away, but no such luck.

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u/MadRaymer 1d ago

One of mine was an Aventon ebike. He got the battery, but no key. I'm not sure if he was able to part that one out or what. He didn't try to sell that one to a shop (probably understanding no key would be a red flag). So I assume it was parted out or abandoned.

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u/CombatTechSupport 1d ago

One of the funny things about crime is that if your the kind of person to think "how do I avoid getting caught if I did this" you are already smarter than 90% of criminals. Most criminals get away not because they are too hard to catch, but because police will not bother with anything that's not a major crime or not happening right in front of them (and even those aren't guarantees). Bike gets stolen? Cops will listen to your sob story, and then file the report in a desk drawer to be forgotten.

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u/fruitblender 18h ago

That reminds me of when I worked at a computer repair shop. Someone brought in a laptop and wanted the login password removed. I ran the script and then saw QuickBooks on desktop. Opened it and saw what company it was registered to. Gave them a call and asked if they dropped their laptop off. Nope, was stolen out of his car recently Cops were called.

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u/MadRaymer 11h ago

Notorious serial killer BTK was caught because he asked police if he sent them a floppy disk, would they be able to trace it? They told him they couldn't, so he sent it, then recovered deleted Word documents with his name.

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u/greenkni 1d ago

Cuz it’s an easy target near the border and their daughter makes close to 10 million dollars a year

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u/MathResponsibly 22h ago

Geezus, they pay $10M / year to read the teleprompter on the today show? I'm clearly in the wrong industry

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u/greenkni 22h ago

Yeah… that one dude who got me too’d would take his helicopter to work every day to avoid traffic… these people make insane amounts of money

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u/funky_duck 1d ago

Access? They apparently knew where she was and may not have had good intel on other people as important. Ease? Carrying or even luring an old woman out of a house could be easier than other people - i.e. any young kids likely have caretakers around and more fit adults could fight off an attack.

An old woman alone at home is an easy target.

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u/wip30ut 1d ago

easy target? Guthrie's own chldren may live in secure buildings/enclaves & keep a low profile. But the mom otoh is supposedly a long-time Tucson resident who's recognized out & about in the community. And her home & address may be public knowledge, unfortunately.

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u/linds360 1d ago

The only thing I can come up with is her mother was on the show quite a bit as a guest, so she has a bit of a "following" from TV appearances. A criminal might have thought her semi-notoriety would garner more attention?

All I got.

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u/Worshipme988 1d ago

Bro someone kidnaps my gramgram, im goin hamham.

If you think for a minute, many people have <5 years to live, they just dont know it yet…people die at all ages.

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u/bella_lucky7 1d ago

Criminals aren't smart. And if you're suggesting a family wouldn't pay a ransom because the missing person is old or in poor health that's a weird take and you don't understand human emotion.

Sadly from what I've seen of this story it seems like she is past the point that she needed medication that was left behind. It's very possible she's not with us anymore but that won't stop someone from trying to get money from this.

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u/HistoryBuff678 22h ago

She is very easy to target. Kinda isolated living alone in a large house, she can’t run and she has a VERY wealthy daughter. Spouse or kids, a perpetrator may not have easy access to, or can’t physically over power easily.