{"id":128582,"date":"2026-02-10T10:09:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128582\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T10:09:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:09:28","slug":"ex-fbi-top-official-casts-doubt-on-nancy-guthrie-kidnapping-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128582\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-FBI top official casts doubt on Nancy Guthrie kidnapping theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former top FBI official has raised doubts about whether Savannah Guthrie\u2019s 84-year-old mom<\/a>, Nancy, is really still alive and being held by kidnappers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very skeptical of this,\u201d former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told Fox News\u2019<\/a> \u201cThe Big Weekend Show\u201d on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker questioned whether Nancy Guthrie\u2019s disappearance is truly a kidnapping during an appearance on \u201cThe Big Weekend Show.\u201d Fox News<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this really a kidnapping? Does somebody really have her, and is she really alive?\u201d he said of the fiends claiming to have her.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live updates on Savannah Guthrie\u2019s missing mom<\/a><\/p>\n

The former FBI bigwig voiced his suspicions after Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings took to social media to plead with their mother\u2019s apparent abductor to return her \u2014 as they agreed to pay up to the abductors demanding $6 million ransom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this was a kidnapping, it would be a very simple matter to authenticate and provide proof of life,\u201d Swecker said, noting that no evidence had been \u201ccredibly authenticated at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to allow for the possibility that this was something more or something other than a kidnapping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swecker also pointed to the ransom demands being reported, which skyrocketed from $1 million to a reported $6 million<\/a> in a matter of days.<\/p>\n

Savannah Guthrie with her mother, Nancy Guthrie, in 2020. savannahguthrie\/Instagram<\/p>\n

A drone view of Nancy Guthrie\u2019s house after the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, who went missing from her home, in Tucson, Arizona, on Feb. 8, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember now, it was 1 million not too long ago. All of a sudden, it\u2019s 6 million,\u201d Swecker told the outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think there\u2019s a third party here that\u2019s just playing with them, opportunists who think they can exploit this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least two purported ransom messages have surfaced since the \u201cToday\u201d show anchor\u2019s ailing mom vanished from her Tucson home.<\/p>\n

The first purported ransom note, which was sent to multiple media outlets a week ago, laid out two deadlines \u2014 one on Thursday, which passed, and a second on Monday, FBI officials said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former top FBI official has raised doubts about whether Savannah Guthrie\u2019s 84-year-old mom, Nancy, is really still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7372,53442,9,11,10,54921,29717,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-128582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-kidnappings","9":"tag-nancy-guthrie","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-ransom","14":"tag-savannah-guthrie","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}