A dozen days can feel like a lifetime when someone vanishes, but the Guthrie family is living it minute by minute—waiting for a phone to ring, bracing for a knock, staring at grainy video that refuses to turn into answers. By Friday, President Donald Trump was offering something that sounded like reassurance—“progress,” he said—while also quietly admitting what everyone can already sense: no one, not the locals, not the feds, not the White House, is fully in control of this story.
Donald Trump spoke to reporters as he left the White House for North Carolina, addressing why the FBI isn’t formally the lead agency on the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Arizona. He suggested the case began locally and that the community still has a say in control of the investigation, even as the FBI became involved and, in his words, things began to move.
“[The FBI] took it over originally. It was a local case originally, and they didn’t want to let go of it, which is fine,” Donald Trump said. “It’s up to them, it’s really up to the community but ultimately where the FBI got involved, I think, you know, progress has been made,” he added when asked about why the FBI was not the lead agency overseeing the investigation.
Donald Trump on why the Federal Bureau of Investigation hasn’t fully taken over the Nancy Guthrie case:
“It started as a local case. They didn’t want to let go — that’s up to the community. But once the FBI got involved, real progress was made.”
🔥 Local control. Federal support.… pic.twitter.com/PcnBJGE617
— MAGA NATION (@maga_nation89) February 13, 2026
It was an unusually candid little window into how messy major investigations can be: jurisdiction, pride, procedure, and the basic human unwillingness to “let go” of a case that happens on your watch.
Nancy Guthrie—84 years old, and widely known now because she is the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie—has been missing for 12 days. The public-facing details are both specific and maddeningly thin: investigators have recovered black gloves near her home that will be run through DNA analysis, and tip lines have been flooded with information.
🚨BREAKING: The Guthrie family says, “We received your message and we understand… We beg you now to return our mother… This is very valuable to us and we will pay.”
A heartbreaking plea as the family fights to bring Nancy home. pic.twitter.com/soK0Cr1Sio
— ᴺᵉʷˢEric Trump (@EricTrump_News) February 7, 2026
Eighteen thousand calls, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. That number is staggering, but it carries a quieter implication that doesn’t get said out loud nearly enough: a high-profile case can generate noise so loud it becomes its own problem, a blizzard of “I saw something” that still may not deliver the one tip that matters.
Pressed on Friday about the FBI’s role, Donald Trump described it as a case that was local “originally,” and he said it was “up to the community” whether the bureau takes the lead. The Independent’s account of the same exchange adds a sharper edge, reporting Donald Trump’s remark that the sheriff’s department “didn’t want to let go” of the case, even as he insisted “progress has been made” since the FBI got involved.
It’s the kind of comment that lands like a thumbprint on a bruise. In one breath, Donald Trump is trying to project momentum; in the next, he’s hinting at friction—whether that’s real operational tension or just political shorthand for a complicated process, it plants the idea that this investigation has had to fight for its own coordination.
I pray for the safe return of 84 year old Nancy Guthrie even if she, like her two daughters hated President Trump and his supporters. pic.twitter.com/iSsp0kVed7
— SS (@ss_scmb) February 3, 2026
Donald Trump was also asked about cartel involvement and declined to go there, saying it was too soon to make that determination. President Donald Trump did, however, offer a grim assessment of whoever took Guthrie, suggesting the person “either knew what they were doing very well or they were ranked amateurs,” and adding, “Either way, it’s not a good situation.”
The most haunting piece of evidence isn’t forensic—it’s visual. Authorities have released footage showing a masked, armed person outside Guthrie’s home the night she disappeared, and the FBI has said it’s investigating “persons of interest” while not publicly naming any suspects.
Savannah Guthrie posted that clip to Instagram on Wednesday with a blunt plea: “Someone out there recognizes this person. We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.” It’s hard to read that as anything but a daughter’s refusal to let the story calcify into past tense.
REMEMBER: on October 15, 2020 during an NBC News town hall in Miami Savannah Guthrie [in place of the second presidential debate] when Guthrie pressed Trump publicly to disavow and distance himself from Q. it didn’t work, obviously.
Trump helping Guthrie personally and publicly… pic.twitter.com/X22VBnyT7F
— The Rubber Duck ™ (@TheRubberDuck79) February 5, 2026
Meanwhile, investigators are chasing physical clues across Tucson’s desert geography. The FBI has said it is sweeping roadways along Arizona’s Catalina Foothills and conducting an “extensive search” of the area, while local authorities have pointed to gloves found near Guthrie’s home that will be analyzed for DNA.
Then there’s the ransom thread—because of course there is. The Hill reports that TMZ founder Harvey Levin said the outlet received a letter from someone claiming to know the kidnapper, demanding one bitcoin sent to an address TMZ confirmed was active.
Officials have also doubled the reward for information about the kidnapper to $100,000. That number is meant to shake loose a conscience—or a secret—but it also underlines the central horror of the case: investigators still need the public to hand them the missing piece.
