Will Nancy Guthrie Ever Be Found? Ashleigh Banfield Breaks Down the Mystery Still Hanging Over Savannah's Mom's Disappearance 

As the investigation into the baffling disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, continues to elicit few leads into her whereabouts, true crime podcaster Ashleigh Banfield spoke with a Pima County Sheriff about whether there is any hope of solving the crime.

Referring to the case of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students in Moscow, Idaho, Banfield noted on her “Drop Dead Serious” podcast on Saturday, March 21 — the 48th day of Nancy’s disappearance — that he was caught on the 47th day of the investigation.

“It's the one day after day 47, which for me was such a Rubicon. Day 47 was when we caught Bryan Kohberger. It's when they arrested him. And all the way up until day 47 in this Guthrie case, I'd been saying, 'Have patience, just have patience.' It took 47 days to catch Bryan Kohberger,” Banfield said.

“There's been a lot of talk from the department that they got nothing. You know, they're out of leads, and they're just running down every lead but haven't got enough information, even to scrape together enough for probable cause for a warrant, and don't expect raids. I mean, that's been kind of the word, which is very, very upsetting. It leads to hopelessness,” she explained.

Despite that, Asheligh said there is a new reason to hope for an eventual resolution to Nancy’s inexplicable disappearance.

“There’s some interesting stuff coming from the [sheriff’s] department, she said, adding that staff is unhappy with Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who is facing a recall by the community, which is largely upset with his handling of the case.

Sergeant Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization, told Ashleigh that the Guthrie task force has been moved into the FBI building in Tucson, Ariz., with a mix of Pima County sheriff's reps and feds, and he asserted that, despite the rumors, the investigation has not stalled at all.

“I call it the grind phase of any investigation. You know, in my experience, some investigations break quickly and easily. Most bad guys aren't that intelligent, so we can solve them fairly quickly. This one appeared to put some preparation into it, obviously,” Aaron said.

Aaron noted that the case is more complex than most, which is also leading to delays in solving it.

“So, it wasn't going to be solved quickly, unless we, you know, narrow down some mistake. But I think now that they're just grinding through the tips," he added.

Aaron said there were over 40,000 tips and added that they were still waiting on results from DNA tests conducted in a Florida lab.

He also speculated that the perpetrator may not have acted alone, despite Ashleigh believing otherwise.

“It's always hard to pull off these types of things solo,” he said.

When asked if he thought they would ever find Nancy, the sergeant was hopeful.

“I think so eventually. You know, I said on another podcast that the odds are usually in law enforcement's favor just because it is extremely difficult to pull off the perfect crime," he said.