Moments after the news broke about the apparent abduction of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, the floodgates opened on social media.
Influencers relayed the timeline from the hours after Nancy Guthrie was last seen and posted photos of the blood found on her front porch that later was a match for the 84-year-old grandmother. Others called out individuals connected to the case as looking “sus” or filmed themselves walking through her neighborhood to help find her.
The desperate search for Guthrie, who authorities believe was taken a week ago against her will from her home just outside Tucson, Arizona, has become the latest investigation to pique the widespread interest of online armchair detectives.
As the search continues with no suspects or persons of interest, posts across Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook and YouTube have put millions of eyeballs on tips and theories surrounding her disappearance. But they’ve also helped to amplify rumors and forced law enforcement to repeatedly set the record straight on at least one crucial detail.
Michael Alcazar, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and retired New York Police Department detective, said overall the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to the onslaught of social media posts.
“More people are aware; It keeps people alert," he said. "If they know she hasn’t been found yet, perhaps people will remember that and if they see something, they might say something.”
He compared it to the widespread online response to the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito in 2021 and the impact that may have had on her body being found.
Two YouTubers said at the time that an image they posted showed Petito and her boyfriend's white van and that it led investigators to the area where her body was found. But the FBI didn't specify what led to the discovery.
“I think it’s just something that we have to adapt to as far as law enforcement," Alcazar said. “The true crime community is growing. ... There’s a lot of people out there that want to help.”
But with the widespread posts also comes the proliferation of misinformation.
Ashleigh Banfield, a contributor to the cable network NewsNation, announced on her podcast Wednesday that a law enforcement source told her a Guthrie family member is the prime suspect. She seemed to quickly walk-back the statement seconds later, saying the person “may be a prime suspect,” and adding that family members are often looked at first. The information quickly took off across social media, with people posting photos of the person she named.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos addressed the rumor early in a news conference Thursday, saying authorities don't have any suspects or persons of interest. That remained the case Friday.
“I plead with you to be careful of what it is we put out there. ... You could actually be doing some damage to the case, you could do some damage to the individual, too,” he said later in the news conference. “Social media’s kind of an ugly world sometimes.”
Other posts have included a medium expressing her feeling that Guthrie is close by and a woman using astrology to point her viewers in the direction of what may have happened.
Calvin Chrustie, who has more than three decades of experience in negotiations for kidnapping, ransom and extortions, said if the public truly understood the toll those situations can have on family and law enforcement, they might not hastily post unsubstantiated information.
“This stuff on X and other stuff out there that’s pure speculation is actually making it more difficult for the families and making it more difficult to the police to secure the safe, you know, the safe return of the hostage,” he said.
Julie Urquhart, an elementary school teacher in New Brunswick, Canada, has been posting about the case on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. She said she was drawn to the disappearance because she has a mother near Guthrie's age and was fascinated that someone could have taken her seemingly without a trace.
Urquhart said her information comes from national news sites and law enforcement news conferences. One of her posts on TikTok and Instagram amassed more 4 million views, she said.
“That’s 4 million eyes that now saw that story and now maybe will see something or know something or know someone who does," she said. "There's just so many people it hits.”
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This story was first published Feb. 7, 2026. It was updated on Feb. 9, 2026 to clarify that journalist Ashleigh Banfield is a contributor to cable network NewsNation and is not a staff member.
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Associated Press reporter Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed.
FILE - This image provided by the Pima County Sheriff's Department on Feb. 2, 2026, shows a missing person alert for Nancy Guthrie. (Pima County Sheriff's Department via AP, File)
HEBRON, Ky. (AP) — President Donald Trump toured an Ohio pharmaceutical company on Wednesday and campaigned in the nearby Kentucky district of a Republican in Congress he'd like to see defeated — attempting to project political and economic strength as war in Iran has scrambled financial markets and hurt his poll numbers.
Trump toured Thermo Fisher Scientific in suburban Cincinnati, talking up his administration's efforts to persuade major manufacturers to lower prescription medication prices so that they are closer to what is charged abroad.
The trip is a test of Trump’s ability to cleanse his party of those who oppose him, but also to try to stay on an economic message increasingly strained by the military action launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.
“I used some very strong negotiating talent to get every single country to almost immediately approve. I threatened them with tariffs," he told reporters.
The Supreme Court recently struck down sweeping tariffs that Trump's administration had imposed around the world to boost his economic policies. But the president used an executive order to restore some levies, and says his push to lower drug costs can help Republicans ahead of November's midterms.
His trip, however, was overshadowed by the military action in Iran, which Trump said was “an excursion that will keep us out of a war." He added of Tehran, “for them, it’s a war. For us, it’s turned out to be easier than we thought.”
In an interview with Cincinnati’s WKRC-TV CBS, Trump said he planned to tap the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in an effort to bring down gasoline prices.
“Right now, we’ll reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down,” Trump said, without providing details.
That interview followed the president saying during the drug company facility tour that stock markets had been volatile as gas prices have risen, saying, “I figured we’d be hit a little bit. But, we were hit probably less than I thought.”
“We’ll be back on track in a pretty short while,” Trump said. "Prices are coming down very substantially. Oil will be coming down.”
He also called the turmoil “just a matter of war,” saying “that happens,” while adding, “I would say it went up a little bit less than we thought.”
Trump next headed to Hebron, Kentucky, in the district of Rep. Thomas Massie, one of the few congressional Republicans who has dared defy Trump on Iran and other major issues. Trump has endorsed a GOP primary challenger to Massie, Ed Gallrein.
The president spent more time decrying his Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, than Massie, though.
He ticked off his administration's accomplishments and told the crowd, “The midterms are going to be very, very important to keep it going."
Trump relished saying, “Kenn-tucky,” proclaiming that he was pronouncing it like a resident. He said the stock market had set repeatedly reached new highs since he was reelected in 2024, but didn't mention markets more recently having dropped.
“We’re making more things in the USA than we ever have,” Trump said. When he mentioned Iran, the crowd chanted, “USA! USA!”
“They don’t know what the hell hit them,” Trump said of U.S. and Israel strikes there. “They didn’t expect anything like this.”
Polls showed that Americans were increasingly wary of Trump's handling of the economy even before the conflict with Iran began, and fighting there has derailed Trump’s messaging, as the low gas prices he once bragged about are now surging and stocks that had set record highs have slipped.
Employers also cut an unexpectedly high 92,000 jobs in February, and revisions trimmed another 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls — which the White House had previously hailed as “blockbuster."
After Democrats pushing the message that the everyday cost of living remained too high won the Virginia and New Jersey governors' races in November, the White House announced that Trump would travel the country more frequently. It was an attempt to show that he’s taking kitchen table issues seriously and reassure voters nervous about still-rising prices and economic growth.
Since then, the president has made stops in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas — though his speeches have sometimes been more focused on his own political grievances than on his plans to help lower everyday costs across the country.
This trip, however, marks the first time in this primary cycle that Trump has sought to keep promises to punish members of his own party who oppose him on key issues.
The president has endorsed Gallerin, a farmer, businessman and retired Navy SEAL, who is running against Massie in Kentucky's Republican primary on May 19.
Massie is an outspoken Trump critic who opposed the White House-backed tax and spending measure and bucked Trump by pushing to have files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein released.
He's also criticized the U.S. strike on Venezuela that toppled then-President Nicolás Maduro and, most recently, the war in Iran.
Trump posted on his social media site during his Wednesday trip, “The Republican Party’s Worst ‘Congressman,’ EVER, Thomas Massie."
Massie said he hoped the president would use his trip to help work for the district. He told the Cincinnati Inquirer that Trump's endorsement is “all my opponent has going for him." adding that Gallerin “has promised to be a rubber stamp when he gets to Washington D.C. and I don't think people here want a rubber stamp."
President Donald Trump speaks as he visits Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump poses for a photo during a visit to Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One, Monday, March 9, 2026, at Miami International Airport in Miami. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
