Bongino Reveals 3 Possibilities In Nancy Guthrie Case

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino laid out three unsettling possibilities in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, warning that the lack of hard evidence has forced investigators to confront scenarios that grow darker by the day.

Bongino addressed the case Monday night on “Hannity,” saying the stalled investigation leaves little choice but to consider outcomes that fall outside the traditional kidnapping playbook.

“The first possibility would be, obviously, it’s a kidnapping. That was an intended kidnapping for a ransom payment…” Bongino said.

“The second possibility would be this was just a crime that went awry. Someone was at the house, maybe it was a burglary, maybe something went bad, and you’ve got some bad actors committing another crime unrelated — in other words, requesting a ransom for something you didn’t do just to take advantage of a situation like this.”

Bongino said the third option may be the most uncomfortable of all: that Guthrie’s disappearance was not a kidnapping in the conventional sense, but the result of a medical emergency or non-criminal event that was later misunderstood or mischaracterized as something more sinister.

He stressed that investigators are being boxed in by what is missing rather than what has been found.

Bongino pointed to the absence of digital and forensic indicators that typically surface early in serious abduction cases, noting that when days pass without license plate hits, cellphone data, surveillance footage or DNA evidence, it suggests one of two things.

Either the perpetrators are unusually sophisticated, he said, or “the story you’ve been told, or you may have believed may not be the story.”

While Bongino declined to rank the three scenarios by likelihood, he said each remains viable given the lack of traction in the investigation so far.

He also referenced commentary from veteran FBI Special Agent Lance Leising, agreeing that legitimate ransom kidnappings usually follow a predictable pattern that has not materialized in Guthrie’s case.

Those cases, Bongino said, typically involve fast communication, direct demands and early proof of life. None of those markers have been clearly established here.

“At this point, I think we have to consider everything outside the box, because whatever is inside the box is not really panning out right now,” Bongino said.

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her Arizona home earlier this month. Authorities have confirmed suspicious circumstances at the residence, and the case has drawn national attention as multiple agencies, including the FBI, joined the search.

As the investigation intensified, Savannah Guthrie released an emotional public plea, describing the situation as an “hour of desperation” while urging anyone with information to come forward.

Law enforcement has been investigating an alleged ransom note tied to the disappearance, though officials have not publicly authenticated it. A deadline referenced in that note passed Monday night without any proof of life or resolution, further deepening concern around the case.

With few answers and mounting pressure, Dan Bongino said investigators are now navigating one of the most dangerous phases of any missing-person investigation, where assumptions can be as misleading as the silence itself.

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