Nancy Guthrie Update: Forensic Expert Claims Savannah's Mum Was 'Bleeding Pretty Badly'

Nancy Guthrie may have been 'bleeding pretty badly' on the front steps of her Arizona home when she disappeared in the early hours of 1 February, a forensic scientist has said, raising further questions about what happened to the 84-year-old mother of 'Today' anchor Savannah Guthrie.

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing by relatives on 1 February and has not been seen since. The FBI is treating the case as a suspected abduction, and previously released security footage shows a masked, armed individual appearing to tamper with the camera at her front door around the time she vanished. No suspects or persons of interest have been publicly named, and investigators have not confirmed how or where she was injured.

Forensic Reading of Blood Near Nancy Guthrie's Home

The latest assessment comes not from law enforcement but from Dr Amy Santoro, a forensic scientist with 18 years' experience as a crime scene investigator and laboratory analyst. Speaking on the 17 March episode of 'The Megyn Kelly Show', Santoro analysed photos and video of blood marks outside Nancy Guthrie's home and said the pattern was 'really concerning.'

'Assuming that Ms Guthrie is moving at somewhat of a walking pace, these blood stains show that she's bleeding pretty quickly,' she told host Megyn Kelly. Santoro stressed that she is not professionally involved in the case and that her conclusions are based on images already in public circulation, not on direct access to the scene. This means that they constitute expert analysis rather than official findings.

In her on-air assessment, Santoro focused on blood spots visible on the porch outside Nancy Guthrie's Arizona property. She described them as 'drip stains', drops of blood that fall under gravity from a wound or bloodied object onto a surface. 'That happens when blood falls from a certain height onto a target surface like this,' she said. 'So what I can tell is that the blood is falling from a height probably more than 2 feet. Whether that's from her hand, her arm, her face, I don't think we can tell.'

From there, Santoro drew a broader inference about the rate of bleeding. 'There's so much blood out there that if you were walking, I don't think you would see that distribution of blood with a slower bleed,' she argued. 'You can see there are multiple drip stains in that area. So, unless she's standing there stationary for a period of time, which of course is possible — although I think unlikely in an abduction — I think it shows that she really is bleeding pretty badly.'

She also suggested the injury may have been inflicted outside rather than just inside the doorway. 'I really don't see any blood in the area of the door,' she said, adding that this absence tilted her, cautiously, towards an outdoor assault scenario. At the same time, Santoro ruled out some possibilities. The stains did not appear consistent with a gunshot wound. 'It doesn't seem like the type of blood staining that you would get from a very serious injury like a gunshot,' she said, explaining that analysts would typically 'expect to see much smaller stains associated with a gunshot' and usually far more blood once such a serious injury begins to bleed.

She repeatedly acknowledged that 'there are so many variables that can affect this', a caution that, without full access to the scene, medical reports, and sequence of events, no outsider can offer a definitive account of what happened.

Seven Weeks On, Few Answers In Nancy Guthrie Case

The hard facts of the Nancy Guthrie investigation remain sparse. The FBI has confirmed that a masked and armed figure was caught on camera interfering with the doorbell device at her home on the morning she went missing; beyond that, the bureau has released only a basic physical description and a series of appeals for information. She is described as 5ft 5in tall, weighing around 150 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. There has been no official word on what she was wearing at the time of her disappearance or whether any personal items are believed to be missing with her.

The financial weight of the search has also grown. Savannah Guthrie and other family members have put up a reward of up to $1 million (approximately £745,000) for information leading to Nancy's recovery. The FBI has added its own $100,000 (approximately £74,500) reward for tips that lead to Nancy 'and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved,' underlining that investigators are preparing for both rescue and prosecution scenarios.

Officials have not publicly commented on Santoro's television analysis of the bloodstains, and nothing in the broadcast changes the fact that, seven weeks in, Nancy Guthrie's whereabouts, her condition, and the identity of whoever came to her door remain unknown.