'I Think She's Dead': Expert Drops Chilling Prediction as £900k Reward Goes Unclaimed

Allison Weiner has voiced one of the bleakest theories yet about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, telling journalist Ashleigh Banfield on a recent episode of Drop Dead Serious that she believes the missing 84-year-old — the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie — may already be dead, and that this could explain why no one has tried to claim a reported $1.2 million (£898,188) reward linked to the Arizona kidnapping case.

Allison Weiner's Stark View Of The Nancy Guthrie Case

The sharpest line in the discussion came after Banfield asked a deceptively simple question about the reward money. 'Why do you think no one has come forward with $1.2 million (£898,188) on the table?' she said.

NewsNation investigative producer Allison Weiner did not hesitate. 'I think it's too risky. Because she's dead. I mean, God forbid, but I think it's too risky. You're going to go to jail if you come forward and say I have her. You can't get the ransom money if you killed her.'

Banfield, for her part, sounded as certain as ever. She said she believed Nancy Guthrie had been targeted specifically, possibly because of a long-standing grudge or what she described as a 'targeted hit'.

The Clash Over Whether One Man or A Small Group

At one point, Banfield appeared to shift her own emphasis. Although she had initially identified Tommaso Cioni, Nancy's son-in-law, as the likely perpetrator, she interrupted, 'I don't think it's him. But it's someone who knows him and knows he behaved bizarrely because that guy's entire Sunday was blown. And his Monday wasn't a whole lot better either, and then he was really nervous the minute that video of the guy with the mask came out.'

Ashleigh Banfield argued that the perpetrator's behaviour must have changed once more details about the case were made public.

'This guy behaved in extraordinary ways. All throughout February 1, February 2, I'll say, right through February 5. And then I think it was February 10 or 11 when they came out with the mask video. "Oh, finally we can see him!" He behaved differently, and somebody knows that.'

Weiner did not entirely share Banfield's view that the Nancy Guthrie case points to a lone abductor. She agreed that somebody may know more than they have said, but she argued the crime did not feel like 'a one-man job'. Her reasoning was tied to details mentioned in the discussion, including 'a back door' and 'blood drops in the house'. Even then, she added, 'You know we're just speculating.'

Banfield would not move. When Weiner asked whether she still believed Nancy's kidnapper acted alone, she replied, 'Absolutely, I think it's one guy. Happens all the time. And they can easily haul 150 pounds over their shoulders. It's happened before.'

The conversation returned to the reward money one last time, with Weiner saying, 'I thought whoever would get the reward would be implicated, so it has to be done very carefully,' she said as Ashleigh interrupted, saying, 'Who loves this person very much until she doesn't, and then maybe she'll talk.'

Weiner ended on the bleakest possibility of all, 'Or he does it again to someone else, and then they catch him.'

Meanwhile, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos pushed back and, at an early stage of the investigation, announced that all family members had been cleared.