Nancy Guthrie Was at 'Very High Risk' of a Fatal Heart Attack the Moment She Was Taken

Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since 1 February, when authorities believe she was abducted from her home in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Arizona. Now, more than five weeks into the investigation, experts are raising urgent questions not only about who took her, but about whether she could have physically survived the ordeal. A sleep specialist has warned that the circumstances of that early morning disappearance may have placed Guthrie in immediate, life-threatening danger from the very first moment she was disturbed.

Speaking on the 'Crime Stories' podcast on 7 March, sleep specialist Pat Byrne said one particular scenario left him immediately concerned. Byrne focused on the human brain's response when someone is violently roused from sleep in the middle of the night—and what that means for an elderly woman with a known heart condition.

The Medical Risk of Being Woken at 2 am

Byrne explained that at 2 am, Guthrie was most likely in either deep sleep or REM sleep — the stage associated with dreaming. Being abruptly woken at that hour triggers what is known as sleep inertia, a period during which the brain struggles to transition from sleep to full wakefulness, potentially leaving a person profoundly confused and disoriented for several minutes.

'Our human brains do not go from fully asleep to fully awake,' Byrne said. 'There's this process, and it's called sleep inertia... So, at 2 am, [Nancy Guthrie] was probably either in a very deep sleep or in what's called REM sleep... And the interesting thing about that is if she were in a deep sleep, then she would be incredibly confused.'

According to Byrne, that disorientation alone would have left Guthrie unable to process what was happening, recognise danger, or respond to it in the critical moments when a masked individual was captured on her doorbell camera tampering with the device.

A Pacemaker That Made Everything Worse

Guthrie has a known heart condition and relies on a pacemaker. The Pima County Sheriff's Department previously confirmed that her pacemaker stopped syncing to her Apple Watch in the early hours of 1 February, a detail that has drawn significant public concern about her condition at the time she vanished.

Byrne said the combination of sleep inertia and her pre-existing cardiac vulnerability raised the stakes enormously. 'The research just shows that elderly people who, even without heart conditions, are at a high risk of heart attacks and being violently woken up from a deep sleep,' he said. 'And so you add on the fact that she has a pacemaker, which means she has a heart condition, makes it worse.'

To provide further context on pacemaker risks, Dr Srihari S Naidu, a board-certified cardiologist and professor of medicine at New York Medical College, noted that pacemakers are typically fitted in elderly patients with bradycardia or an abnormally slow heart rate. Dr Naidu, who is not familiar with Guthrie's medical history, explained that for a patient of her age, an abrupt physical shock to the system could carry serious cardiac consequences.

Blood on the Stoop

Investigators found drops of blood on Guthrie's front stoop, which have since been confirmed by the Pima County Sheriff's Department to match her DNA. Forensic pathologist Dr Michael Baden said the pattern of the spots—drops mixed with air—suggests the blood came from the nose or mouth rather than a wound to the extremities.

Former FBI agent Jim Clemente offered a different interpretation of the same evidence. Clemente said the nature of the blood droplets suggested Guthrie was likely still alive when she left the property. 'If you saw a dragging pattern, smear patterns on the floor, that would be another issue. But that's just not what we've seen,' he said.

Authorities have not confirmed whether Guthrie walked out of her home independently, was carried, or suffered a medical episode during the encounter. No suspects have been identified and no arrests have been made. The FBI is continuing to analyse cell records, surveillance footage, and a possible Wi-Fi signal disruption that affected at least one neighbouring property's security camera that night.

The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has drawn national attention in the United States and sparked broader conversations about the vulnerability of elderly individuals living alone. A $1 million (approximately £751,000) reward offered by the Guthrie family remains unclaimed. The FBI tip line—1-800-CALL-FBI —remains active, and investigators say the search is ongoing.