Savannah Guthrie's Missing Mom Latest: The 'Reason' Authorities Searched Nancy's Septic Tank — And the Truth Behind the Mysterious Silver Briefcase Revealed
The search for Nancy Guthrie has entered its second week.
Feb. 9 2026, Published 11:55 a.m. ET
Investigators looking for Savannah Guthrie's missing mother have taken their search underground, RadarOnline.com can report, and were spotted digging through a septic tank behind her home.
The hunt for the frail 84-year-old has now entered its second week, with another key deadline looming.
Looking for Clues in the Septic Tank
Savannah Guthrie's mother has been missing since Feb. 1.
Three investigators were spotted on Sunday sticking a long pole into the tank at Nancy Guthrie's Tucson, Arizona, backyard, apparently looking for any clues that may have been flushed down the drain.
"A lot of people forget that having a septic tank means wastewater doesn't go into a city sewer, it goes into the tank," former SWAT team captain Josh Schirard told the Daily Mail. "So, somebody may have flushed something thinking that would get rid of it, but instead it would actually just be deposited in the septic tank.
"It is a possibility that [investigators] are now trying to make sure that there’s nothing in there that could indicate any kind of guilt."
Mysterious Briefcase Appears
Investigators swept through the 84-year-old's septic tank.
It's unclear whether investigators found anything useful in the tank. Detectives were also spotted conducting a late-night sweep of Nancy's daughter Annie's home.
Sheriff's deputies took pictures of Savannah's sister's garage, and officers left the property with a mysterious silver briefcase.
"They were leaving with a Cellebrite [case]," Schirard revealed, explaining that the case helps investigators look for clues in the electronic devices. "Cellebrite is a company that specializes in recovering digital forensic evidence. So we use Cellebrite pretty extensively to recover digital evidence from phones, devices, tablets, and computers."
He continued: "When you delete a picture off your phone, it's not actually gone. When you delete a picture or a Word document from a hard drive, it's not actually gone."
Savannah Ready to Pay
Savannah and her family have said they will pay a ransom.
The latest ransom note indicated the kidnappers have demanded $6million in Bitcoin, and have set a 5 p.m. MST deadline for Monday, February 9.
And Savannah and her family say they are willing to meet that demand.
In a late-night video over the weekend, the TODAY show anchor revealed she and her family were finally contacted by her mother's kidnappers.
"We received your message, and we understand," Savannah said, speaking for her sister, Annie, and brother, Camron. "We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace."
Savannah indicated the kidnappers provided proof that Nancy is still alive, and they are ready to put this nightmare behind them.
"This is very valuable to us, and we will pay," she said.
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The First Deadline Has Come and Gone
FBI detectives are piecing together clues to Nancy's whereabouts.
Nancy was abducted from her Tucson home in the early morning hours of Sunday, February 1. Authorities previously said they had no suspects or persons of interest in her mysterious disappearance.
A previous letter set an initial ransom demand of "millions" in Bitcoin cryptocurrency, with a deadline of 5pm MST on Thursday.
That deadline came and went without the captors contacting the Guthrie family, as an upset Camron took to Instagram and shared, "Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven't heard anything directly."
"We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate so we can move forward. But first, we have to know that you have our mom," he begged.
