For over forty years, Dr. Phil McGraw has delved into the nation’s most distressing abduction mysteries, yet the alleged kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie stands out as particularly perplexing to the famed talk show host.
“Something seems off here. This doesn’t follow the usual pattern,” he remarked in an exclusive conversation with the Daily Mail on Tuesday.
The interview coincided with the release of unsettling footage showing a masked individual, armed and tampering with a camera at Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep in Tucson, Arizona.
This discovery occurred just hours before authorities apprehended a person of interest, a significant development in the ten-day search for the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie.
“I’ve never encountered a situation quite like this,” Dr. Phil expressed, highlighting the unusual lack of communication from the suspected kidnappers to the Guthrie family.
“Unless we’re dealing with complete novices, their primary objective is usually to secure the ransom quickly. Yet, it seems there’s no ongoing dialogue,” Dr. Phil added.
Indeed, over nearly two weeks, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have pleaded with their mother’s suspected captor to engage with her family and even offered to pay a ransom. But beyond an unverified ransom note, there has been no known back-and-forth.
Dr Phil finds the lack of dialogue troubling, for in his experience observing FBI and law enforcement kidnapping probes as part of his media career, criminals seek to release their captives as quickly as possible.
‘The longer the perpetrator has the individual they’ve abducted, their risk goes up dramatically,’ he added. ‘They want a quick resolution; they want a quick payday.’
Over more than four decades of covering the nation’s most troubling abduction cases, the suspected kidnapped of Nancy Guthrie is unlike anything renowned talk show host Dr Phil McGraw has ever seen (Pictured: Dr Phil and Savannah Guthrie in 2017)
Over nearly two weeks, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have pleaded with their mother’s suspected captor to engage with her family
On Tuesday, chilling footage of an armed, masked figure tampering with a camera on Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson, Arizona, doorstep emerged
This apparent departure from the norm raises two distinct and unnerving possibilities for the veteran newsman and host. ‘Number one is these are just incompetent amateurs and they’ve panicked and moved on, or, number two, they don’t have anything to bargain with,’ he worried.
Now, according to Dr Phil, the best strategy for the Guthrie family is to avoid confrontation and ultimatums and turn their dealings with the abductors into a professional arrangement of sorts.
‘The smartest thing that people can do to get resolution is to take the emotional energy out of the situation and make it a business transaction,’ he said. ‘The family says: you have what we want, we have what you want, and let’s get this done.’
In this way, Dr Phil believes Savannah and her siblings are doing everything right, while communicating through the media.
‘I think Savannah and her family have done exactly what they could have, should have, and needed to do. How else are you going to talk to these people?’ he asked.
‘My advice is to continue exactly what they’ve being doing,’ he added, remarking that the Guthrie family’s pleas have been directed as much toward the kidnappers, as others who may have some knowledge of these events.
‘These kidnappers don’t live in a vacuum. They’ve either dropped out of their ordinary lives, so somebody knows they’re missing, or they’re part of a community where Nancy is being held. Somebody knows what’s going on here,’ he said.
It’s also no surprise to Dr Phil that the Guthries offered to pay a ransom for their mother’s return. Submission to demands is not rare, he says. Families typically capitulate to requests, as they prioritize peaceful resolution over the capture of criminals.
‘It’s astounding,’ said Dr Phil, ‘the majority of these [kidnaping cases] are never reported, because one of the first things that happens is that families are told not to contact law enforcement. And – for fear for the safety of their loved ones – they don’t or it’s very discreet.’
Indeed, this case is personal for Dr Phil. During his long media career, he’s frequently crossed paths with Savannah Guthrie, whom he deeply admires.
‘I’ve talked to her on camera, I’ve talked to her off-camera, I’ve talked to her when we weren’t getting ready to go on camera and there aren’t two Savannah Guthries,’ he said. ‘Savannah Guthrie is as successful as she is because she is so genuine, so relatable, so authentic.’
That personal connect, perhaps, makes this case more difficult for Dr Phil to observe and his heartbreak for the Guthrie’s is clear.
‘I was very close my mom as I know Savannah is with hers,’ he concluded. ‘The mental picture of your mother’s somewhere, either in danger, or if she is deceased, being dishonored, disrespected, discarded in some way is a horrible reality to have to entertain.’
‘Yet, it’s impossible to escape those realities, and I think that is a painful consideration to the entire family and I absolutely hate that. They don’t deserve this, it’s not right, it’s not fair. It’s absolutely devastating.’
