Nancy Guthrie's Kidnapping May Have Been A Mistake? Who's Peter Megaw, And Why Is He In The Talks?

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of popular NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing for almost three weeks now. Despite the involvement of over 100 law enforcement officials, including the Pima County Sheriff's Department, the FBI, and the SWAT, there has been no trace of the 84-year-old woman. Amid the flurry of speculations making the rounds on the internet, a fresh new angle has taken hold: what if Nancy wasn't the intended target at all?

Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her Catalina Foothills home in the early hours of February 1, 2026. Officials believe she was taken from her residence against her will, and the PCSD has since cleared the Guthrie family of involvement.

With nearly no possible link found in Nancy's mysterious disappearance, people in her neighbourhood are now wondering if the alleged abductors targeted the wrong house, linking the case to a high-profile gem theft.

Did the abductors target the wrong house and mistakenly kidnap Nancy Guthrie?

Amid the relentless manhunt for Nancy Guthrie, another person from her neighbourhood is gaining attention. In recent days, local residents and social media users have raised a finger at Nancy's neighbour, Dr. Peter K.M. Megaw, a renowned figure in the Tucson gem and mineral world, as a possible intended target. The reason? Well, the timing appears to have raised eyebrows.

Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home between January 31 and February 1, 2026. Around the same period as her disappearance, another local report surfaced regarding gem-related thefts connected to the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which took place at the Tucson Convention Centre from February 12 to February 15, 2026. Just days after Nancy's disappearance, a vendor at the gem and mineral show shared an Instagram post, claiming that a piece of "native gold", labelled Harvard Collection, had been stolen from a display case.

The poster added security footage showing a guy dressed in white wearing a white beanie as he removes the item from the case. The page, Mineral Classics, posted screengrabs of the thief and mentioned that the guy left the store without paying for the item. The caption can be read as:

"Yesterday at approximately 4:02 PM, a Gold from Breckenridge (in a Riker mount box labeled from the Harvard collection) was removed from one of our display cases without payment... In the first video, you can see the person dressed in white removing the item from the display case... If you recognize this person or have any information, please contact us directly."

Given the supposed lack of motive in Nancy's kidnapping, some users have started to wonder whether the perpetrators could have been targeting valuable stones ahead of the exhibition, and mistakenly approached the wrong house. 

See the post here.

Who is Peter Megaw, and why are people suspecting that he could have been the original target?

Image: Arizona Daily Star

Dr. Peter K.M. Megaw, a neighbour of Nancy Guthrie, is a prominent exploration geologist and longtime Exhibits Chair for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. According to information obtained from the University of Arizona, he is an internationally recognised mineral expert and mining executive who shares deep ties to the gem and mineral community. A co-founder of MAG Silver and Minaurum Gold, Peter Megaw is a well-known name in the mining and mineral world. In fact, his contributions to the field were recognised in 2022 when a mineral species, 'Petermegawite', was named in his honour.

Peter earned his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and went on to build a long career as a consulting exploration geologist. Over the years, he has picked up several major industry honours, including the 2012 Dreyer Award for excellence in applied economic geology and the PDAC 2017 Thayer Lindsley Award for outstanding exploration success. In the Tucson neighbourhood, he is especially recognised as an avid mineral collector. He has been an Exhibits Chair for the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show for decades. He is famously known to have an expensive mineral collection in his house.

Image: Friends of Minerals Forum

Given Peter's prestigious profile in the mineral and gem world, along with the recent theft at the Tucson Gems and Minerals Show vendor, many users are now wondering if the alleged thief was connected to Nancy Guthrie's case. Sharing a description of Peter Megaw, a user wrote on X:

“This is Nancy Guthrie's neighbor. The one seen loading all those boxes into his car for the Tucson gem show. Did the people who took Nancy get the wrong house?"

In light of these new revelations, other social media users also chimed in, pointing out similarities between the thief's shoes and those that the masked individual was seen wearing in Nancy Guthrie's doorbell camera footage. “Call me crazy, but does he look like the flat nose kidnapper? Shoes kinda look familiar too,” wrote one user. Another added that the individuals featured in the two CCTV videos bore similarities in facial hair as well. One X comment reads, "I don’t know if this is the same, but it should definitely be looked into if they haven’t. Lots of similarities like the shoes and facial hair. Hard to tell height, but does look average."

Speculation intensified when an independent reporter on the ground in Tucson noted that police were seen speaking with Nancy’s neighbours, some of whom were reportedly involved with the gem show. While many have now started to wonder if the perpetrator mistakenly went to Nancy's house, law enforcement has not confirmed any link between the recent gem theft and Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. It's still not clear if Peter was the possible intended target or if it's just another bit of wild theory.

What are your thoughts on this theory? Do you think Nancy Guthrie may have been mistakenly targeted in place of Peter Megaw? Let us know.

Also Read: What's Genetic Genealogy? It Once Helped Track The 'Golden State Killer', Can It Find Nancy Guthrie?

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