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Nancy Guthrie disappearance fuels rise of ‘mom detectives’ swapping tips and losing sleep
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In the search for missing mother Nancy Guthrie, law enforcement isn’t the only force chasing answers.
Across Facebook groups, Instagram threads and neighborhood camera apps, a growing network of self-described “mom detectives” has mobilized — dissecting timelines, swapping Ring footage and organizing shared online files in an effort to piece together what happened.
“I’m crazy about Nancy Guthrie… I’m not even trying to hide it anymore,” Melinda Long, a health and fitness coach, content creator and mother of three, wrote on Instagram, describing “wake-up-at-2am, what-is-the-truth kind of obsessed” deep dives into a case she says has pieces that “don’t quite add up.” She then asked her followers: “Anyone else completely locked into this right now?”
The response was immediate.
Within minutes, Long said, women flooded the comments echoing the same sentiment — anxious, invested and unable to look away.
“I’m waking up in the middle of the night, and I’m putting on Fox News, and I am not a girl who watches TV at night,” Long told Fox News Digital. “A lot of women are writing, ‘Same, same girl, same.’ You just said exactly what I’m feeling but afraid to say out loud.”
Long has no personal connection to the Guthrie family. Yet the case feels intensely personal.
FOX NEWS TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER: RANSOM DEADLINE PASSES, KEY EVIDENCE EMERGES IN NANCY GUTHRIE CASE
An undated photo of Nancy Guthrie and Savannah Guthrie was provided by NBC in response to the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of the “Today” show host. (Courtesy of NBC)
“Why do I feel so personal about it?” she said. “Savannah is like America’s sweetheart, right? So her mom feels like your mom. It feels like it could be my mom. I have a 75-year-old mom. I think a lot of moms feel that connection to it.”
She said recent true-crime documentaries have also shaped her perspective. After watching a Netflix series on Elizabeth Smart’s abduction, Long said she was reminded that early assumptions in missing persons cases can be wrong.
“We all thought she was dead. We just thought she was gone,” Long said. “And she wasn’t.”
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That memory, she explained, reinforces hope, even when details appear limited.
“There has to be more,” she said. “There has to be more information that we don’t know.”
Long says her online community includes “regular moms,” professionals and followers from as far away as the United Kingdom and Austria — underscoring how social media has erased geographic boundaries in modern crime cases.
“Social media really crosses that border of being just a U.S. news thing,” she said.
A digital routine
The intensity Long describes is not isolated.
On a Facebook page called “True Crime Mama,” one recent post asked followers: “Curious where everyone stands… Do you think she will be found or do you think she will never be found?”
In another group, a user named Lori Sparks wrote that she had been following the case “from the beginning,” adding that she was monitoring updates on “2 separate laptops that way I don’t miss anything,” along with hashtags calling for justice and Nancy’s safe return.
On Instagram, Michele McNaughton posted a reel of herself scrolling on her phone with text overlay that read: “The one new step I never skip in my morning routine: checking social media to see if they found Nancy Guthrie yet.” In the caption, she asked: “Why in the world is this taking so long to solve?”
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“I really do hope they find this woman. This whole thing just feels Mickey Mouse and botched. It’s sad,” McNaughton told Fox News Digital. “None of it makes sense.”
McNaughton added that she was “hooked on the story from the start.”
“I felt this could be my neighbor or mom who’s gone missing,” she said. “And I’m pretty sure we all thought the cops would’ve had it wrapped up in no time.”
But as the case unfolded, she said her confidence began to fade.
“As the days dragged on and the story got weirder, I started to think they were bumbling this case,” she said, describing what she viewed as a series of confusing developments — including mentions of ransom notes, talk of payment, suspects being detained and later released. “It’s a rollercoaster ride.”
The reaction in her comment section reflected similar frustration.
“The Moms of the World would’ve solved this by Tuesday,” one follower wrote.
“And the way this is going,” she added, “I’m starting to wonder if we could have.”
For some women, checking for developments has become part of their morning routine — alongside coffee, workouts and school drop-offs.
At the heart of the online engagement, Long insists, is concern not cruelty.
“I want them to know that everybody’s concern is genuine and real,” she said, referring to Guthrie’s family. “Any concerns are only because everybody wants her to be found. There are a lot of prayers and a lot of good intentions.”
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A sign of solidarity from neighbors at Nancy Guthrie’s home Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Caitlin O’Hara)
A growing trend
The phenomenon extends beyond the Guthrie case.
In recent years, mothers and online communities have mobilized around high-profile investigations including the 2022 University of Idaho murders and the disappearance of Gabby Petito — cases that unfolded in real time across TikTok, Reddit and Facebook, with civilians analyzing bodycam footage, social media posts and digital timelines.
Petito’s case in particular demonstrated the power of online attention to amplify a missing persons investigation nationally, but it also highlighted the risks of speculation spreading rapidly across platforms.
Now, digital tools that once served primarily for social connection, like neighborhood camera apps, shared drives and group chats, are being repurposed into informal investigative hubs.
What once might have been passive consumption of true crime has, for some, evolved into active participation.
When moms solve cold cases
The idea of mothers stepping into investigative roles is not entirely new.
In his new book, “The Carpool Detectives: A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies and One Mysterious Cold Case,” author Chuck Hogan details how a group of suburban mothers helped revive a 15-year-old double homicide that had long eluded investigators.
As first reported by the New York Post, the case centered on a 2005 incident involving a suburban businessman and his wife whose bodies were discovered near their wrecked SUV in a Los Angeles County canyon after they vanished without a trace. The family business had collapsed, millions of dollars were unaccounted for, and leads had dried up.
The effort was spearheaded by Marissa Pianko, who learned about the case while taking a broadcast journalism class at UCLA in 2020. What began as an academic exercise evolved into a years-long civilian push to reexamine evidence and press for renewed attention.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the group for comment.
The story has fueled discussion about whether organized civilian involvement can sometimes surface overlooked details or whether it risks complicating official investigations.
For Long, the constant scrolling and late-night updates aren’t about playing detective — they’re about hope.
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“There has to be more,” she said. “There has to be more information that we don’t know.”
Watching public appearances by family members has only deepened her emotional investment.
“She looks like hell,” Long said candidly. “And I’m thinking, I would look like hell too. I can’t even imagine if I’m getting up in the middle of the night and not sleeping…imagine the sickness and horror that she feels.”
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That identification, daughter to mother, mother to mother, may help explain why so many women are gathering in digital spaces to follow cases so closely.
Until there are clearer answers, she and thousands of other mothers say they’ll keep watching, refreshing feeds, sharing posts and waiting for the update they’re hoping to see.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
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The Texas Senate primary for Republicans is a bloodbath, and President Donald Trump isn’t wading in.
Trump, who appeared in Corpus Christi, Texas, to tout his energy agenda Friday, had the opportunity to stake his claim in the contentious race and endorse a candidate.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is the longtime incumbent fending off seven challengers.
But the real race is between Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.
President Donald Trump stops to speak to the media as he departs from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington, D.C. ( Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
All three were in attendance at Trump’s rally, reminiscent of the made-for-TV spectacles that dominated his successful 2024 election campaign. Yet Trump didn’t endorse any of them as Election Day in the primary fast approaches.
Trump acknowledged all three — he paired Cornyn and Paxton and mentioned Hunt later in his remarks. He noted that they were all engaged in an “interesting election.”
“They’re in a little race together,” Trump said of Cornyn and Paxton. “You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people, too.”
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and John Cornyn, R-Texas (Getty Images)
Cornyn is running for a fifth term in the Senate and fighting for his political life in a nasty primary election that Trump has time and again refused to weigh in on. He’s got the full weight of Senate Republican leadership behind him, too.
Paxton, who has faced headwinds with scandals over the years, has strongly aligned himself with the president and built a coalition of conservative backers in the House, including Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who brought him to Trump’s State of the Union earlier this week.
And while the trio duke it out, money is being burned at a record pace. So far, a whopping $110 million has been spent on the Senate primaries, and $88 million of that has been dumped into the GOP contest, according to data from AdImpact.
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Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, walks up the House steps for a vote on the budget resolution in the U.S. Capitol April 10, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Given the crowded field, it’s likely the race will head to a runoff, which will turn into a brutal sprint until late May. Paxton believes he could come out on top with at least 50% of the vote come March 3, while Cornyn is eying the long game.
The coveted Trump endorsement could put either over the top in ruby red Texas. And he may be close to picking his favorite.
Ahead of the event, Trump was asked if he had decided who to endorse.
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“Pretty much,” he told reporters.
But when asked if he would say who, he said, “No.”
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Jasmine Crockett reveals Colbert hasn’t invited her on show since furor over Talarico interview
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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, revealed Friday she’s still not been asked to appear on Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” days after the host claimed pressure from the Federal Communications Commission effectively censored an interview with her Senate primary political opponent, James Talarico.
Earlier this week, Colbert said CBS prevented the broadcast of Talarico’s appearance due to guidance from the FCC requiring shows to provide “equal time” to opposing candidates.
In response, the late-night host criticized the FCC and his own network. The Talarico interview was posted online, where it has garnered more than 8 million views on YouTube alone. The tumult and extra attention to the interview helped raise more than $2.5 million for Talarico’s campaign.
“No, I’ve not been invited on Colbert prior to his interview nor post his interview,” Crockett said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” Friday.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett speaks to members of the media following a House Oversight and Accountability Committee deposition in New Albany, Ohio, on Wednesday, Feb. 18. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Crockett explained that while she has appeared on Colbert’s show twice before, she has not been invited since she launched her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
“The only information that I got was after this debacle took place, I did receive a phone call from the parent company,” Crockett said.
She said that CBS representatives told her they did not tell Colbert he couldn’t air the Talarico segment. Instead, they said that if he had Talarico on, he had to offer the same time to Crockett.
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Texas state Rep. James Talarico, left, and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, both Democrats and U.S. Senate candidates, participate in a debate during the 2026 Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention in Georgetown, Texas, on Jan. 24. (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“They just said, if you air it, just make sure that you offer the representative equal time. Now, obviously, I wasn’t engaged in that conversation, so I cannot confirm the veracity of any statements,” she said.
“But I can confirm that I had never been asked to go on as it relates to kind of talking about the Senate race,” Crockett added.
CBS released a statement denying it censored Colbert, insisting the show chose to share the interview on YouTube instead to avoid the equal-time requirement.
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Texas state Rep. James Talarico appears with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” in New York on Feb. 16. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
However, during Monday night’s broadcast, Colbert insisted he and his guest were being censored, telling his audience, “[Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”
The media attention and Colbert’s multiple segments this week about the controversy provided a boon to Talarico’s campaign. On Tuesday, Colbert crumpled up the CBS statement denying it had forced the comedian not to air the interview and put it into a dog waste bag before throwing it away.
On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr dismissed the controversy as a “hoax,” stating that Talarico “took advantage of all of your sort of prior conceptions to run the hoax, apparently for the purpose of raising money and getting clicks. And the news media played right into it.”
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A spokesperson for Colbert’s show didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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A progressive House Democrat claims that attacks from her left were racially motivated in what’s become an explosive Texas Senate race.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, told supporters that she’s used to attacks from Republicans and the right, but racially tinged shots from her left flank weren’t something she expected.
“The thing that is not normal is for me to be attacked from the left,” Crockett said. “That is the new wild card in this scenario. But it’s just interesting.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett speaks to members of the media following a House Oversight and Accountability Committee deposition in New Albany, Ohio, Feb. 18. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“And you know, I’ve been asked a couple of times about it,” she continued. “And you know, I look at this specifically as a civil rights lawyer, and I see when they’re sending out ads and they’re darkening my skin. And I’m just like, I know what this is, right?”
Crockett did not get into specifics about which ads she was referencing or who was behind them.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Crockett’s Senate campaign for comment but did not immediately hear back.
It’s another instance in the Democratic primary for Texas’ Senate seat between Crockett and Texas state Rep. James Talarico in which race has again been jolted into the conversation.
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Rep. James Talarico appears with Stephen Colbert on the CBS series “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” in New York Feb. 16, 2026. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Before the latest drama over Talarico’s appearance on Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show,” which Crockett said she has not received an invitation to since launching her Senate campaign, the state lawmaker was embroiled in another back-and-forth with his former opponent.
Before Crockett entered the contest, Talarico was running against former Rep. Collin Allred, D-Texas, who was again vying for the Senate after losing to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2024.
Allred exited the race in December 2025 but earlier in February alleged that Talarico had referred to him as a “mediocre Black man” in reference to his campaign against the former lawmaker.
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Talarico pushed back against the allegation in a statement to the Texas Tribune at the time and said that he would “never attack him on the basis of race.”
“As a Black man in America, Congressman Allred has had to work twice as hard to get where he is,” Talarico said. “I understand how my critique of the congressman’s campaign could be interpreted given this country’s painful legacy of racism, and I care deeply about the impact my words have on others. Despite our disagreements, I deeply respect Congressman Allred. We’re all on the same team.”
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Early voting already is underway in Texas, with primary election day right around the corner on March 3.
Who either Crockett or Talarico will face in November remains in the air, given the three-way Republican primary battle among Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas.
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