Nancy Grace, the veteran prosecutor turned true-crime superstar, is as flummoxed by the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie as everyone else who is following the heartbreaking story.
Grace detailed her thoughts about the case that has riveted Americans as part of her opening keynote conversation Friday at Variety’s inaugural True Crime Summit at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. The disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie has been headline news every day since word surfaced that the mother of “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie had been kidnapped out of her Tucson, Ariz. home on Feb. 1.
Grace spoke with Dea Lawrence, Variety’s Publisher and Co-President who is herself a true-crime buff. Lawrence opened the session with a direct query about how the Guthrie case has yet to be solved despite all the cutting-edge forensic tools that are available to investigators these days.
“I’ve been asking that question since about Day 2 of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance,” Grace said, citing her depth of experience in investigating and prosecuting violent crimes. “I’ve been wondering, how is this happening?”
Grace said she did have one strong conviction about the case — direct family members are not involved. Amid the inevitable speculation about the kidnapping having been orchestrated by someone close to the Guthries, Grace said her every instinct tells her that it is not an inside job situation. She pointed to Savannah Guthrie’s actions in recent news video footage of Guthrie family members gathering outside Nancy Guthrie’s home.
“For one reason, and one reason only, I do not believe the Guthrie family is responsible, because although it was many years ago that I first met Savannah Guthrie, she is, I’d like to assure you, not a fake TV person,” Grace said. “She’s real. She is real, just like she is on TV. She’s super-smart. She’s a trained lawyer, and I find it not just difficult but impossible to believe that Savannah Guthrie would drape her arm around [a family member] if she suspected he was involved,” Grace said. “All your true crime, legal aficionados would say you look at the family first. Of course you do, because statistically, that’s who did it. But I don’t think that’s who did it in this case.”
Grace also reflected on her own experience with violent crime that led her into the work she does today. Her fiance, Keith Griffin, was murdered in 1979 when Grace was a 19-year-old college student.
“I remember the smell of the carnations at my fiance’s funeral — the smell makes me sick even now. I can’t stand to smell it. It’s such a moment in your life that you never forget,” Grace said. She expressed her deep sympathy to the Guthrie family, given her visceral memory of how hard it is to process the impact of violent crime. She compared it to being in the upside-down world of “Alice in Wonderland.”
“When you’re in the middle of it it’s like you’re Alice. Everything’s upside down. Nothing makes any sense. I remember after my fiance Keith was murdered, I would ask my mom for days, ‘Is Keith dead?’ I couldn’t take it in for a really long time.”
Grace was critical of local Tucson authorities, particularly Sheriff Chris Nanos, for their handling of the case in the early days.
“I believe that they were advised by law enforcement not to jump on a ransom, that they thought law enforcement could solve it organically by the sheriff that runs desert justice, a reality show. So that’s another big problem — waiting so long to call in the feds,” she said.
More to come
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