Sheriff’s ‘Nancy Has Been Located’ Post Sparks Confusion as Netizens Call It ‘Intentional’

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department took to social media to announce that a missing woman named Nancy had been found. The update initially sparked excitement, with many believing it was related to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC’s morning show host Savannah Guthrie. However, that hope quickly faded when it became clear the post referred to a different woman, Nancy Radakovich.

On April 17, the sheriff’s department shared a missing persons flyer on X with the caption, “Update: Nancy has been located,” offering no additional details. The brief message led several users to believe it referred to Nancy Guthrie. It was only upon closer inspection of the flyer that they realized it was about another 82-year-old woman who had been reported missing on April 16 and was last seen near River Road and Campbell Avenue in Catalina Foothills, Arizona.

Radakovich was last seen wearing a bright pink jumpsuit and black sandals. She reportedly left the area in a silver Toyota Avalon sedan and was located within 24 hours.

The omission of the last name in the post sparked backlash on social media, with many users calling the update insensitive.

One X user wrote, “I’m embarrassed for my town. How disgusting! Making post as click bait?! Please don’t say that was not the intent. If you go back and look at all the other missing persons posts, they have the first and last name.”

“So unprofessional! How hard is it to put the last name!” another user commented. “I literally thought this was Nancy Guthrie. The way my heart just dropped,” wrote another.

Some responses were more pointed, with one user calling on the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to take action. “PCSD, you should be ashamed! This a** clown of a Sheriff needs to go and whoever is responsible for this post should be fired!” the comment read.

Another user criticized the post’s presentation, writing, “Who’s bright idea was it to post this that way? Feels very intentional. The photo is even similar. This Sheriff’s Department has some Serious Idiots working there & Huge Problems. No wonder Nancy Guthrie hasn’t been found after 2 months.”

“Wait, what? How many old people named Nancy are missing in your county?” wondered another individual.

Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her Catalina Foothills home in the early hours of February 1, following a family dinner at her daughter Annie Guthrie’s house on January 31. More than 75 days into the investigation, local authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have yet to determine her whereabouts.

Forensic expert and clinical psychologist Dr. Gary Brucato recently said he believes the abductor may have been someone Guthrie knew.

“You start thinking about the possibility of just abduction and the perpetrator is someone who knows you. Let’s say this is actually a homicide, up to 92 per cent of people who are killed in the United States know their killer in some way," he said. "So, this person who did this probably has some passing relationship at least with this victim and that matches some of the comfort level and potentially spending quite a lot of time in the house."