A former top FBI official has raised doubts about whether Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mom, Nancy, is really still alive and being held by kidnappers.

“I’m very skeptical of this,” former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday.

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker questioned whether Nancy Guthrie's disappearance is truly a kidnapping during an appearance on "The Big Weekend Show"
Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker questioned whether Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is truly a kidnapping during an appearance on “The Big Weekend Show.”Fox News
“Is this really a kidnapping? Does somebody really have her, and is she really alive?” he said of the fiends claiming to have her.

The former FBI bigwig voiced his suspicions after Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings took to social media to plead with their mother’s apparent abductor to return her — as they agreed to pay up to the abductors demanding $6 million ransom.

“If this was a kidnapping, it would be a very simple matter to authenticate and provide proof of life,” Swecker said, noting that no evidence had been “credibly authenticated at this point.”

“You have to allow for the possibility that this was something more or something other than a kidnapping.”

Swecker also pointed to the ransom demands being reported, which skyrocketed from $1 million to a reported $6 million in a matter of days.

Savannah Guthrie with her mother, Nancy Guthrie in 2020.
Savannah Guthrie with her mother, Nancy Guthrie, in 2020.savannahguthrie/Instagram

A drone view of Nancy Guthrie's house after the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother Savannah Guthrie, who went missing from her home, in Tucson, Arizona, on Feb. 8, 2026.
A drone view of Nancy Guthrie’s house after the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, who went missing from her home, in Tucson, Arizona, on Feb. 8, 2026.REUTERS
“Remember now, it was 1 million not too long ago. All of a sudden, it’s 6 million,” Swecker told the outlet.

“I really think there’s a third party here that’s just playing with them, opportunists who think they can exploit this situation.”

At least two purported ransom messages have surfaced since the “Today” show anchor’s ailing mom vanished from her Tucson home.

The first purported ransom note, which was sent to multiple media outlets a week ago, laid out two deadlines — one on Thursday, which passed, and a second on Monday, FBI officials said.