Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Savannah Guthrie Quintuples Reward for Information Leading to Her Mom | Crime Alert 6AM 02.25.26

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Nancy Guthrie is missing for the twenty-fifth day as her family announces a $1 million reward for information that leads to her recovery. Kouri Richins returns to court after jurors watch body-camera video and hear detailed testimony about her actions in the moments after her husband was found unresponsive. The stepbrother of Anna Kepner is now the main suspect months after the Titusville teen was found dead during a family cruise. A three-year-old Arizona girl is found safe after a statewide Amber Alert led police to a Phoenix gas station and the arrest of a houseguest. Drew Nelson reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Crime Alert, hourly update. Breaking Crime News now. I'm Drew Nelson. Nancy Guthrie remains missing for the 25th day as her family announces a $1 million reward for information that leads to her recovery. The 84-year-old mother of NBC Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie vanished from her home in the Catalina foothills outside Tucson February 1st. Investigators believe she was taken from her bed in the middle of the night. Savannah Guthrie released a video Tuesday announcing the expanded reward. The offer is in addition to a $100,000 FBI reward and a matching Tucson Crime Stoppers reward.

The family is also donating half a million dollars to the National Center for missing and exploited children. Savannah Guthrie speaking directly to the public says someone knows something that can bring her home, but she says her mom might already be reunited with her daddy in heaven. We also know that she may be lost. She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves, but we need to know where she is. For that reason, we are offering a family reward of up to $1 million for any information that leads us to her recovery. At least one ransom note demanding millions of dollars in cryptocurrency turned out to be fake and a California man has been charged.

CNN reports, a group of Mexican volunteer searchers known as Las Manderes Buscadores de Siames, Sonora, the searching mothers of Sonora, have traveled to Arizona to help. Some handing out flyers while others are searching near the border town of Nogales. Mexican authorities say there is no evidence Guthrie is in Mexico. Investigators on both sides of the border have been alerted to the search as part of routine procedure. But investigators have pushed back on growing volunteer search efforts around the Catalina foothills. The Pima County Sheriff's Department asked civilians not to conduct independent searches, warning that uncoordinated activity could disturb evidence and interfere with the investigation. The sheriff denied a permit for a field search by Las Madres.

Authorities also reminded the public that private property laws apply and urged anyone with information to submit tips instead of searching on their own. Meanwhile, nearly 40,000 tips have poured in. Hundreds of investigators continue to comb the desert around Tucson. For more on the case of Nancy Guthrie, joined crime stories with Nancy Grace, 6 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM. Triumph, Channel 111, and streaming exclusively on Fox 1 for the first 24 hours. More crime and Justice News after this. Corey Richens returns to court after jurors watch body camera video and hear detailed testimony about her actions in the moments after her husband was found unresponsive. Prosecutors say Corey Rinchins, fatally poisoned her husband Eric Richens, with fentanyl in their home in Utah.

in March 2022, then publicly presented herself as a grieving widow, even writing a children's book about it. Deputy Vincent Wynne with the Summit County Sheriff's Office described arriving at the home and seeing Corey Ritchin's standing near the doorway while paramedics worked on Eric Ritchin's. The video showed her crying, holding her head, and repeatedly asking if he would be okay. Wynne testified that her demeanor struck him as unusual compared to other sudden death scenes he had handled. While I'm on scene at a death call, normally, you know, the victim, they have tears. They look at me when I ask them a question while they respond. They're pretty direct when I ask a direct question. It just every time I spoke to Ms. Richens, it just seems like her face was in her hands,

and I couldn't see her face. Prosecutors used the body cam footage to argue her responses did not match someone who had just discovered an unexpected medical emergency. Jurors also heard Richon's explanation that her husband complained of chest pain the night before and may have eaten a THC gummy. She said she slept in another bedroom and heard nothing overnight. She told deputies she discovered him cold early the next morning and immediately called for help. Medical examiner Dr. Pamela Ulmer testified the autopsy found no trouble.

traumatic injuries, apart from rib fractures caused by CPR. Tests ruled out infection, heart attack, and natural disease. She explained lung findings were consistent with overdose, and toxicology later showed roughly five times the lethal level of fentanyl in his system. Prosecutors alleged Richens poisoned her husband for financial gain and to pursue a new relationship. They pointed to life insurance benefits and real estate transactions they claim followed the death. Defense attorneys countered that investigators, to judgment and ignored alternative explanations, arguing the overdose could have been accidental

and that the home scene may have not fully been processed before conclusions were drawn. The trial unfolding in Utah is expected to continue for about a month as jurors hear additional forensic experts and witnesses who knew the couple. The stepbrother of Anna Kepner is now the main suspect months after the teen was found dead during a family cruise. 18-year-old Anna Kepner was discovered on November 7th, the board of the the carnival horizon. A housekeeper found her under a bed in the cabin she shared with her 16-year-old stepbrother whose name has not been revealed. Investigators later determined she died from

asphyxiation consistent with an arm placed across the neck. The ship returned to Miami the next day, and the FBI opened a federal investigation because the death occurred in international waters. The teenager was quietly identified as a suspect early in the case, but the public has only learned of the formal charges through court filings tied to a a custody dispute inside the family. Documents filed by his biological father state the boy was charged February 3rd by the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of Florida. Much of the filing remains redacted, and federal prosecutors have not publicly described

the exact counts because juvenile cases are sealed. The filing also reveals the turmoil inside the household after the cruise. According to the document, the boy was expelled from the home immediately after the trip and family social media posts referenced wanting justice and punishment. His father is now seeking sole custody of the suspect's younger sister, arguing the situation is unsafe and emotionally damaging for the child. Family members have described the moments leading up to the death. Relatives say yelling was heard inside the cabin the night before Anna was found.

The teen's mother later said he repeatedly claimed he could not remember what happened. Court records also referenced possible alcohol consumption aboard the ship and concerns about supervision of the minors. Earlier this month, cameras captured the stepbrother entering federal court in Miami, wearing a camouflage hoodie and keeping his face hidden as attorneys escorted him inside. The hearing itself was sealed and reporters were not allowed to attend. Anna, who was a high school senior and cheerleader with plans to join the Navy, had told relatives she felt unwell the night before she died and returned to the cabin. Her body was found wrapped in a blanket and covered with life jackets. The FBI has declined to discuss evidence

publicly, and the case remains sealed as federal investigators continue building the prosecution. A three-year-old Arizona girl is found safe after a statewide Amber Alert leads police to a Phoenix gas station and the arrest of a house guest. Investigators say the child's parents had allowed 23-year-old Marina Noriega to stay in their Avondale home because she said she needed a place to sleep. By morning, both the toddler and the woman were gone, triggering an urgent search across the valley. KPHO reports a gas station security guard believed he spotted the child. Witness Kevin Place was with a moving crew, stopped at the station at the time. Overheard the security guard that works there often, talking, I'm assuming to the police about the girl and that he thinks that he

just seen her in there. Kevin's co-worker Ralph Volmer says they then acted to stop the suspect from leaving thanks to the third member of their crew. I said, that's the little girls in that truck. And then Robert came up with the idea, I'm just going to leave the truck right here then. So he couldn't leave. Kevin Place described the moment police arrived and the impact of the case.

It was surreal. You know, you get the ambulance a lot and you don't hardly, you know, you never see the people they're asking for, but super glad that the ambulance worked out this time. Court records say the suspect initially claimed to be the child's mother and that the child was her long-lost daughter,

before admitting she had made a mistake. Officers also reported drug paraphernalia was found as stated in court. Defendant admitted that a glass pipe was located on her person during the search, and she admitted to using smoking methamphetamine the day before, and that was during the time she had control of the child. During a virtual court appearance held over Microsoft teams, the defendant stood alone at a podium in a quiet courtroom. resting her head on her elbow while facing a laptop as attorneys and court staff appeared in small boxes on the screen. Authorities say the child was not physically harmed and has been reunited with her

family. Noriega remains jailed on a custodial interference charge. For the latest crime and justice news, follow Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite podcast app. With this crime alert, I'm Drew Nelson.