Sudden increase in Nancy Guthrie reward money is worrying: ex-FBI agent

The staggering $100,000 cash reward being offered in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is worrying because it indicates investigators have very few leads to go on, a former FBI agent has claimed.

The FBI doubled its initial cash reward for information leading to a breakthrough in the case late Thursday — nearly two weeks after the 84-year-old vanished from her Tucson, Ariz., home.

“When I see the FBI is offering more money for information that tells me that the FBI doesn’t have the information,” retired FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told Newsweek.

Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, was reported missing on Feb. 1, 2026. savannahguthrie/Instagram

In an aerial view, a law enforcement vehicle is stationed outside of Nancy Guthrie’s residence on Feb. 11, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. Getty Images

“When you see a case quiet, where there’s no big amount of money offered, that means they are running leads, they really don’t need the public’s help. They need the public’s help right now.”

Coffindaffer warned, though, that offering up such big rewards often triggered an influx of “completely bogus” tips.

“You will very seldom see these big reward amounts in comparison to the number of cases the FBI has,” Coffindaffer said. “It’s because they don’t want to get everybody coming out of the woodwork.”

Here’s the latest on Savannah Guthrie’s missing mom

• Investigators ask for month’s worth of Nancy Guthrie footage from before disappearance in latest measure
• Savannah Guthrie heartbreakingly posts old home video of a young Nancy with her children: ‘We will never give up’
• Key giveaways in Nancy Guthrie case that show suspected kidnapper is not ‘a trained assassin’: former FBI special agent
• Arizona authorities received nearly 18,000 tips since Nancy Guthrie was allegedly kidnapped from her home
• Mysterious black glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s home could hold crucial DNA evidence: former FBI agent

Nearly 20,000 tips have poured in since Guthrie was reported missing — including 4,000 calls after authorities released eerie surveillance images of the suspect lurking at her doorstep.

Guthrie’s neighbors have since been asked to hand over personal security footage as the frantic search stretched into its 13th day.