Phoenix police have identified the woman found with signs of trauma near the Grand Canal last week as 42-year-old Alex Fleming, while investigators in Southern Arizona said Monday they still see no public evidence tying her death to Nancy Guthrie’s abduction near Tucson.
The two cases became linked in public conversation because of timing, geography and the intense attention surrounding Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. But they are at different stages and, as of Monday, on different evidentiary tracks. In Phoenix, detectives are working a death investigation centered on Fleming and are waiting for the medical examiner’s findings and additional surveillance video. In Pima County, sheriff’s investigators and the FBI are still pursuing an abduction case with no suspect publicly named, no arrest announced and several forensic leads still unresolved.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen by family members on the night of Jan. 31 after visiting her daughter Annie Guthrie and son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, in the Tucson area. Investigators have said Guthrie returned to her Catalina Foothills home that night, and the known timeline tightened in the early hours of Feb. 1. A camera at her front door captured a man in a ski mask, backpack, gloves and a holstered gun tampering with the device. About a half-hour later, Guthrie’s pacemaker app lost contact with her phone line. By late morning, after she failed to appear for church, relatives went to the house, found her missing and called 911. On Feb. 5, authorities said blood found on her porch belonged to her. In one early family plea, Savannah Guthrie said, “This is very valuable to us and we will pay,” underscoring how quickly the case had shifted from a missing-person call to what investigators described as an abduction.
The Phoenix case entered that atmosphere on the morning of Mar. 6, when officers were called to the Grand Canal area near Oak Street in central Phoenix and found Fleming unresponsive on the canal bank. Police said she showed signs of trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene. By Mar. 8, authorities publicly identified her as Alex Fleming, ending at least one layer of uncertainty even as the rest of the case remained open. A witness who spoke to Arizona’s Family said Fleming’s body was near his property, partly covered by a large black winter coat, with a bicycle nearby and blood visible at the scene. Homicide detectives collected evidence and canvassed for security footage from homes and businesses along the trail. What remains unknown is central to the case: how Fleming was injured, when she died, whether she was attacked where she was found, and who may have been with her in the hours before police arrived. Phoenix police have asked for tips, but they have not announced an arrest or released a suspected motive.
Speculation around a possible link to Guthrie grew because the Phoenix scene surfaced while the Tucson investigation was entering its sixth week and because public attention around the older case has stayed unusually high. Nancy Guthrie is a vulnerable adult with limited mobility, a pacemaker and a need for daily medication. The FBI first offered a reward of up to $50,000 and later raised its own public offer to $100,000. On Feb. 24, the Guthrie family added a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to her recovery. That appeal came with a visible shift in tone. Savannah Guthrie said her family was still holding onto hope but also acknowledged the possibility that her mother “may already be gone.” Even with the reward and repeated video pleas from relatives, investigators have said there has been no known direct contact between any confirmed suspect and the family. Two purported ransom notes were circulated through media outlets early in the case, but authorities have not said those messages produced a breakthrough.
The strongest public clue in the Guthrie case remains the doorbell footage released on Feb. 10 by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. Hours after those images were made public, authorities searched a home in Rio Rico, about 60 miles south of Tucson, and detained a man for questioning. He was later released, and no charges followed. Another lead once appeared promising when investigators recovered gloves about 2 miles from Guthrie’s home that resembled those worn by the masked person in the video. DNA from the gloves produced no match in the national CODIS database, and on Mar. 4 sheriff’s officials said further testing traced the gloves to a local restaurant employee who is not considered part of the case. Other evidence is still being tested, including additional gloves and other trace material sent to a private laboratory in Florida. Sheriff Chris Nanos has said detectives believe they are closer to answers than they were earlier in the inquiry, but he has also made clear that key pieces of evidence remain outside public view in order to protect the investigation.
The contrast between the two Arizona scenes has become part of the story. In Phoenix, the Grand Canal is a busy strip used by joggers, cyclists and families, and neighbors said the discovery rattled people who had treated the path as routine public space. “It’s kinda scary actually,” Roger Garcia, who was near the canal with his son, said after the body was found. Miriam Lopez, a jogger in the area, said the killing made her feel less safe on a path she already avoided at night. In Tucson, Nancy Guthrie’s home has become something quieter and more symbolic, with yellow flowers, cards and handwritten notes left outside by friends, strangers and churchgoers. Savannah Guthrie visited that tribute with family members last week before making an off-camera stop at NBC’s New York studios to thank colleagues for their support. In one recent family appeal, she said, “Someone out there knows something,” a line that has come to frame both the waiting in Tucson and the questions still hanging over the canal bank in Phoenix.
As of Monday night, Phoenix police had identified the woman found near the canal as Alex Fleming, but her official cause and manner of death were still pending. Nancy Guthrie remained missing, and the next likely milestones were the medical examiner’s findings in Phoenix and any new forensic or surveillance developments announced by Pima County or the FBI.
Author note: Last updated March 9, 2026.