Streamers' speculation, misinformation pervades Nancy Guthrie coverage

True-crime reporter Jonathan Lee Riches, who operates under the moniker JLR Investigates, was outside Nancy Guthrie's house on Feb. 16, live streaming when he heard that a car was being towed from a house that law enforcement had swarmed days before.

Riches told the more than 45,000 people watching the live stream that he has kept up for a week that he had to move. "We gotta go," he said.

No other media members camped outside the home of Nancy Guthrie packed up to join him.

Among those covering the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, are a relatively new type of journalist: live streamers and true crime aficionados.

The streamers stand with phones shoulder high, narrating sometimes fact-starved and conspiratorial thoughts about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, who was reported missing on Feb. 1 from her Catalina Foothills home.

Others post online about the case or host live shows about it. At least one, Joshua Ritter of Courtroom Confidential, has traveled to Arizona to host a nightly show online about the case.

Ashleigh Banfield, the former cable news host, hosts a podcast called "Drop Dead Serious." She has floated a theory that a relative of Guthrie was involved in the disappearance.

Riches also has mentioned the names of extended family members, suggesting possible involvement.

A statement released on Feb. 16 by Pinal County Sheriff Chris Nanos seemed aimed at the online speculation. It said the Guthrie family, including spouses, had been "cleared" of involvement in her disappearance.

"The family ... are victims in the case," the statement said. "To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel." Nanos asked members of the media to exhibit professionalism and compassion.

The online speculation ferments as the investigation into what happened to Nancy Guthrie drags into a third week. Investigators don't know where Guthrie is, nor who took her, nor why.

Traditional media outlets, using caution and avoiding speculation, are also not providing clarity in a story that has seen more questions than answers.

So amateur detectives sitting behind keyboards and in front of cameras have stepped in to provide possible answers.

And to chase down cars being towed.

By the time Riches got to the neighborhood where the car was being towed, it was gone. But one of Riches’ followers later would send him photos of the car being towed. Undaunted, Riches went on to the home of Annie Guthrie, another daughter of Nancy Guthrie.

There, he walked along a desert wash and told his viewers he had seen a coyote.

“Things are happening, folks,” he said. “Things are happening.”

JLR Investigates has been the most persistent of the handful of live streamers at the Guthrie case. He and the others have a direct connection to their audience, sometimes responding to questions in real time and sometimes asking for money to keep the program going.

Chasing tips in real time as the investigation unwinds

Theirs is an unfiltered look at tips and information flowing in real time.

An example: On Feb. 10, reports surfaced that law enforcement had made a traffic stop of a man in Rio Rico, a community about an hour south of Tucson. A program that tracks flights showed a helicopter leaving from the Tucson airport, landing in Rio Rico and then landing at a hospital near the University of Arizona.

The Republic and other media outlets sent journalists to the hospital to see if the activity was connected to the Guthrie case, maybe signaling a rescue.

But the hospital parking lot did not have law enforcement in it, as it likely would have had the helicopter been connected to a rescue. It was a good tip, but not one that panned out. The Republic never reported on the medical helicopter flight.

Riches was in the hospital parking lot. A Republic reporter saw him talking and holding his phone in front of his face, broadcasting the "news" about the hospital to his viewers.

Riches said he thought the sheriff's Feb. 16 statement about the Guthrie family being cleared might have been aimed at himself. He said he told his viewers he would no longer visit the home of Annie Guthrie, since the sheriff said she and her husband were not involved.

He said he would still report on the possible involvement of extended family members, as he did by name on his stream on Feb. 16, and other days.

'Not everything that pops up is fact, but you just have to know that'

For Crystal Rogers, 44 of Florence, a true-crime buff, the unfiltered nature of the stream is its prime attraction.

“You’re kind of right there in the midst," she said, after meeting Riches outside the Guthrie house and giving him a candy bar to keep him fueled. "Not everything that pops up is fact, but you just have to know that."

Rogers was watching the night Riches reported from the hospital about the helicopter that had made the trip to Rio Rico. Even though it was not connected to the Guthrie case, she said she was glad he took her along his reporting journey.

Before visiting the Guthrie home on Feb. 16, Rogers swung by the neighborhood where police had swarmed over the weekend. She saw the car being towed and told Riches, getting him mobilized to the scene.

Katie Warfield, a Catalina Foothills resident and a Riches follower, said it was possible that the car was just being towed to a mechanic and that it had nothing to do with the case. Still, she said, it was good that the information flowed to Riches' viewers.

A Fox News Digital reporter posted online that the car had been in a wreck and was towed at the request of an insurance company. It was not related to the Guthrie case.

Warfield talked to The Republic after pausing her own live stream. She had a social media presence using the moniker Behind Green Eyes that concentrated on exposing one particular person she said was a scam artist.

But her subscribers and moderators asked her to begin documenting the Guthrie case.

"(They) knew I lived down here and wanted boots on the ground," she said.

Warfield mainly works at night, after her day job building custom furniture. On Feb. 16, she brought Riches a chair, although it was a camping chair and not one of her creations.

Warfield traveled to Rio Rico when law enforcement detained a person for a few hours in the case. That lead, shared by law enforcement with the media, ended with the man's release.

Warfield said she has become personally invested in the outcome.

"It's been heartbreaking," she said. "I hope there's a break in the case."

The live streamers arrive as media presence grows

News reporters and camera crews started lining the street outside of Nancy Guthrie's home in the first days after her Feb. 1 disappearance.

The neighborhood has no sidewalks nor streetlights. The narrow asphalt road provided just enough room for passing traffic to get past the cars and trucks of journalists parked across the street.

The first week, the media camped out included Tucson television stations and those from Phoenix. There were crews from the broadcast networks NBC and ABC and the major cable networks, CNN, MS Now, Fox, NewsNation. There was a reporter from People magazine and photographers working for TMZ.

Drones buzzed overhead, with journalists forming their own air traffic control network to prevent collisions.

The presence grew in the second week, including a Los Angeles-based television station and a crew from an Australian television network.

It was during this week that the livestreamers started camping out, with Riches beginning a near-constant stream of the Nancy Guthrie home.

On one occasion, a pizza was delivered to the house. It was apparently meant for Riches and sent by a fan. That prompted a Sheriff’s Department advisory asking media not to have food sent to a crime scene address, saying such actions “interfere with an active investigation.” 

Craig Donovan stood amidst the journalists under a white canopy next to boxes of chips, trail mix and soda. The business owner said he was offering the refreshments to media and freelancers for free — as well as to any interested passers-by.

He, like many of the people camped out at Nancy Guthrie’s home, was waiting on “some update, some new tip.”

“It cost me a couple dollars to try and give back to the community,” Donovan said.

As the case entered the third week, the number of media crews dropped off a bit, almost back to the number during the first week of the case.

A sheriff’s vehicle has been parked in the driveway to keep people off the Guthrie property.

On Feb. 16, a man holding up his tablet walked halfway up the drive before a deputy stopped him.

At times, law enforcement and investigators have also taken active steps to hide their movements and operations.

On Feb. 12, authorities erected a pop-up tent over a portion of Guthrie’s front patio — the area where a possible abductor was seen on security footage — as evidence was processed.

Arizona Republic reporters observed sheriff’s vehicles block intersections and armored SWAT trucks enter nearby neighborhoods during a coordinated operation on Feb. 13.

Hours later, in a Culver's parking lot, authorities held a sheet to shield their work while examining a gray Range Rover that was later towed away.

Is misinformation affecting the investigation?

The coverage of Guthrie's disappearance has prompted reaction from elected officials and online commentators.

State Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Tucson Democrat, criticized what she called misinformation and speculation from some self-described journalists and live streamers.

“I can’t believe I have to say this, but if you’re not law enforcement, go home,” Hernandez wrote in a post on X, accusing some online personalities of spreading “lies” and interfering with an active investigation. She urged people to allow authorities to “do their job.”

Her remarks drew a response from national conservative commentator Jack Posobiec, who amplified the exchange to his more than 3 million followers on the platform.

“We will not stop reporting,” Posobiec wrote in response, defending independent coverage of the case and questioning Hernandez’s criticism.

His brother, Kevin Posobiec, serves as a correspondent for Real America’s Voice, a conservative news channel. He used to be a live streamer but said he was becoming more of a broadcaster. He said he had done three “hits” that day on the network’s shows beginning at 5:30 a.m.

Kevin Posobiec, interviewed outside the Guthrie home, said he was being more guarded with information now that he was broadcasting for a network than when he was streaming on his own.

“There’s a lull in the story, but you still have to report,” he said. “It’s hard not so speculate.”

He said when he has qualms about reporting something, he will check with his brother Jack, who serves as his editor.

Jack Posobiec was a key figure in disseminating the so-called “Pizzagate” conspiracy that led people to believe a Washington, D.C.-area pizza shop was a cover for a child sex trafficking ring.

During one lull in the story on Feb. 16, Riches spent time speculating about a business card that he had seen that was left on Nancy Guthrie’s front door. The card was from a case manager for Arizona’s Adult Protective Services division.

Riches speculated that there might have been an open case of elder abuse.

There was not.

A Republic reporter saw the card on Feb. 3 while taking photographs at the front door. A reporter called the phone number listed. An agent said the card was left after Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, not before.

It was left so Nancy Guthrie, an older adult who lived alone, could contact the agency if she needed services once she returned home safe.

The Republic did not report on the card at the time as it did not seem relevant information.

But, as idle speculation on a relatively slow day, it provided Riches with something to talk about.

Streamer: Lack of information leads to speculation

Riches, approached by The Republic while walking near the home of Annie Guthrie, said he didn’t want to be interviewed. But he did respond to questions, all the while live streaming.

He said people were so curious about the case because, “mystery, mystery.”

Riches said he sometimes had to speculate, but he said it was because officials were not providing a steady stream of facts.

“A lack of information leads to speculation,” Riches said.

Riches declined to say what led him to start JLR Investigates.

In a 2024 interview with Advertising Week, he said lived in Florida by way of Pennsylvania. He called himself a “news hound” who used to write stories but moved to YouTube in August 2022. He intensely covered a missing girl case in Tennessee and an escaped prisoner in Pennsylvania.  

A part of his biography he didn’t raise in the interview was his felony conviction for filing a phony lawsuit against former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was nearly assassinated in 2011 outside a grocery store in the same Catalina Foothills neighborhood where Nancy Guthrie's house stands.

In March 2016, according to a criminal complaint, he filed a civil action against Giffords posing as Jared Loughner, the gunman who tried to kill her. The complaint sought $25 million.

Riches pleaded guilty to a charge of making false statements in September 2018, according to court records, and was sentenced to five years' probation.

He told The Republic that he filed the lawsuit while he was serving federal prison time for a wire fraud conviction. He said he filed that fake lawsuit, and others, along with other inmates as a joke that helped pass the time.

The lawsuit against Giffords, he said, was in bad taste.

Riches walked to his vehicle parked outside Annie Guthrie’s house and headed back to where other media were congregating outside Nancy Guthrie’s house.

On his live stream, he talked about the pending story that would be published by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com and wondered whether it would be a “hit piece.”

Riches said that story might say that “these true-crimers are causing lots of havoc.”

Riches described himself more simply when talking to The Republic. “I’m just a journalist,” he said.

Arizona Republic reporters Sarah Lapidus, Helen Rummel, Perry Vandell and Rey Covarrubias Jr. contributed to this article.