Former NYPD detective says Nancy Guthrie's disappearance 'could be hoax'

A former detective has cast doubt over the alleged kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s elderly mother, suggesting the puzzling case could even be a hoax.

Nancy Guthrie vanished near her Tucson, Arizona home on January 31 and was reported missing the following day after she failed to turn up for church.

Days later, the Today show host and her siblings issued a tearful public plea, urging anyone holding their mother to let her go.

But former New York Police Department detective Paul Mauro said the behaviour of the supposed abductors raises suspicions.

Speaking on Fox News’ The Big Weekend Show, Mauro said the people contacting the family appear to be ‘playing games’ rather than offering solid proof Nancy is alive.

"I feel like they’ve been playing games with the details in the house and all of that," he said, adding bluntly that the situation could 'all be a hoax'.

He suggested the suspects may have expected to provide ‘proof of life’ but now cannot.

"They probably planned for the idea that they could provide proof of life, and now they find themselves in a spot where we can’t," Mauro said. "So what do we do? Now we’ve got to bargain for something else."

"That’s my read with the limited facts we have, hoping against hope I’m wrong," he added.