During mid-February, Roswell Said published a fascinating blog post on Medium. In it, Said links the abduction of Nancy Guthrie (mother of NBC‘s Savannah Guthrie) in Pima County, Arizona to historical grievances, political hypocrisy, and timing around a congressional funding decision.

As it turns out and as Roswell Said notes, the Guthrie family hail from Kentucky and Savannah’s ancestors owned a coal-mining operation in Harlan and Yancey Counties, Kentucky. He argues Nancy Guthrie’s abduction may be related to to the Guthrie family’s coal-mining legacy in Harlan and Yancey Counties, Kentucky, rather than a simple crime. Said questions Sheriff Chris Nanos’s investigation (noting his own 2024 retaliation lawsuit) and floats revenge as a motive, echoing the historic Bloody Harlan labor wars between miners and the Guthrie-owned Harlan Fuel Company.

Said posits three weeks before Nancy Guthrie’s abduction, the House passed a bill revoking $500 million from the Abandoned Mine Land fund. The author claims this threatened cleanup projects in Kentucky mines once owned by the Guthries, potentially angering locals still affected by the polluted legacy suggesting Nancy’s kidnapping as a possible Bloody Harlan 2.0 or politically motivated backlash against mining interests and climate fear-mongering.

Despite the Guthrie family’s mines not only funded local infrastructure, poverty wages we allegedly paid, miners were housed in shacks, and the family’s company operated dangerous mines linked to deaths (e.g., the 6-brother Massingale Tragedy). The Harlan Fuel Company also left lasting environmental and economic damage in Appalachia that persist to this day.

However, the weakest part of Said’s piece is his attempt to link Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping to Tucson officials – Mayor Regina Romero and Rep. Adelita Grijalva – accusing them of pushing green policies and anti-mining stances while the city hosts the world’s largest gem and mineral show (which began the week of the abduction). The show allegedly relies on gems/minerals mined abroad under exploitative conditions (including child labor and human trafficking in places like Tanzania and Myanmar), yet fuels Tucson’s economy.

Gem shows are a massive annual economic event with international vendors, some of whom source from problematic mines abroad and Said’s policy critique that politicians promoting the shows while pushing climate/mining-restriction policies elsewhere is fair. But, conceptually, Said fails to link the abduction of Nancy Guthrie (who had no documented role in the shows, gems, or mining debates) as retaliation for Tucson’s carbon-neutral posturing.

It would require the perpetrator to view the Guthries as the embodiment of Tucson’s alleged hypocrisy—again, with no realistic actor who holds that specific worldview and acts on it via violent crime. Though speculative at best, Roswell Said’s revealing the Guthrie family’s past owning the Harlan Fuel Company and the environmental damage its mining operations caused as being a motivation for Savannah’s mom’s kidnapping, in my view, is more plausible.

Rural towns in America, including in the Appalachia region (where Kentucky is located), have strong, tight-knit communities built on shared hardship and perseverance. While, unfortunately, many people from the area moved away when the coal mining industry collapsed, there are people who still live in the areas affected by the environmental damage caused by Harlan Fuel Company’s mines. Consequently, it is very likely that the memories of what happened with major events (like the Massingale Tragedy) are passed down orally to future generations coupled with the historical resentment.

While the Guthrie family of today is not responsible for the conduct of their ancestors, the possibility of Nancy Guthrie being kidnapped resulting from vengeful act with the Harlan Fuel Company’s environmental degradation is something that should be explored by law enforcement if they haven’t already done so. This is an ongoing investigation that has lasted almost two months with lots of leads but no progress on solving Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance much less even finding her.

The most recent news is that the FBI has found DNA evidence at Nancy Guthrie’s home that genetic genealogist CeCe Moore says is an important development. We will see. But, like anyone else (including Roswell Said), I only want what is best for the Guthrie family and, hopefully, Nancy Guthrie will be found alive and soon. If not, the Guthrie family deserves closure with their mother’s body being recovered.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay