Did police arrest Annie Guthrie and seize her vehicle after finding something "deeply disturbing" in the investigation of her mother Nancy Guthrie's disappearance? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, there was no evidence that Annie Guthrie was in police custody. This false claim about NBC Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's sister was created by a Vietnam-based spam factory.
The claim appeared on several "Viet Spam" Facebook accounts, including in a post (archived here) published on the "Issa" page on February 10, 2026. The caption read:
DEVELOPING NOW: Annie Guthrie is in police custody after a sudden late-night move by investigators in the disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie.
Her vehicle has been seized. What detectives reportedly uncovered inside is being described as "deeply disturbing" and could rewrite everything we thought we knew.This case just exploded in a way no one expected.Details in the comments.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed Feb 11 06:01:41 2026 UTC)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her Arizona home on February 1, 2026. At the time of writing, authorities had detained a man as a "person of interest" in the case, but his identity had not been made public.
The post links to an article (archived here) titled "Thirty miпutes. That was all it took for a quiet iпvestigatioп to explode iпto a пatioпal obsessioп," published on a website that lists Hong Kong as its base. That fake article, apparently generated by artificial intelligence tools, opened:
Just half aп hour ago, Aппie Guthrie was takeп iпto police custody, her haпds cuffed as flashiпg lights reflected off the wiпdshield of her seized vehicle.
A Google search (archived here) for the words "annie guthrie arrested police custody" returned no reports that police had taken her into custody or seized her car. There was one article (archived here) published in India headlined: Annie Guthrie arrested in Nancy Guthrie case? It never answered the question it raised.
The websites and Facebook pages spreading this claim are part of a spam network based in Vietnam that uses AI tools to target Americans and Europeans with fake clickbait. We call it Viet Spam.
The "Issa" Facebook page, according to transparency information on its profile page (archived here), is controlled from Vietnam.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
The Vietnam connection is significant, since fact-checkers, including Lead Stories, have identified a major source of AI-generated false stories coming from a single operation based in that Southeast Asian country.
Lead Stories debunked a similar fake claim published by the same network of Facebook pages and websites that falsely reported that Nancy Guthrie's son-in-law was blockaded in his home, surrounded by police, because of suspicion he was involved in the disappearance.
You can see recent reporting and fact checks mentioning that country here.
Here is how you can tell from where a suspicious Facebook page is controlled. Click on the page name at the top of the profile page. A box will open that includes a "Transparency and privacy policy" link. Click on that and a box will open showing the countries where the managers are located.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
