Arizona Police Hunt Woman Wanted in Kidnapping Miles from Nancy Guthrie's Home

A new wanted person has emerged in the Tucson area—and the timing, location, and nature of the alleged crime are raising eyebrows in a region already gripped by one of the most troubling missing-person cases in recent memory.

Coral Michelle Smith, a 40-year-old woman with an extensive criminal history, is being sought by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in connection with a May 29 kidnapping and aggravated assault. The alleged incident occurred roughly 7 miles from Nancy Guthrie’s residence in the Catalina Foothills—the same area where the television personality’s mother vanished from her home on February 1, with no resolution in sight.

Court records paint a troubling picture of Smith’s past. In 2020, she was sentenced to prison after being convicted of robbery in a case that also involved kidnapping and drug charges (the latter two were ultimately dropped). Before that, her rap sheet stretches back to 2011, when she was found guilty of robbery. Over the years, she’s also accumulated convictions for criminal trespass, attempted vehicle theft, and disorderly conduct. This isn’t someone with a minor brush with the law—this is a pattern of escalating and serious offenses.

What makes this development particularly unsettling is the geographical proximity and temporal context. Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping has haunted the region for months, with her daughter, Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, offering $1 million for information leading to Nancy’s whereabouts. Law enforcement has publicly stated there’s no indicated connection between Smith and Nancy’s disappearance, but the fact that another alleged kidnapping unfolded so close by—and so recently—underscores how dangerous this corner of Arizona has become.

Savannah opened up Monday on Today about the daily toll this has taken. She cries on the way to work and after it ends, she shared, but keeps moving forward because that’s what her mother would have wanted. That’s the human cost behind these headlines: a family fractured, a search that continues, and a community where the unthinkable has already happened once, and may be happening again.

The investigation into Smith remains active. Whether her alleged crimes connect to Nancy’s case or represent an entirely separate threat remains to be seen. Either way, the Tucson area is facing hard questions about safety and the patterns of violence that seem to be repeating in its own backyard.