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What happened to Vi Ripken? Well before Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Tucson home, the mother of a Major League Baseball legend endured a bizarre kidnapping plot.
Vi Ripken was the mother of MLB star Cal Ripken, Jr. Vi Ripken lived to 82, dying in 2021. She was "once the victim of a bizarre kidnapping," The Associated Press reported in her obituary. Guthrie, the mother of TODAY Show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was abducted in the early morning hours of February 1, 2026. She has not been located, and her abductor's identity and motive are not clear.
A retired FBI agent named Jennifer Coffindaffer compared the two cases on X. "You won't believe this. Cal Ripkin's mother was kidnapped similarly to Nancy," she wrote. She stopped short of theorizing that they were related; rather, she wrote: "Could Nancy's Case be a similar scenario? Some cases are outside the norm. They don't involve anyone known by the victim. That's what makes them so hard to solve. We learn from past cases which teaches us about future cases."
Like Nancy Guthrie, Vi Ripken Was Abducted at Gunpoint From Her Home
What happened to Vi? "In 2012, police said she was kidnapped at gunpoint at her home in Aberdeen and driven around blindfolded by her abductor," The AP reported. "She was found bound and unharmed about 24 hours later in her car near her home. The case was never solved."
According to an ESPN story from 2012, "The gunman forced Ripken into her silver Lincoln Continental between 7 and 8 a.m." Investigators told ESPN at the time that they "do not know the kidnapper's motive and there was no ransom demand for Vi Ripken's release." According to ESPN, the kidnapper "put some type of mask or blinders on her, and she could see somewhat out the side," referring to Ripken. But she told a neighbor he didn't seem to know who her son was and just wanted money and a car.
That differs somewhat from the Guthrie kidnapping. But there are similarities, among them:
- Both Vi Ripken and Nancy Guthrie were abducted at their homes.
- Both were elderly women who were related to celebrities.
- Both involved armed attackers. This detail is known about Nancy's abductor because his image was captured on her door cam video. Both attackers were believed to be men.
- Images were obtained of both suspects, but neither was caught. "Although a picture of the man has been widely distributed and Cal Ripken Jr. offered a $100,000 reward, he has never been caught," reported WBAL-TVof the Vi Ripken incident.
There Are Also Differences Between the Abductions of Nancy Guthrie & Cal Ripken Jr.'s Mom
There are also differences between the two cases:
- Ransom demands emerged in Guthrie's case, after notes demanded Bitcoin.
- Ripken was returned; Nancy Guthrie remains missing.
- Blood was found on Nancy's stoop. It belonged to her, the sheriff revealed in a news conference.
A year later, Violet (Vi) Ripken was the victim of what appears to be an unrelated carjacking. Coffindaffer noted how rare it was for elderly people to be the victims of abduction.
"Out of 49,292 kidnappings tracked by the FBI, only 692 involved victims aged 70 and older, making elder abduction extremely rare," she wrote.
