Did police blockade Tommaso Cioni's home with him inside as their probe into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance "suddenly" focused on the son-in-law as a suspect? No, that's not true: At the time of writing, there was no evidence that police had surrounded Cioni's home or that he was inside. This false claim about Savannah Guthrie's brother-in-law was created by a Vietnam-based spam factory.
The claim appeared on several "Viet Spam" Facebook accounts, including a post (archived here) published on the "Lil Chase" page on February 9, 2026. The caption read:
🚨 10 MINS AGO -- POLICE SURROUND SON-IN-LAW'S HOME: Tommaso Cioni Suddenly at the Center of Savannah Guthrie's Mother Investigation.
A back door mysteriously left open. Traces of blood reportedly discovered. And detectives say they are no longer looking for an outsider...
👇See what police uncovered below
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Feb 9 22:05:28 2026 UTC)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of NBC Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing from her Arizona home on February 1, 2026. Tommaso Cioni is married to Savannah Guthrie's sister. At the time of writing, authorities had not publicly named any suspects in the disappearance.
A Google news search (archived here) for the words "Tommaso Cioni police blockaded home" returned no reports that police had surrounded the home or that Cioni was inside. There were also no reports he has been identified as a suspect in Guthrie's disappearance.
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 "Lil Chase" Facebook page, according to transparency information on its profile page (archived here), is controlled from Vietnam.
Another post (archived here), which includes a bizarre AI-generated video, with a caption that read:
10 MINS AGO -- SON-IN-LAW'S HOME BLOCKADED: Tommaso Cioni Thrust Into the Spotlight as Police Seize Vehicles in Savannah Guthrie's Mother Case 😮💔
(Image source: Lead Stories GIF 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. 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)
These posts link to an article (archived here) published on a website that lists Hong Kong as its base. The article does not make the same claim about Cioni being blockaded or a suspect.
