What’s going on with the images of Nancy Guthrie’s suspected abductor? While sources have told media outlets the suspect might have cased her home prior to her disappearance, local authorities are now calling that mere “speculation.”
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen Jan. 31 and authorities believe she was kidnapped from her Arizona home on Feb. 1. For weeks, an investigation into the disappearance has been underway and the case has been complicated by ransom notes and more.
Savannah Guthrie announced in a Tuesday Instagram video that her family is offering a $1 million reward for the recovery of her mother.
“Every hour and minute and second, and every long night has been agony,” the TV host said, adding that “she may be lost, she may already be gone.”
ABC News reported Monday that “sources familiar with the investigation” said that the masked individual who was seen on Nest doorbell camera images from outside of Guthrie’s home shared Feb. 10 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation “appears to have been at her front door earlier than Feb. 1.” According to those sources, the “image the FBI released of the suspect at her front door, without a backpack, was captured by her Nest doorbell camera on a day before the suspected abduction.”
People magazine noted that the release of the images has generated over 20,000 tips as of this week. It said the suspect is described as a man approximately 5’9” to 5’10” tall with an average build.
A Tuesday report from 13 News in Tucson, Ariz., also cited “a law enforcement source,” who said images of the suspect are from different days. That source could not confirm what days the photos were taken on.
In one photo among a batch released by the FBI, the suspect “is not carrying the backpack or gun seen in other video and pictures,” said WTVG, which also reported on the case. It said investigators in Pima County, Ariz., are still working to identify the clothing the suspect was wearing in the footage, with the backpack (purchased at Walmart), gun, and holster already identified.
Fox News Digital also reported that “a source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed,” that one of the doorbell camera images was from a different date than the others on Monday.
Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack told Fox News Digital that, if the suspect cased the home, it reveals an incident that took planning.
"That’s sophistication. That’s the hallmark of someone who thought about this before they acted. And it matters significantly from a legal standpoint, because premeditation and planning elevate the severity of what investigators are looking at,” Pack explained. “The suspect in this case may have thought they were being careful. But appearing twice on camera while trying to avoid identification isn’t careful. That’s exposure. And right now, investigators are working very hard to close that gap.”
Initially, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department deferred comment to the FBI. Then, it issued a statement on Facebook.
“We are aware that doorbell images released earlier in the investigation depict a suspect in different stages of attire, including with and without a backpack,” it said. “There is no date or time stamp associated with these images. Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative. This remains an active investigation. As with any active investigation, conclusions will be guided by verifiable evidence and established facts. Speculation, without factual support, does not advance the investigative process.”
According to WTVG, “[Pima County Sheriff] Chris Nanos said the information about the suspect possibly being at Nancy Guthrie’s home prior to her disappearance did not come from the sheriff’s office or the FBI.”
He told People magazine that there is “no evidence” that the individual seen in the doorbell camera footage was caught on camera the day before Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped.
“It is speculative at best and remains part of an ongoing investigation,” Nanos said.
People and Fox News Digital reported that residents in Guthrie’s neighborhood were asked by the sheriff’s department to submit surveillance footage dating back to Jan. 1. That request had a “particular focus on two windows of time between Jan. 11 at 9 p.m. and midnight, and Jan.
31 between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.,” People said.
“Authorities specifically requested video showing cars, traffic, pedestrians or anything unusual,” it added.
Guthrie’s doorbell camera disconnected at 1:47 a.m. on the night she was taken, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, as reported by Fox News Digital. Per the outlet one of her cameras registered a person at 2:12 a.m. but did not record the event.
It said the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the times the doorbell camera images were taken.