‘Rookie’ Nancy Guthrie suspect made grave error on night of kidnapping: expert
Nancy Guthrie’s suspected kidnapper made a grave error when breaking into the elder’s Tucson, Ariz., home on Feb. 1, according to an expert.
On Tuesday, the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department released previously unavailable images and videos taken on a Google Nest camera mounted next to Guthrie’s front door, which show a disguised suspect tampering with the device before ultimately disconnecting and taking it.
It’s likely that the suspect thought any surveillance footage would be deleted upon disconnection — or at least unrecoverable given that Guthrie did not have a Google Home subscription — but that’s not what happened.
Longtime private investigator Andy Kay subsequently explained to Page Six how investigators were likely able to retrieve the footage.
“The cameras will record to the servers as long as they have internet. According to Nest, without a subscription, usually they are quickly overwritten by next images. But if the camera is disconnected, there should be nothing to overwrite on the server,” the Kay & Associates founder told us.
Essentially, if someone does not have a subscription to the service, it’s almost like a livestream being sent to the server: new images override previous images.
However, because this was the last image before the suspected kidnapper disconnected the camera, it’s the last thing that was sent to the server and therefore able to be recovered.
Kay branded the suspected kidnapper, whose weapon appeared to be holstered to their pants incorrectly, a “rookie.”
Reps for Google did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The newly released pictures and clips show an unknown, masked and armed individual — who was also carrying a backpack — approaching Guthrie’s front door and fidgeting with the camera.
The individual turned back around to grab a handful of foliage on the ground, which they then used to try to cover the camera.
“Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home that may have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible due to a variety of factors — including the removal of recording devices,” read an accompanying statement authorities released to the press, which noted that the footage “was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.”
The statement continued, “Working with our partners — as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.”
Her daughter Savannah Guthrie took to Instagram to post the chilling photos and videos shortly after they were released.
“Someone out there recognizes this person. We believe she is still out there. Bring her home,” the “Today” show host, 54, begged, adding, “We believe she is still alive.”
Amid the desperate search for Nancy, 84, multiple ransom notes were sent to news organizations describing demands for a large bitcoin payment along with deadlines and specific details about her and her house.
On Friday of last week, the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department announced that they were “actively inspecting” a “new message regarding Nancy Guthrie.”
The note demanded $6 million in bitcoin and set a deadline for Monday at 5 p.m. MT.
After the deadline came and went with no sign of Nancy and no payment, an FBI spokesperson said in a statement that the Guthrie family had not had “any continued communication” with the matriarch’s abductor.
Since the “nightmare” began, Savannah and her siblings — sister Annie Guthrie, 56, and bother Camron Guthrie, 61 — have posted several Instagram videos pleading with their mom’s captor and agreeing to pay for her return.
On the evening of Jan. 31, Nancy — who lives alone — took an Uber to Annie and her husband Tommaso Cioni’s house for dinner, the Pima County Sheriff previously said, noting that Cioni dropped her back off later that night.
She was reported missing the next day after she failed to show up for a church service.
Investigators believe Nancy was kidnapped in her sleep and “harmed” in the process, as a trail of her blood was found just outside of her front door. She requires daily medication, which was left behind.
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