More than 10 days after the chilling disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, authorities have detained a person of interest for questioning.
The update came after officials released images and videos of a masked man appearing to tamper with the security camera at Nancy’s front door shortly before she vanished without a trace.
“We have made substantial progress in these last 36-48 hours,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Highlights
- Major breakthroughs were announced in the case of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.
- “We have made substantial progress in these last 36-48 hours,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
- Authorities detained a person of interest in Rio Rico, Arizona.
- Footage of a masked man outside Nancy's front door shortly before her disappearance was also released.
More than 10 days after the chilling disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, authorities have detained a person of interest for questioning
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Law enforcement agencies revealed that they detained a man for questioning in connection with the disappearance of Today show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie.
Pima County sheriff’s deputies had been trailing the man and pulled him over in Rio Rico, a tiny border community that’s about 60 miles south of Tucson, Arizona, where the 84-year-old mother was allegedly taken against her will from her home.
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The man’s identity was not disclosed, but he was deemed a person of interest in the case. Reports said he didn’t appear to be a Guthrie family member.
“Without polluting the investigation, I will say we have made substantial progress in these last 36-48 hours, thanks to the technical capabilities of the FBI and our partnerships and I do believe we are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest,” FBI Director Kash Patel said during a Fox News appearance on Tuesday.
The detaining of the “person of interest” came after authorities released footage of a masked man standing outside Nancy’s front door.
The person of interest was pulled over in Rio Rico shortly after authorities released footage of a masked man outside Nancy’s front door
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The black-and-white footage, captured by a Google Nest camera, showed the disguised man wearing gloves, khakis, sneakers, and a backpack. He appeared to tamper with the camera shortly before Nancy disappeared.
The individual's eyes were visible, and authorities said he appeared to have facial hair around his mouth.
“Not only were we able to get this type of information [doorbell footage], but we were able to exploit information … that showed us that there might be persons of interest in and around the area related to this event,” Kash told the outlet.
Experts claimed the masked man in the footage appeared to be an inexperienced thug, who seemed like an amateur in the way he carried his firearm and covered the security camera.
Former FBI agent Mark Harrigan pointed out how he had the firearm holstered in front and called it a “very non-conventional” move.
“He has it in the open, which is unusual, because normally you would want it concealed when you’re going to do a crime, so you’re not calling attention to yourself with an exposed firearm,” he told the New York Post.
The disguised man was suspected to be an amateur because of several “rookie” mistakes
Image credits: Savannah Guthrie
“That’s potentially somebody that’s not normally armed or carrying a firearm around in public. Normally, you’d have it on the hip,” he added.
Mark, who used to be the chief of the FBI’s Firearms Training Program, also said the way the suspect handled the security camera also suggested he was an amateur.
“You see the suspect come up to the door and he uses his hand to cover the camera, but only sort of,” he said.
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“He balls his fist up, and then you see him walk back out of the vestibule there,” he continued. “It appears he’s looking for something to conceal the camera. He reaches down and picks up some vegetation in an attempt to cover the camera.”
Normally, a “sophisticated person” would carry an object from the very beginning, like a hammer or spray paint, to deal with the camera.
“There was some violent crime that was going to occur in that home that night,” a former FBI agent said upon seeing the man’s backpack and weapon
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Former FBI agent Bryanna Fox, a University of South Florida criminology professor, said the black-and-white footage is currently the “best shot” that investigators have at solving the case of Nancy’s disappearance, because there was nothing “big” like “DNA or fibers at the scene that would have linked them directly to this person.”
“That would have been Plan A,” Bryanna told NBC News.
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Noting the man’s hand gestures and postures in the video, she said, “This person has not gone their entire life never interacting with others, family members, friends, colleagues, people that know him know who he is. They just have to report it.”
She also said the backpack and the firearm “strongly suggest” that some “violent crime” was going to take place in the house that night.
Longtime private investigator Andy Kay branded the disguised man as a “rookie,” saying he had holstered his firearm “incorrectly” in his pants.
The suspect was seen disconnecting the camera and ultimately taking it with him, possibly under the impression that the surveillance footage would be deleted once the device was disconnected.
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However, Andy explained that the cameras will record to the servers as long as the device is connected to the internet.
According to Nest, without a subscription, they are usually quickly overwritten by the next images. “But if the camera is disconnected, there should be nothing to overwrite on the server,” Andy, the founder of the Kay & Associates, told the New York Post.
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Following the release of the surveillance footage, Savannah Guthrie shared messages begging the public for any tips that could lead to the identification of the masked man.
“Someone out there recognizes this person,” she wrote online. “We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.”
The 54-year-old journalist and Daytime Emmy winner said they believe her mother is still alive and “out there.”
“Bring her home,” she added.
Image credits: savannahguthrie
The release of the footage and the detaining of the person of interest were seen as major breakthroughs in the case since the frantic search for Nancy began on February 1.
The mother had a family dinner at her daughter Annie’s house, about 10 minutes away from where she lived. And she was later dropped off back home by her son-in-law and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni.
Netizens had mixed reactions to the latest updates on Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance
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