The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, has new information emerging after a private investigator suggested the kidnapping may have been carried out by an inexperienced perpetrator.
The case remains unsolved weeks after Guthrie vanished from her home in Tucson, with ongoing investigations by federal and local authorities.
Guthrie was last seen on the evening of January 31 after returning to her home in the Catalina Foothills area outside Tucson. She was reported missing the following day after failing to attend a scheduled church livestream and not responding to calls from family members.
Authorities later found surveillance footage that captured a masked suspect wearing gloves and carrying a backpack near Guthrie’s door in the early hours of February 1 before the camera was disabled.
Read more: Nancy Guthrie: Legal expert unpacks all major evidence in disappearance case
Private investigator suggests “amateur” perp
Private investigator Lisa Ribacoff-Mooney told RadarOnline that the man captured in Guthrie’s surveillance footage appeared to have been carried out by someone without professional planning or expertise.
In the video, a man who appeared to be between 5’9″ and 5’10” was seen carrying a rucksack, thick gloves, and a ski mask. He was seen attempting to tamper with the camera in the footage before picking plants to hide the lens. In addition, the man had on a holster that seemed to contain a firearm.
Ribacoff-Mooney noted that the prospective kidnapper’s “firearm seen in the footage is incorrectly carried.” She took the incorrect handling of the weapons as a sign of a person who is “not familiar with weapons.”
She further noted his action of covering up the camera and added that the captured data is not erased by covering the camera. She said, “The camera has audio and video capabilities and information regarding an audio file has not been released.”
Ribacoff-Mooney added that the subject of the video was wearing a packed backpack with “reflective strips or ties” on it, which made it easier to spot at night.
Read more: Nancy Guthrie update: Suspicious person seen on street before her disappearance
Investigation proceeds with no credible lead
Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI deployed drones, search teams and forensic specialists across the region.
Authorities have also examined digital clues, including reports that Guthrie’s pacemaker monitoring signal disconnected around 2:30 a.m., which investigators believe could mark the time she was allegedly abducted.
In recent weeks, FBI agents have returned to the neighborhood to conduct further interviews with residents as part of renewed investigative efforts.
Meanwhile, neighbors have reported seeing a suspicious man lingering in the area weeks before the disappearance, raising the possibility that the alleged kidnapping may have been planned.