As the search for Nancy Guthrie continues, a longtime private investigator has revealed a “rookie” mistake the potential abductor made that led to the release of the doorbell camera surveillance footage.
Private investigator Andy Kay discussed with Page Six how law enforcement likely retrieved the footage, explaining it was due to the suspect’s own error of tampering with the camera.
“The cameras will record to the servers as long as they have internet,” Kay said. “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.”
Nancy, the 84-year-old mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, was taken from her home on the evening of January 31, according to law enforcement. She was reported missing the following afternoon after friends noticed she did not attend her usual Sunday church service.
On Tuesday (February 10), investigators released new images and video of a masked individual approaching Nancy’s property. In the footage, the suspect is seen tampering with the camera, covering it with flowers ripped from the entranceway, and, ultimately, removing the camera from its holder and disconnecting it.
The disconnecting of the camera is what Kay believes resulted in the police being able to retrieve the footage. Basically, if a person doesn’t have a subscription to the Nest service (which Nancy didn’t), the images will continue to be overwritten with new images. But because the camera was disconnected, the last images, featuring the suspect, were never overwritten and therefore able to be recovered.
Kay also noted the potential kidnapper appeared to have his weapon holstered to their pants incorrectly, which he believes is another sign that the suspect is a “rookie.”
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“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,” authorities said in a statement released alongside the new images and footage.
It 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.”
Hours after the footage was released, investigators detained a delivery driver from Rio Rico, a small community 60 miles south of Tucson. The driver was later released without charges and told reporters that he was “innocent” and had never even heard of Nancy or Savannah.
