FBI Expert Says Nancy Guthrie Case Is 'a Personal Kind of Crime' as Search Gets Desperate

Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping could have been intentional and targeted, according to a former FBI criminologist.

The masked person's behaviour in the doorbell footage holds clues to Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, according to criminal profiler Ann Burgess. Speaking on the Surviving the Survivor podcast, she weighed in on one of the case's biggest leads to date, suggesting personal grievance as a motive.

Video Footage Exposes Suspect's Intent

'It doesn't appear to be random behaviour,' she said. 'The individual seems to have a purpose for being there.' Burgess also noted how the suspect could have easily broken into the house through a different access point, but instead chose to approach the front doorstep.

'If someone intends to break into a home, there are simpler methods,' she explained, suggesting the suspect may have wanted direct engagement with the resident. Authorities have yet to identify the suspect, despite video capturing him from multiple angles.

The footage is still key evidence in the investigation, and according to private investigator Andy Kay, it's all thanks to the suspect's rookie mistake. He told Page Six that the suspect's weapon was incorrectly holstered to his pants, suggesting a lack of planning or haste.

'Rookie' Mistakes Lead to Damning Evidence

The suspect's attempts to tamper with the camera may have also backfired, once law enforcement obtained the footage. 'The cameras will record to the servers as long as they have internet,' Kay explained. 'According to [Google] 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 FBI publicly shared the video on 10 February, ten days after Nancy Guthrie was reported missing. The data was retrieved from Google Nest's backend systems. The Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed the clip showed signs of tampering on 1 February at 1:47am, suggesting an attempt to delete evidence.

Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore also saw signs that the suspect left his evidence elsewhere in Guthrie's home, based on the doorbell footage. 'It looked like he may have had a bite flashlight in his mouth,' she told People. 'When you see him bending over toward the camera, I think it's very possible saliva could have been left because of that.'

'I think it would be extremely difficult to be in a location for approximately 40 minutes and not leave your DNA behind, even with the way he was dressed,' she added.

Personal Grievance as a Possible Motive

Burgess proposed a different angle to the investigation, hinting at a personal grudge as the driving motive. 'I think this is much more of a personal kind of a crime, that there is some grievance out there that is playing its... trying to play itself out,' she stated.

Authorities may also need to investigate how Nancy Guthrie's disappearance impacts persons of interest. 'Who's this going to affect the most? You have to ask those kinds of questions,' Burgess said, since Nancy Guthrie's background doesn't immediately explain why she was targeted.

Burgess noted that Nancy Guthrie's daughter, journalist Savannah Guthrie, could be relevant to the case. She also suggested studying Nancy's life, relationships, and habits, which could hide clues to her disappearance.

'Behaviour tells a story,' she explained. 'And sometimes that story reveals why a person was chosen.'