With the search for “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother now entering its 11th day, the chilling images and video released Thursday represent the first major public breakthrough in the case, offering potential clues about the attacker.
In the images shared by FBI Director Kash Patel, the individual appears to be tampering with the video doorbell camera while dressed in a balaclava, gloves, a zipped jacket, and a backpack.
Nancy Guthrie has now been missing for 10 days. Two ransom deadlines demanding $6 million in bitcoin have already passed. The note reportedly did not include a direct threat about what would happen if payment wasn’t made.
Releasing the images, Patel wrote:
“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.
“The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.
The eyebrows and eye shape
“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.”
While authorities have not identified a suspect, social media users quickly began analyzing the photos, particularly the visible eye area between the mask and hood.
Some believe the eyebrows and eye shape suggest the suspect may not be male.
One person commented: “Arched eyebrows. I would say female.”
“Eyes look like a woman’s eyes to me,” said a second.
A third person wrote: “Sure that’s not a woman?”
Others, however, pointed to body language in the accompanying video footage, arguing the suspect’s gait appears more masculine. A few have even speculated about the outline of facial hair beneath the mask. At this stage, law enforcement has not confirmed the gender of the individual seen in the footage.
The release of the images marks the most significant development in the case since Nancy disappeared on Feb. 1 after being dropped off at home by her son-in-law following dinner with family.
Authorities are receiving a surge of tips after the FBI released unsettling footage showing a masked individual tampering with Nancy Guthrie’s home-security camera the morning she disappeared, CNN reported.
A former FBI agent has suggested the suspect’s clumsy handling of both the gun and the Nest camera indicates he may be inexperienced.
“This is a very non-conventional way to carry a firearm. Very non-conventional,” former agent Mark Harrigan told the New York Post, referring to the suspect seemingly holstering the gun at the front.
“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,” Harrigan explained.
“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, noting his experience as the former chief of the FBI’s Firearms Training Program.
“You don’t carry it on your hip bone because it’s uncomfortable. He may have had it concealed in his backpack and decided then to put it on his waist when he got close to the door,” Harrigan said.