A former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is sharing his theories on the troubling disappearance of Today anchor Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mom, Nancy.
“I think this is a personal grievance related to the family,” retired FBI agent Scott Curtis exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, February 6, of the case. “If this was about Savannah, I think there would have been some kind of direct or indirect message in these ransom notes about Savannah. And we don’t see that at all. Or something Savannah said, right? And we don’t see that either, based on what we’ve been told.”
News broke on Sunday, February 1, that Nancy was reported missing after she failed to show up for church service. She was described as a “vulnerable adult” who was last seen “at her residence” in Arizona’s Catalina Foothills on Saturday, January 31.
According to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, “concerning circumstances found” at Nancy’s home led to homicide detectives getting involved in the search, in addition to drones, dogs and a helicopter. Authorities believe Nancy “didn’t leave on her own” and they “don’t see this as a search mission as much” as a crime scene. “She couldn’t walk 50 yards by herself,” authorities added.
Savannah and her siblings, sister Annie Guthrie and brother Camron Guthrie, have since released two videos pleading with their mother’s would-be captors, acknowledging the existence of ransom letters.
“As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk,” Savannah said while appearing in a video alongside her siblings shared on Wednesday, February 4. “However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please, reach out to us.”
On Friday, the FBI confirmed the existence of “a new message regarding Nancy Guthrie,” adding that authorities are working to confirm the message’s authenticity.
Savannah and Nancy Guthrie Courtesy of NBC News
“Supposedly, these ransom notes have been sent by email,” Curtis, who spearheaded the largest single-day takedown of organized crime members in U.S. history in 2011, told Us on Friday. “These cryptic email servers [are] service providers that make it difficult to trace who you are and if you’re based overseas especially. But that would also show you that this — there is some elaborate planning going on here.”
Like other high-profile cases — including the search for convicted Idaho killer Brian Kohberger and the recent shooting at Brown University — Curtis told Us authorities need to locate a vehicle in association with Nancy’s disappearance in order to get a break in the case.
“We haven’t identified who these people are,” he explained. “We don’t have an identified device, cell phone number, for example, and we haven’t identified a vehicle that is, from my experience [and] current investigations, the most important thing to try to do.”
The crime and national security analyst continued, “We saw this in the Brian Kohberger [case] in Idaho. We saw it in the Brown University [case]. As soon as they identified the vehicle that person was using, they quickly could identify the person and then track them down and locate them. Now, why haven’t they been able to do that thus far? I don’t know.”
Curtis, who has also worked as a government-corruption analyst, believes that due to the alleged kidnappers operating “under the cover of darkness,” those responsible for Nancy’s disappearance “had a familiarity with the residents, either directly or through, again, some relative or close personal friend that gave them details and sketches and photographs of the residence.”
“You know how hard it is, how difficult it is to operate under the cover of darkness — to do anything?” he continued. “The fact that they were able to pull this off in the dark shows that they had great intelligence, and they did a lot of casing of this location. And you know, it shows that they had all this detailed planned — like they probably [had] been in that location.”
Curtis told Us that he believes the authorities “should be increasing the reward” currently being offered for any information that leads to Nancy’s safe return, adding that an increase “should have been done right from the start to increase the incentive cooperation.”
“I think we need law enforcement to get a solid lead with, again, a vehicle, a description of these perpetrators, maybe video footage,” he added. “That’s why they should be going back in time with any video footage that they can get a hold of — either through the residences in the neighborhood or track it to a business that has video.”
The FBI is currently offering a $50,000 reward for any information that leads to Nancy’s recovery and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved.
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