Authorities are examining security camera footage from a home in the Tucson area near Nancy Guthrie’s property that shows a man wearing a backpack trying to scale a wall the morning of her disappearance.
The video, which was captured on a Ring camera at 1:54 a.m. Feb. 1, shows a bald man wearing a gray jacket and a backpack similar to the one worn by the masked man outside Guthrie’s door before she was abducted. Another video, which is also being reviewed, shows a man wearing a baseball cap and a black backpack pulling on a car door handle outside a home in the neighborhood the morning after the 84-year-old vanished.
Sources told The Times the videos were being looked at as part of the investigation into Guthrie’s abduction. But it’s unclear whether or how they might be connected.
Sheriff’s officials have also asked residents living within a two-mile radius of Guthrie’s neighborhood to pull any video from Jan. 1 to Feb. 2 that includes vehicles, people or anything deemed “out of the ordinary” or possibly important to the investigation.
Kimberlee Guluzian, a lecturer at Cal State Long Beach and a forensic consultant who spent decades as a crime scene investigator, said that in addition to reviewing videos, detectives probably are pulling data from license plate readers and cell towers to see who was in the area in the days and weeks before Guthrie’s kidnapping.
It could be an indication that authorities suspect the person may have cased Guthrie’s home before the abduction, she said.
“They’re trying to look for people or cars that typically aren’t in the area,” she said. “So if it was a rental car, they’re going to try to get a license plate and go back to the company to see who rented that vehicle. They’re just trying to find any lead possible at this point.”
The FBI on Thursday increased the award amount to $100,000 for information leading to Guthrie’s location or that could help them make an arrest in the case. Authorities also offered a description of the masked suspect seen in the footage on Guthrie’s Nest camera.
The suspect is described as a man 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall with an average build. In the video, he is wearing a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.
The latest video evidence comes as Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says more people are likely to be detained in the case.
Guthrie was discovered missing from her home 12 days ago after she didn’t show up at a friend’s house to watch a church service. She was taken from her home without any of her medication, and it’s unclear how long she can survive without it.
Guthrie’s children have been holding on to hope that their mother will be found. “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, one of her daughters, posted a tribute to her mother on Instagram on Thursday morning.
The short video shows a much younger Nancy Guthrie picking pink flowers in the garden with her grade-school-aged children. Guthrie smiles as one of her young daughters places the flowers near her nose, an invitation to smell the fragrant blossoms.
“Our lovely mom. We will never give up on her,” Savannah Guthrie wrote in the caption. “Thank you for your prayers and hope.”
The unusual case has seemingly hit a host of dead ends in recent days.
Authorities on Tuesday detained a 36-year-old man after a traffic stop south of Tucson, but released him hours later. Deputies and FBI forensics experts and agents searched his family’s home overnight but did not locate Guthrie. Authorities have not said whether or how he might be connected to the case or what evidence led them to search his family’s home.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said the man’s detention “was part of follow-up on incoming leads.”
Footage from the Nest camera outside Guthrie’s home led to roughly 4,000 new tips over the course of 24 hours, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Recorded at 1:47 a.m. on Feb. 1, the morning of Guthrie’s disappearance, the Nest camera footage shows an individual wearing a balaclava, gloves and a backpack. The person appears to tamper with the camera at Guthrie’s front porch. A gun is holstered around the person’s waist, positioned at the front of their body and easily visible.
Video footage shows the person approaching the front door, noticing the camera and trying to cover the lens with their hand. The person then looks around the patio and yard area apparently for something to obstruct the camera and eventually settles on some greenery found in the yard.
Meanwhile, investigators on Wednesday scoured along roadways in the foothills north of Tucson for any evidence that could help them crack the case.
Investigators discovered “several items of evidence including gloves” that are being tested, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
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