Investigators trying to find Nancy Guthrie are posed with a daunting but familiar challenge in law enforcement: how to identify a masked person.
Authorities got a huge break on Tuesday with the release of footage of an armed individual wearing a balaclava, gloves and a backpack approaching the front door of Guthrie’s Arizona home and tampering with a Nest camera the morning she was abducted.
The video has led to a flood of new tips, about 4,000 in the past day, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. A 36-year-old man was detained after a traffic stop south of Tucson but was released hours later. Deputies and FBI forensics experts and agents searched his family’s home overnight but did not locate Guthrie.
Law enforcement experts said the video represents the first big lead in the case but that unmasking the person will be a challenge. During the COVID-19 pandemic, police departments around the nation struggled to solve crimes — even ones captured on video — carried out by people wearing masks. In many cases, they used data from electronics and geocoding to help build cases.
But experts say the real game changer in the Guthrie case will come if someone recognizes the person in the footage. Their clothing, gait and small details such as mannerisms can give a person away.
“There is technology which is helpful but not conclusive,” said University of Hawaii Police Chief Andrew Black, a former FBI special agent in charge in Tucson. “People who know the individual are in a better position to ID.”
The video appears to be the most compelling piece of evidence made public in the what many consider a highly unusual kidnapping.
Ransom kidnappings typically involve organized crime, some bitter business dispute or a personal conflict. In the vast majority of cases, the abduction is carried out by someone the victim knows, said Adam Bercovici, a retired lieutenant who oversaw the Special Investigation Section of the Los Angeles Police Department.
“This kidnapping violates all the rules,” he said, adding that given how long Guthrie has been missing and her medical history, he would treat the case as a homicide investigation.
There has been no sign of the 84-year-old for 11 days. She was taken from her home without any of her medication and it’s not clear how long she can survive without it.
Kidnappings involving elderly people are rare.
In the last year, there were more than 49,000 cases of abductions and kidnappings in the United States, according to FBI data. There were only 145 cases, less than 1%, in Guthrie’s age group — 80 to 89 years old — according to statistics.
Bercovici and other experts say investigators are probably looking at people who might have come in contact with Guthrie and knew she lived alone in a relatively isolated area. Seemingly random kidnappings often involve a person known to the victim, even tangentially. Elizabeth Smart’s infamous 2002 kidnapping in Utah was carried out by a man later identified as a handyman who had previously worked at the family’s home.
There was much excitement on Tuesday when police announced a man taken into custody for questioning, but that dissipated when he was released hours later and Guthrie still had not been located. A Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said the man’s detention “was part of follow-up on incoming leads.”
Officials have not officially released the man’s identity or offered any details about if or how he might be connected to the case. The man told reporters outside the home that he’d never heard of the Guthrie family and hadn’t followed news about the case. Police didn’t ask him any questions while he was detained, he said.
“I hope they get the suspect, because I’m not it,” he told reporters. “They better do their job and find the suspect that did it so they can clear my name.”
Since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance on Feb. 1, her abduction — and the unusual way it has played out in the public eye — has confounded law enforcement.
Agents on Wednesday were continuing to search for the grandmother along roadways in the foothills north of Tucson as they try to identify a suspect that could help them wrap up the case.
FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News on Tuesday night that agents are looking at more than one individual as a “person of interest” in the case.
“We are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest,” Patel said.
Authorities are also offering a $50,000 reward for information on Guthrie’s whereabouts.
FBI releases surveillance video in Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case
The case took another bizarre turn Wednesday morning when TMZ announced that the outlet had received a letter demanding a payment of one bitcoin — worth about $67,000 at the time — in exchange for the name of Guthrie’s kidnapper.
“If they want the name of the individual involved, then I want 1 Bitcoin to the following wallet. Time is more than relevant,” the note stated, according to TMZ.
It was at least the fourth ransom demand made in the case. A day after Guthrie went missing, several news outlets received identical ransom notes that investigators treated as legitimate. Days later, a note was sent directly to the Guthrie family, allegedly from a man living in Hawthorne, that authorities now say was an impostor.
On Friday, another ransom note was sent to a television station in Arizona.
Sources told The Times that authorities have no proof the person who authored the ransom notes has Guthrie. But they also said the Feb. 2 note felt credible because it included details about a specific damaged piece of property and the placement of an accessory in the home that had not been made public.
Mary Ellen O’Toole, a professor at George Mason University and a former FBI profiler, said it would be unusual for a kidnapper to communicate with the family through the media when those individuals generally shy away from public attention.
“I’ve only seen that in a couple of cases over the years where somebody would do that, because that level of arrogance is guaranteed to backfire on you,” she said.
At this point, the best lead for authorities appears to be the surveillance footage, experts say.
The images, recorded at 1:47 a.m. on Feb. 1, show a person approaching the front door, noticing the Nest camera and trying to cover the lens with their hand. A gun is holstered at the person’s waist, positioned at the front of their body where it is easily visible.
The person looks around the patio and yard area, apparently for something to obstruct the camera, and settles on some greenery that they position in front of the lens.
When authorities arrived at the home later that day, the camera was gone.
Former Houston and Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said that while the mask makes identifying the suspect more challenging, it’s not an impossible task for law enforcement.
“The public will be the greatest resource,” he said.
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