A bombshell revelation in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie suggests the suspected kidnapper scouted her home on a different date before she went missing.
One of the doorbell camera images of the masked man suspected of kidnapping Guthrie, 84, appears to have been captured in advance of the suspected abduction, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
When the FBI released the images—as well as two videos—of the man nearly two weeks ago, FBI Director Kash Patel said they were from “the morning of her disappearance,” on Feb. 1.
In all but one image, the man at the front door of Guthrie’s home near Tucson, Arizona, was wearing a backpack and had a holstered gun. Sources told ABC News and Fox News the lone image of the suspect without a backpack and a gun was captured by Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera on a day before her suspected abduction.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News that the new information did not come from him. He did not deny that the images had been captured on different days.
“The info that it occurred on a different day did not come from the FBI or PCSD,” Nanos said.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for comment. In a statement shared to social media, the sheriff’s department said that given there is no time stamp on the images, “any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”
Sources told ABC News that one theory is that the suspect approached the door, saw the camera, and backed off—only to come back later. The man is seen tampering with the doorbell camera in some of the photos and videos.
The FBI has described the suspect as roughly 5 feet 9 inches tall and of medium build.
A timeline of events compiled by the sheriff’s department found that the doorbell camera was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. One of her cameras registered a person at 2:12 a.m., but did not capture footage. At 2:28 a.m., Guthrie’s pacemaker disconnected from her phone.
Guthrie, the mother of the Today show host Savannah Guthrie, has not been seen since Jan. 31, when she was dropped at her residence in the Catalina Foothills by her son-in-law. The family reported her missing around noon the following day.
The purported abductors have reportedly sent ransom notes to the media, issuing two deadlines for payment, which have since passed. Officials have yet to identify a suspect.
