A former FBI special agent believes members of the public will be “underwhelmed” when the suspect behind Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is revealed.
The 84 year old grandmother, whose daughter is NBC Today’s Savannah Guthrie, was last seen more than a month ago when she vanished from her home in Catalina Foothills near Tucson, Arizona.
Her disappearance has left investigators baffled, with police publicly stating that they believe she was taken from her home in a ‘targeted’ crime. It comes as an expert claimed the suspect is ‘someone really close’.
Conspiracy theorists have concocted all manner of far-fetched scenarios, from cartels and mass killers being responsible for the crime.
Former FBI special agent Robin Dreeke believes the use of the word ‘targeted’ might confuse members of the public, and the truth might be somewhat more mundane than internet sleuths might anticipate, reports the Express US.
Speaking on Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski on YouTube, he said: “When they do catch this individual, I think people are going to be underwhelmed with who this is.
“We see this word targeted in a fictional, targeted way. Everything we see in law enforcement is reality, we expect different things to happen because we have the grandiosity from TV shows.
“That’s why I think we’re going to be underwhelmed. Targeted means a lot of different things. It’s a key word. It’s a hot word.”
Despite pleas for help on social media, the family has yet to receive any “proof of life”, even after offering a $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy’s safe return.
The FBI is currently investigating an unexplained WiFi disruption on the night the mother-of-three vanished, a development that could suggest a complex abduction if confirmed. A neighbor informed agents that his Ring camera footage from that evening was ‘not available’.
Shortly after her disappearance, the FBI released still images and a brief video from a doorbell camera showing an “armed individual” donning a mask and carrying a backpack on Nancy’s property around the time she went missing.
Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott concurred with Robin, indicating that she typically leans towards the “simplest explanation”.
She stated: “I go with the simplest explanation that fits the evidence we have. As you say we don’t have a lot. It doesn’t have the sophistication of a cartel. The mass killers I write about, the mass shooters go out and take out people in a public place. It’s certainly not someone like that.
“To some degree it looks targeted but that doesn’t mean sophisticated. To my mind it looks like a person coming in for a burglary and there was a bad outcome. It’s sad, it’s unfortunate, we’d rather there was a ransom the family could pay and have a good outcome but it’s not looking like that.”
Expert Analyzes Nancy Guthrie Ransom Notes: Likely Not From Her Abductor
A retired SWAT commander who spent decades working high-risk operations in Arizona believes the ransom notes sent to TMZ in the Nancy Guthrie case were likely not from the person who abducted her.
Bob Krygier, a former commander with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team, tells Parade that genuine suspects usually provide proof of life, such as photos or videos, to secure payment—something that was missing from the initial messages. Still, Krygier emphasized that investigators should pursue every lead, noting that even notes sent by someone on the periphery could provide valuable evidence in solving the case.
Guthrie, 84, has been missing since Sunday, Feb. 1. She was dropped off at her home in the Catalina Foothills of Arizona around 9:45 p.m. local time by her son-in-law Tommaso Cioni on Saturday night. Authorities believe that Guthrie may have been abducted from her home in the middle of the night.
In the weeks that followed, a number of unverified ransom notes were sent to local and national news stations, including TMZ.
Krygier explains that even if the ransom notes weren’t from the actual abductor, they could still offer investigators important clues. “Any specific lead in a case like this, you have to look at it until you’ve exhausted it,” he tells Parade. “You don’t want to overlook anything and end up missing the bit of information that could have helped solve the case.” He added that the notes could have come from someone who had knowledge of the incident or was trying to exploit it, making them another piece of evidence worth investigating.