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'CCTV video looked staged': Retired FBI agents raise alarming questions in Nancy Guthrie case
The search for journalist Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, continues as retired FBI agents question the doorbell camera footage.
The search for the mother of journalist Savannah Guthrie, Nancy Guthrie, is about to enter its third week. Two retired FBI agents shared their thoughts on the surveillance footage that authorities recently released in a recent discussion with former Today Show anchor Katie Couric on her Substack Live.
The agents have questioned the authenticity of the doorbell camera footage showing a masked figure outside her home, suggesting the video “felt staged.”
Read more: Forensic artist's sketch offers new clue in Nancy Guthrie case
What did the retired FBI agents say?
The doorbell camera footage recovered by the FBI has been the first evidence to show a person in line with a suspect in the Nancy Guthrie case.
In the video, a masked individual is seen tampering with Nancy's front door camera around the time she disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on February 1. The suspect is seen wearing several layers of clothing, staring at the camera for a moment, and holding what looks to be a gun in an odd position on his body.
However, Kristy Kottis, a retired FBI agent who spent 24 years with the Bureau, does not trust the video and bluntly said, “That seemed and felt like a staged video to me.”
Kottis described the elements of the video and the suspect as performative. Kottis said the person seemed to be purposefully creating an image rather than acting as though they were trying to evade notice.
“It was an individual, we don’t know whether it’s a male or female, showing us what they want us to see,” Kottis said.
She also questioned if the individual in the video had ever set foot inside the house.
Read more: Nancy Guthrie update: FBI releases new details about suspect, increases reward
Rare kidnapping
Another retired FBI agent, Barbara Daly, stated that this is a rare scenario where an adult is kidnapped. “Adult kidnappings are extremely rare,” she said.
She said that in her career, all three adult kidnappings that she has dealt with were typically motivated by money, drugs or revenge.
She also expressed concern about Nancy's age and limited mobility and said, “To go into a house and try to remove somebody [makes this] a very high-risk crime.”
She further added, “There’s usually pre-planning: knowing the person’s patterns, whether there are cameras, the layout of the home, the method of egress.”
She emphasized that such kidnappings are never spur-of-the-moment.
