Four months after Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home, investigators are still sifting through thousands of tips—and a retired detective says the key to cracking the case may lie in car tracking and address searches.
Authorities believe the 84-year-old mother of NBC host Savannah Guthrie was abducted from her home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1. Retired detective Jon Buehler told NewsNation's Brian Entin that the suspect's name could be hidden in the mountain of tips received, but he warns that critical clues might be overlooked, much like in the 1999 Yosemite murders where Cary Stayner's hand-drawn map was buried in mail for days.
“When tips come in on a case like Nancy Guthrie's, they're prioritized as best they can, but you still don't know for sure if they're prioritized correctly,” Buehler said. “There might be something in there that we're waiting on, that could break it wide open.”
Buehler believes a single perpetrator is responsible, noting the large reward in the case as a key indicator. “People that have independent wealth are not doing crimes like this,” he said, suggesting the reward makes it unlikely the suspect is acting with an accomplice.
However, Buehler fears Guthrie is no longer alive, citing the amount of blood at the scene, her poor health, and the fact that multiple ransom letters did not lead to her return. “No instantaneous demand for a reward with indication that she's fine and that they'll release her—that's a pretty big stretch there to think that she survived it,” he said.
He added that the blood evidence suggests a serious wound, and given her age and pacemaker, “that's why I just don't think she survived it.”
One promising avenue, Buehler said, is tracking vehicles near the house or identifying who searched for Guthrie's address. Newer cars have tracking capabilities, and he noted that address queries via Google Maps or similar services could be traced. “If somebody ever plugged her address into a Google search, if they did a reverse keyword search on that… you'd contact that person and find out why did you put that address,” he explained.
Legitimate reasons, such as delivery drivers, could help narrow down suspects. Guthrie was a low-risk victim aside from her daughter's fame, which Buehler said could have motivated someone who had contact with her and realized the ransom potential. “Any tradespeople that maybe were doing plumbing repair or electrical repair, anybody who was delivering furniture—anybody who could see her as a source of ransom because of the connection with Savannah,” he said.
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