Nancy Guthrie has been missing since February 1 and is believed to have been abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona. The beloved 84-year-old grandmother and Guthrie matriarch remains missing, although there have been some breakthroughs in her case, including ransom notes that hint at her location, and, most notably, video camera surveillance of an alleged suspect outside of her home. But are the authorities any closer to finding out what happened to Guthrie and who kidnapped her?
This was one of the topics of discussion during a special CW airing on Wednesday, May 6, titled “NewsNation Presents: The Nancy Guthrie Mystery.”
The Suspect in Nancy Guthie’s Disappearance
GettyNewsNation correspondent Brian Entin has been following the case closely and has spoken to multiple experts over the past months. In the broadcast, he interviewed experts in hopes of gaining a better understanding of who the person behind Guthrie’s disappearance might be. This includes his age, background, and key details such as his criminal record and behavioral changes.
It is widely accepted that the suspect is a man. “I’m going to tell you, this guy, I’m just going to say, based on what I know about this kind of prowler burglar who … probably has some kind of minor league record, but it represents a fraction of all this stuff that he’s actually done,” criminologist and behavior analyst Dr. Casey Jordan told Entin, Parade reports.
Jordan commented on the suspect’s age, suggesting he is in his late 20s, and that he “definitely lives locally,” although he has likely since relocated. “I think he was either eliminated by a puppet master or he fled. And I’m not saying he’s Mexican, but it’s the closest border. And that’s where he would go,” Jordan shared. “This is a guy who, on the day this came out, quit his job, left town, broke up with his girlfriend, changed his behavior completely.”
Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Gary Brucato also commented on the suspect, providing details about his personality. Brucato referred to him as “somebody with some sort of cruel, sadistic, scheming kind of personality.” He added, “You do not develop that kind of personality overnight. You tend to have a long history of being that way.”
Brucato seems to agree that this individual has a prior criminal record, saying he “might have had some run-ins with the law,” and he could have been “dabbling with illicit drugs.”
The Search for Nancy Guthrie Continues
GettyThe public is invested in Guthrie’s case and has rallied behind her family, showing their support by placing missing-persons posters and tying yellow ribbons in her neighborhood, and leaving flowers and notes expressing solidarity. It is a heartbreaking case that many had hoped would have been resolved months ago.
Guthrie is also an individual who has complicated health issues. She had a pacemaker and took medication for high blood pressure, and an earlier theory about the case suggests that the kidnapping did not go according to plan because the suspect failed to account for her fragility. “What really bothers me is we’re dealing with an elderly female, who’s not living, by all accounts, she’s not living an at-risk lifestyle,” Detective Brian Martin said in an interview with Entin on April 7. “It would appear to me that this is potentially driven by something monetary. They were hoping to get some kind of monetary reward or gain from doing this. That bothers me.”
Instead, the person or persons behind the kidnapping “underestimated Ms. Guthrie’s health,” Martin said.
