As the investigation into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie continues, an expert of criminal profiling has spoken out about the main suspect of the case. The mother of broadcaster Savannah Guthrie has now been missing for more six weeks after she was kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona
Former FBI profiler Ann Burgess provided her thoughts on the suspect during a discussion about the investigation. She is a researcher and professor who helped established the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit and is widely regarded as an expert in criminal profiling.
Ann Burgess Says Suspect May Have Known Nancy Guthrie
Her work during the 1970s as a clinical psychiatric professional was instrumental in the development of the FBI’s Behavioural Science Unit and contributed to the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. She appeared on the “Surviving the Survivor” podcast earlier this week to discuss the Nancy Guthrie case.
During her appearance, Burgess discussed the suspect seen in security footage released by law enforcement. “‘It doesn’t appear to be random behaviour,’ she said. ‘The individual seems to have a purpose for being there.”
According to Burgess, the fact that the individual seen in the surveillance video approached the house in the dark and made attempts to cover their face could give an indication that the suspect knew Nancy Guthrie and this was not a random attack.
“If someone intends to break into a home, there are simpler methods,’ she explained. ‘The behaviour here suggests the offender may have wanted the victim to respond directly.”
She continued, “I think this is much more of a personal kind of a crime, that there is some grievance out there that is playing it’s trying to play itself out. ‘Who’s this going to affect the most? You have to ask those kinds of questions.”
Burgess added the fact that Nancy Guthrie’s daughter is a well known public figure may have also played a role. “Certainly, the daughter is so well known, obviously. And is there something that’s going on there that might explain something or give us some hints,” she suggested.
Guthrie Family Pass Polygraph Tests
During an episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show” this week, former SWAT team leader Chad Ayers confirmed the Guthrie family have all passed polygraph tests.
Ayers said, “I can also report that it has been confirmed this morning—and I’m sure we all assume this—that every family member passed polygraphs with flying colors.”
This led host Megyn Kelly to say in reply, “That information is huge. So then that means—I don’t know, some people don’t believe in the polygraphs, I do—but if that’s true, then we can move on from the brother-in-law and the sister.”
“And it kind of sheds a little more light on the sheriff’s statement to NBC that he’s had a theory about this case from the beginning, and nothing has moved him off his theory. And that he does believe he knows the motivation for the crime,” she added.
Kelly is likely referring to the fact that theories online have suggested that Tommaso Cionio, Annie Guthrie’ partner, was a suspect in the case. This has since been debunked by law enforcement who have said the Guthrie family are victims and not suspects.
I think this all has something to do with Nancy’s belief towards religion. It could be some whacked out religious group that didn’t like Nancy’s teachings.
I don’t rhinknita someone the entire family knows. However; I do think Nancy knew the individual. I believehe was someone who did work on or around her house.
This case has become a study in absolute ineptitude on behalf of the law enforcement community. They have encouraged the general public to provide camera footage, monitor the behavior patterns of coworkers, report anybody and everything that looks odd to them when none of the investigators involved, on any level, have shared any real information—inside, outside or anywhere around the scene of the crime. All we know for certain is that Nancy Guthrie, an 84-year-old woman with very limited mobility and the mother of a famous TV personality, was very vulnerable living in a big house on a secluded lot in a desert dark neighborhood—that’s all we know at this point and that’s pathetic.