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Nancy Guthrie Missing ////// 902
00:53:46
On February 1, 2026 someone removed 84 year old Nancy Guthrie from her home. Several ransom communications have been sent to the media and to the family. Today we go through what is known and the questions that remain. There is a $50k reward for information leading to Nancy’s location. Nancy is a caucasian female, 5’4” tall, 150 pounds, with Brown hair and Blue eyes. She was last seen at her home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona on the night of January 31, 2006. If you have information concerning this case, please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or you can submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov
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The FBI is investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, an 84 year old grandmother who was last seen at her residence in the Catalina Foothills Neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona on the evening of January 31, 2026. She is considered to be a vulnerable adult who has difficulty walking, has a pacemaker and needs daily medication for her heart condition. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance. If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the FBI at 1-800- call FBI. That's 1-800-225-5324 or you can submit a tip online at tips FBI.gov this is true crime Garage. Welcome to True Crime Garage wherever you are, whatever you are doing. Thanks for listening. I am your host Nick and we are going to Arizona for this one where the France search for 81 year old Nancy Guthrie continues. The story began with an urgency that felt like a clock ticking somewhere out of sight. We have worked feverishly through the night to bring you this report today with a lot of information coming from many different outlets, some of it clear and concise and some of it left open to interpretation. So bear with us as we do our very best to deliver to you the news and updates in this ongoing story and investigation. Officials confirm several ransom notes. One of the ransom notes sent to media included a 5pm deadline which expired yesterday, which was Thursday, February 5, though no one could say which time zone the sender was referring to. But it is assumed that the abductor or abductors were meaning the 5:00pm Mountain Standard Time. More concrete was another grim detail. Blood found on Nancy Guthrie's porch has been confirmed as hers. The Pima County Sheriff has tried to instill hope in this case, saying he believes Nancy Guthrie is still alive. Quote, we believe Nancy is still out there. We want her home. The sheriff's department, the FBI and a network of agencies are working nonstop on this case, the message repeated and reinforced through the official voice that sought to calm panic while projecting relentless effort on behalf of law enforcement. The hope is simple, and its simplicity made it feel all the more urgent. Bring Nancy home and then get to the truth. Bring Nancy home and get to the truth. On the ground in Tucson, reporter Jonathan Hunt offered up a a sobering update, saying the most important questions remain untouched. Where is Nancy Guthrie? Who is controlling her right now? Without answers to those, we turn to the details, the kind that stitch together a timeline. We know that Nancy had dinner Saturday night with family members believed to be her daughter Annie and Annie's husband Tomasso. Then the pivotal window of time, 41 minutes, beginning at 1:47am Sunday morning. So at 1:47am Nancy's doorbell camera was disconnected. Around 2:12am Another camera indicated and detected something. A person perhaps, but no one can say whether any visible video exists. From that moment, it was as if the cameras were aware but silent. Then, at 2:28am a telling disruption occurred. Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker disconnected from her Apple watch and her iPhone. This break in the chain, technological and medical, suggesting separation from these devices and the point at which she was likely taken from her home. 2:28am but the largest question remained unanswered. Who took her? The sheriff's words were deliberate and carefully withheld from speculation. They were saying, at this time, no suspect has been identified, no person of interest named. The sheriff's department emphasized that they were working at their best to develop leads. But no one should be considered a prime suspect, and no one would be officially ruled out. The sheriff's remarks at the press conference. Cautious. That's how I would describe them, as cautious. Better to hold the possibility of someone's involvement than to prematurely absolve them and later discover an overlooked connection. So nobody ruled out no suspects named. Earlier in the week, officials said the crime scene at Nancy's home had been released. The investigative work there was done and complete. But that turned out to be a temporary conclusion because less than a day later, the home became a point of focus again. Deputies returned, this time with reinforcements. Border patrol agents with K9 units alongside FBI personnel, they carried out more items from the home, one of which appeared to be a computer terminal or monitor wrapped neatly in brown paper. This item was placed into a Law enforcement vehicle and driven away. So many wondering had something shifted in the investigation, something new or an insight that possibly led investigators to want to come back to the scene of the abduction, Nancy's home, and look again further, this time more detailed, looking harder at the crime scene. We also have the ransom notes. So the caveat here, listeners, is these ransom notes are not fully authenticated. And as you will later hear with some more information we have, there's some problems with these ransom notes, these ransom letters, but of course, you have to take this very seriously. At the same time, the FBI agent in charge spoke directly to those who might be holding Nancy captive. The appeal was human, pleading and practical, stating simply that Nancy Guthrie is an 84 year old grandmother who needs vulnerable, vital medication. The window for doing the right thing, they added, still exist. The FBI agent saying there is still a chance to return Nancy home to prevent things from getting worse. If she were to pass because she's denied medication, that she needs vital medication and she's in the control of these abductors, that's murder. Your charges go from kidnapping and extortion to murder. Now, neither the FBI nor the sheriff would discuss what was threatened in the ransom letters, the ransom notes, or what was promised if the deadlines were missed. But the key word there is deadlines. There are deadlines in these ransom letters. So what do we have in this case? Everybody's watching. What do we have? We have uncertainty. No one knows, not even Nancy's famous daughter, Savannah. In a video plea to the abductors and to her mother, Savannah says, mom, please come home if you can. The phrase if you can is a complicated one, because some are even wondering, is this a kidnapping or a hoax? Without proof of life, there is a line that the family says they will not cross. Without proof of life, there is a line that the family, Nancy's family says they will not cross, saying no money will be wired to a bitcoin account without knowing 100% that Nancy Guthrie is alive and will be returned. So some very good questions here. It would appear that this is about money. But if this is about money, we know that the abductors have chose to communicate not through the family, not through law enforcement to seek this money, but through the media, through national media and through local media there in Tucson and around Tucson, Arizona. So if it's about money, why involve the media? Why turn it into this big spectacle? Do they want everyone's eyes on this? To me, I think that the publicity feels a bit intentional. How could it not? It feels intentional. Aimed at creating national attention, something a kidnapper typically, normally would avoid unless there is some strategy behind it. And if that is the case, what is that strategy? Again, we have the blood trail, house to driveway, then stopping. We can surmise that this implies a struggle and resistance before the abduction and departure by a vehicle. So we might go in circles here a bit, but we want to give to you everything that we have on this case. Again, a lot of information coming in fast and furious here, and we're doing our best to sift through it and give it to you in the most concise manner possible. So first, the timeline. All right, we will go through this completely and then as a follow up, we can go through this in greater detail before we wrap up here and go back to collecting more information as this story progresses and hopefully as this leads to the capture of the person or persons involved and the safe return of Nancy Guthrie. The timeline starts with January 31, 2026. At 5:32pm Nancy traveled to a family member's home. This is a local visit. At 9:48pm family members or a family member dropped Nancy off at home and her garage door was opened. Two minutes later, at 9:50pm her garage door is closed. It closes now to the small hours of February 1, 2026, in the early early morning. We have 1:47am this is when everything starts to get very scary. 1:47am her doorbell camera disconnects. And of course, given the result, we know this is intentional. 2:12am software Security software detects a person on camera. Now, we need to be clear here. There is no video available for this. They, as far as we are being told, law enforcement and the family does not have video of this person. Just simply an alert, an alarm, saying that a camera has picked something up, something in motion. We believe a person. Okay, so what's going on here? They have no video available. There was no subscription at the time, no current subscription for this security software that was active. 2:28am Nancy Guthrie has a pacemaker. Her pacemaker app shows that it's disconnected from her other devices. Okay, so she has devices, smart devices, her phone and Apple watch, monitoring and keeping in contact with this pacemaker. The pacemaker app shows a disconnect at this time, 2:28am from her other devices. 11:56am her family goes to check on her. And again, we'll get more into these details as we go through the information. The devil's in the details, some say. And some say God is in the details as well. 12:03pm 911 is called. A 911 call goes to PCSD. That's the Pima County Sheriff's Department. This is alerting them that something is wrong and that Nancy is missing. She's not at her home where they expected her to be. 12:15pm Patrol and Sheriff's department personnel, deputies are on the scene. They're at Nancy's home. So the disconnection of the camera or cameras would suggest professionalism, precision. And then the movements prior of our victim, of our missing person, Nancy Guthrie, she goes to a family member's home. She's returned just before 10pm Garage door open. Garage door closes. You have to wonder what was going on in the home, if anything during that time that she was gone. Perhaps a person or persons, maybe they were inside before Nancy was dropped off just before 10pm on that Saturday night. Now, as we said, there was a second look at the home, at the crime scene by FBI and deputies. While this may be standard protocol, the FBI conducting their own sweep, or it could be something else, maybe prompted by some type of new discovery triggering them to return to the scene. Agents also went to the sister's house, Savannah's sister's home. So Savannah's sister has been met with some media scrutiny, Internet scrutiny directed at the sister and particularly her husband. It looks like electronics have been taken for data downloads and digital evidence both at Nancy's home and the sister slash daughter's home. And there's been some confusion that has stemmed from mixed statements coming out from law enforcement. In this case, we have forced entry that was mentioned and then retracted and then information withheld. So changing details about whether there was forced entry or not forced entry into the home, changing details about who dropped Nancy off first. That person was mentioned by name at one point. So it went from being she was dropped off by someone to family, dropped her off to a specific person in the family, dropped her off to. Now back to just saying that family or a family member was the one to return Nancy to her home on Saturday evening. Not just confusion here, but there's also a level of scrutiny against the sheriff's department, many citing the absence of a patrol car. So it's believed that nobody was guarding the scene for days. So once they left initially and before they came back, nobody was locking down the crime scene. So you have reporters that were able to approach the house. And we know that there's evidence outside of the home, outside of those four walls. We have the blood spatter on the front porch. Could leaving this scene unsecured and not Locked down. Could this potentially compromise the crime scene, the site of the abduction, some even calling the sheriff's department's work. Amateurish, of course. Very strange too is the multiple deadlines that we get in these ransom letters, ransom notes. To me that also feels a bit amateurish. Multiple deadlines. So we still have the deadline looming on Monday, this coming Monday at 5pm Now, a kidnapping for ransom involving someone with medical needs. I would say that there's reason to believe that this person knew in advance that the victim has medical needs, has medication that they need. She's not extremely mobile either. So I think this could very well suggest more than one person is likely involved. If that is the case, this would be an opening for the investigation to find weaknesses through communications between co conspirators. Find those communications, find those, those communications, often digital. Leave a footprint, leave a, for a lack of better term paper trail, a breadcrumb trail. These would be extreme vulnerabilities to this operation. And to avoid going undetected. Just a lot of questions and concerns looming within the details on this ongoing story and investigation. The cameras that went dark, the blood confirmed as Nancy's the pacemaker. Disconnecting these points form a skeleton of facts. Law enforcement's returning to the house. Then the removal of electronics. We also have the appeals to the potential kidnappers. The silence from the media and from law enforcement about the threats in the ransom note. The investigation is unfolding under intense pressure, pressure to bring Nancy home and now media pressure as well. The family's pleas have echoed alongside with caution and yet as this case drags on, hope is holding on steady that Nancy Guthrie is still alive somewhere and there is still a chance to bring her home safely. More after this quick beer break.
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Nick (True Crime Garage Host)
Welcome back and cheers. The disappearance of 84 year old Nancy Guthrie from her home just outside of Tucson, Arizona has triggered a frantic search, a puzzling ransom demand and a family's desperate plea for her safe return. Now here is some very, very recent news. Maybe connected, maybe not. But very interesting. And it's difficult to believe that this is 100% a coincidence. So on the very same day that Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson residence, a separate yet strangely parallel dramatic drama unfolding just two hours away. This is in the affluent city of Scottsdale, Arizona. Beautiful city of Scottsdale, Arizona. If you get the opportunity, go there. Experience Scottsdale. It's great. While law enforcement officials have remained tight lipped on this one, making no official statements connecting this incident with the incident in the ongoing investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance and abduction, there are similarities. There are similarities here between them that are very hard to ignore. And we won't. So the Scottsdale case centers around a multimillion dollar cryptocurrency scheme allegedly orchestrated by two teenagers whose identity is known. They've been apprehended, but their identities are being protected due to their status as minors. And as the information goes, we know that on January 31st, these two young individuals reportedly approached a Scottsdale home under the guise of being delivery drivers. This ruse, this disguise, simple yet effective, was designed to lower the guard of the residents with inside that home. Once the door was open, they allegedly forced their way inside. With their intentions quickly turning from delivery to domination, the victim was swiftly overpowered and bound with duct tape. Now a prisoner in their own home. According to court documents, the story of how these two teenagers arrived at this moment is as convoluted as the crime itself, as convoluted as the Nancy Guthrie story. But the pair only recently met, which is very strange, and they were were reportedly being extorted by some shadowy figures known only by the cryptic monikers Red and Eight. Persons identifying themselves only as Red and Eight, these mysterious individuals allegedly dispatched the two teens from California, providing them with a sum of $1,000 to procure provisions to carry out this abduction or hostage situation. Okay, so this money is not for personal use. This was was earmarked for specific nefarious purposes to purchase supplies for this criminal enterprise. The shopping list included disguises to conceal their identities, restraints to subdue their target, and an assortment of burglary tools. Once inside the Scottsdale home, the home invasion began to unravel. The teenagers confronted one of the victims, demanding that they turn over their cryptocurrency. However, the victim denied possessing any such digital assets. Unbeknownst to the intruders, another person was actually in the house. This is an adult son was in a different room. He managed to quietly call the police, alerting them that this situation is unfolding in real time. We have a home invasion going on here. The arrival of law enforcement officers sent the teenagers scrambling. They fled the scene in a desperate attempt to escape. But the chase was short lived. They were soon apprehended and taken into custody. Now the case took another turn when one of the teenager's mothers discovered a series of alarming text messages on her son's phone. The messages detailed a plan involving dressing up in a delivery uniform and committing a burglary. Critically, these texts also contained the specific home address in Scottsdale that was the target. The concerned mother immediately contacted law enforcement authorities in California, in the state of California, who then turned over and notified Scottsdale police department about this, what was looking like a potential burglary attempt. So these people have to endure this home invasion because unfortunately, this crucial piece of information actually arrived, made its way to Scottsdale police after the home invasion had already taken place. So following their arrest, the two teenagers are now Facing a handful of serious felony charges including burglary, aggravated assault and kidnapping. During their capture, police reported that the teens were in possession of a 3D printed gun. We're starting to see this pop up in other cases, very recent cases, some of them that we have covered here in the garage. However, police noted that the weapon contained no ammunition. Now, it's actual functionality remains uncertain at this time. This violent home invasion in Scottsdale, a city just two hours north of Tucson where Nancy Guthrie has been abducted, cast a long shadow over that ongoing investigation, the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Now as investigators work tirelessly to piece together the final moments before she went missing, there's still those strange echoes between a kidnapping plot for cryptocurrency and a woman's sudden disappearance. Nanc Guthrie's sudden disappearance that is leaving many more questions than answers. And then we also have this, there is this as well, separate story here. A 42 year old California man was arrested for allegedly sending fake ransom text, I'm saying the plural there text to Savannah Guthrie's family in connection to missing mother Nancy Guthrie. A criminal complaint in that situation was filed on Thursday, February 5, identifying this man as Derek Colella. And I'm going to spell that because I don't feel confident that I'm saying it correctly. Derek C A L L E lla Quote, we have made one arrest related to an imposter ransom demand and a complaint will be presented to a magistrate judge later today, said FBI agent Heath Jank during a news conference that took place early on Thursday. Quote, my next message is to those imposters who are trying to take advantage and profit from this situation. He's talking about missing Nancy Guthrie and he adds, quote, we will investigate and ensure you are held accountable for your actions, end quote. Now let's go through this Nancy Guthrie abduction timeline in some greater detail. This was to be an ordinary Saturday night. Nancy Guthrie, a regular churchgoer. It's reported she took an Uber to the nearby home of her daughter Ann and her son in law Tomasso. And after an evening of dinner and games, a family member, remember, it's now reported as a family member dropped her back at her house. This would be at 9:48pm this sounds like a lovely evening together with family. If it were me getting dropped off, little tv, maybe a glass of wine, hitting the hay, but that's not going to be the case here. So initial reports were vague about who this family member was, with the local sheriff only confirming that it was family. However, a subsequent report in The New York Times quoting, the sheriff, identified the individual who dropped her off as the son in law, Tommaso. And according to that report, he also allegedly ensured that Nancy made it safely inside the home before he pulled off, before he drove off. Now, this discrepancy would later become a point of confusion and speculation as the sheriff's office reverted to the more ambiguous quote, family member and quote, description. A day later. We know that Nancy entered her home through the garage, according to that report. And for two minutes the garage door remained open before closing. It is unknown if she locks her doors. It's unknown if someone was already inside the home lying in wait. Now, the first sign that something was terribly wrong occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning. At 1:47am Nancy's doorbell camera was disconnected. Authorities would later state that it had been physically, physically removed from the house and remains missing. So not just disconnected. Whoever disconnected it took it with them when they took Nancy from the home. Then just 25 minutes later, at 2:12am security software connected to another camera at the residence flagged the presence of a person. However, a critical failure in the system meant no video was recorded. The homeowner, Nancy Guthrie, did not have a subscription for the service, so the system was set to overwrite its own data, like in a continuous loop. So this is leaving investigators with the notification and alert, but actual no visual evidence or at least we are being told. At 2:28am this is 16 minutes after the person was detected on the property. Nancy's pacemaker app, which was connected to her phone, was disconnected. It disconnected from that device. So this makes sense as her phone was later found left behind in her bedroom along with her Apple watch. So somebody was mindful enough about these items or didn't care for them, regardless of the situation, we would probably, you know, we'd be able to find Nancy or have a better, better lead as to her location if either of these items were removed from the home or remained on her person. So this 41 minute window, right from the disconnection of the doorbell camera to the pacemaker app going offline, this is going to be the critical point of focus for the investigation. And as we said, the following morning, Nancy's absence was noted when she failed to show up for church, which was extremely unusual for Nancy. This was a big time deviation from her routine. So by noon on Sunday, concerned family members went to check on her at the house. They found the home empty. Nancy was gone. It's not known if they discovered the blood that has been reported on the Porch. The police were immediately called, and what began as a wellness check quickly escalated to a kidnapping investigation. Investigators arriving at the scene discovered evidence that pointed towards a violent struggle. They were saying that very quickly that this was a crime scene, that Nancy did not want to leave. This has got to be from what they're seeing inside the home, obviously. But what's been reported, what we do know, of course, is that blood found on the porch of the home. And then forensic analysis of that blood later confirmed that it belonged to Nancy Guthrie, the case. Immediately after this entering a critical forensic phase, authorities began the painstaking work of piecing together what happened. They started reviewing surveillance footage from neighboring homes, analyzing cell tower data, and checking license plat cameras in the area. And we're being told that all of this. There's no signs of Nancy now. The investigation took a strange and public turn with the emergence of a ransom note. However, this does not seem to be a typical kidnapping scenario, right. Because instead of contacting the family directly, the note was sent to media outlets, including a local news station and the celebrity news site tmz. If you have been alive and breathing the last few years, you know exactly what TMZ is. They're all over social media. They're on. They're creeping into everybody else's shows across all networks constantly. So the details of this ransom letter were described as the. As. As of this recording, those ransom letters have not been made public. If we have an arrest, if she's returned safely, if this thing goes to court, we'll see those ransom letters. But from what we're being told, they're described as terrifying. Quote, terrifying. This is how a local news anchor described the one they received, saying that the ransom communication they received contained sensitive information that only someone directly involved in the abduction would know. The letter reportedly began by stating that Nancy is okay, but scared and that she was aware of the letter and the demands within that letter. Crucially, though, the ransom note provided no proof that Nancy was alive and just as puzzling, no method for communication. How do we get in touch with you? How do we communicate with you? We can execute giving you the money in return for the safe return of our mother. The ransom letter did, as we stated earlier, laid out a series of deadlines, with the first set for 5pm Thursday that's come and gone, and a second deadline for this coming Monday. So the first deadline came and went with no contact from the supposed kidnappers. The lack of communication channel is highly unusual for a kidnapper for ransom case, a kidnapping for ransom case, because Typically, the primary goal of the perpetrators is to establish a direct private line of communication to negotiate payment. And receiving that payment, the family, left in an agonizing state of uncertainty, made a public appeal. In a video message, Nancy's son, his name is Cameron. So Cameron Guthrie spoke directly to the captors, saying, whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We need you to reach out. We need a way to communicate with you so that we can move forward. But first we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact. End quote. The family later released a second video reiterating their desperation for proof of life. Quote, we are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. During a second search, we talked about them going back. Law enforcement going back. During a second search of Nancy's home, federal agents, including border patrol and canine units, were seen removing items from the home, including what appeared to be a computer monitor wrapped in brown paper. As the investigation broadened, the FBI's presence became more prominent. FBI agents, federal agents were seen at the home of Nancy's daughter Annie, carrying a celebrite device. C E L L E B R I T E Cellebrite device So this is high tech equipment. We often talk about the advantages these days that law enforcement have, even at the local level, not just at the federal level, at the local level. The batman utility belt. What tools do you have in your crime fighting? Batman utility belt how can you detect crime? How can you identify criminals? How can you stop them? How can you apprehend them? This is just another great device. And this is one of the first times that I'm hearing of such, of such a device. So this is high tech equipment, equipment used to extract data from phones and computers. That's to put it as simple as possible. We'll go through the intricacies of such device. So the family's own devices were being searched as part of this investigation. Makes sense. The sheriff publicly stated that no one has been ruled out as a suspect. When asked specifically about family members, he reiterated, we don't have any suspects, we don't have any persons of interest. So yes, at this point, everyone effectively remains a suspect. Former FBI agent who was a hostage negotiator, his name, Kyle van Wie, described the family's public pleas for contact as, quote, not a positive sign, noting that in a typical kidnapping, the captors are the ones Initiating communication to secure the ransom. The fact that they sent the note to the media instead of the family, he says, suggested a desire for attention or possibly an ulterior motive beyond just getting paid, just getting that bag. The passing of the first deadline without any word is also deeply worrisome. Quote, that would be a reason potentially for the captor not to communicate back if there's no reason to communicate back. Valwinkle said this, of course, alluding to the grim possibility that something may have gone wrong during the abduction or the threat has been neutralized. I guess where that's the other thing that we have to consider here. That's a sad possibility. It's rare, but it's also a sad possibility. Just because they are demanding a ransom for her safe return, that doesn't 100% mean that Nancy Guthrie is still alive. There is a public cry, a public urge for help with $50,000, a $50,000 reward offered for information leading to Nancy's location. Billboards with her picture, with Nancy's picture have gone up across the state of Arizona. The public is advised to watch for unusual behavior in their communities. Person or persons stockpiling supplies, restricting access to their homes, or being obsessively fixated on the news coverage of the case. Former FBI special agent Tom Brady Baker expressed hope, stating that with a kidnapping for ransom, the FBI has a strong track record of resolving such cases, with the vast majority of the victims being recovered alive. If the motive wasn't money, he noted, it would be much harder to predict the kidnapper's actions. Baker also commented on the decision to reprocess the crime scene, stating it was not surprising as initial searches can miss crucial evidence. Other questions we have and others have simple. Why kidnap an 84 year old woman? We know that there's a lot of money. This family has considerable assets, but why kidnap an 84 year old woman? This demographic accounts for a very minuscule percentage of all kidnappings. If it was about money, why make it a public spectacle by sending notes to the media? And most importantly, of course, where is Nancy Guthrie? And now, with no suspects, no definitive motive, and a chilling silence from these abductors, her family and the authorities are waiting, clinging to hope, hoping that they receive a message, a message that they desperately need proof of life. Now back to the communication coming from the family. Nancy's son, Cameron Guthrie, released an emotional video on Instagra. He spoke plainly and directly on behalf of the family. Whoever is holding their mother, he said, needed to reach out to establish a line of communication. Any line. They needed proof that she was in their custody. They wanted to talk. They are waiting. They are ready. But first they needed confirmation that whoever they are dealing with truly has their mother. We already mentioned one hoax here in the situation. The local Arizona news anchor who had eyes on the ransom note, one of the ransom communications described the moment that her, her station, her news station realized this was in the form of an email. That a ransom email they received was legitimate. She said tips arrive in our newsroom constantly. But this message was different. It included a specific dollar amount, a precise deadline and details only a focused abductor would likely know. The team who first saw it flagged it immediately. A few sentences in they say the tone shifted. This didn't feel like a prank. They say it felt structured, pointed and potentially real. So they reported it. TMZ reported the second deadline and live on air their team stated that the first deadline changed the demands while the second set for Monday was quote, much more serious, end quote. I would love to know the particulars and the details of those communications and have the opportunity to cross reference them. So how do we save Nancy? Well authorities, as we said this, this is the high tech way of solving these types of cases. Authorities appear to have removed a U FED device, a Celebrate device. So this is U fed standing for universal forensic extraction device. And it's believed that this was spotted removing it from Annie's home, one of Nancy's daughters, and it being carried out of Nancy's home as well. So Celebrate technology can extract data from devices at multiple levels. Physical file system and logical it can pull deleted content, encrypted messages, app communications, timestamps, fragments, virtually everything that's ever passed through the devices storage systems. Okay, so any device in this general area, inside these homes it should be able to extract information, any as said, virtually everything that's ever passed through the devices storage systems. So if this investigation is digital then the U Fed is a critical step. So investigators were looking for and from which devices. Right. What are they looking for and from which devices? The likely answer, everything digital connected to the family's home ecosystems, phones, tablets, laptops, routers, watches, cameras. What do we know? Well one thing and I keep going back to this, there was a spike in Nancy's pacemaker around 2am okay so this would be consistent with a moment of surprise, fear, a sudden change in her physical state. Guesses here based off of the limited timeline information we have, the abductor somehow enters the home from somewhere other than the front door. Right. Not picked up by that nest Camera navigates the house without tripping, visible, you know, visibly getting tripped up or seen on any cameras or devices, and manages to reach that doorbell camera, the nest device, and disables it or yanks it without being recorded. Then around 2am that spike, that pacemaker spike around 2am Nancy is likely awakened or startled and the pacemaker spikes. Then we also know within 28 minutes, the pacemaker's Bluetooth connection to her iPhone disappears, indicating physical separation beyond normal Bluetooth range. Okay, so this means not a cardiac failure and not death. This is just distance. So in that span, she is moved off of the premises. These celebrate devices retrieve communications broadly. And I'm going through a lot of what I'm learning about the celebrate device with you, as I've just learned a lot of this information myself. What remains on a phone, according to the information I have, what remains on a phone is often far more than what the user would even realize. So some things, some key things. Again, with this investigation here and even with all this data collection, we're still yet to identify any suspect or name a person of interest. Of course, investigators will be looking and have looked at the family first, spouses, children, siblings, including Savannah, the public figure. This is routine. The celebrate device, as said, it's a physical extraction. These tools extract data at multiple levels. Physical extraction to the deepest level, a comprehensive dump that can reveal touches, opens, fragment, carvings, everything that a device ever did, according to what they are saying publicly. Everything that a device ever did. Right. File system extraction. They can recover deleted files, deleted messages, emails, calls and communications. And again, people often mistakenly believe deleted items are gone. In reality, digital forensics can reconstruct or at least recover. See, this is key too. Can reconstruct or at least recover vast amounts of data, meaning the majority or mostly all we're hoping for. All smart devices of all sorts, they can pull information from them. Phones, tablets, laptops, routers, Apple watches, ring cameras. The other thing too. I mean, even in this day and age, we have smart refrigerators. It's going to be a mountain of data that will be pulled by these devices. And even Nancy's phone, again left behind, left at the scene, could ironically provide the FBI with rich insight into everything around her. The house, the network, the house network, the ecosystem, patterns before she was abducted, patterns in her lifestyle before she was abducted. The ransom letters. Second deadline, Monday, 5pm Is obviously the real, real threat here. But also these ransom letters can deepen the digital footprints for this case and investigation. So we all know the FBI uses sophisticated technology, sophisticated analytics, including AI assisted crime analysis to trace origins, IP addresses and network behaviors. And while there are those in the public who can mask IP addresses, law enforcement armed with warrants, can work through service providers to peel back layers of anonymity. These efforts are already underway. They have to be already underway in this case. And we know that because we have already seen deployment of teams specializing in cellular activity examining cell phone data across dozens of towers within a defined radius of this kidnapping. On this show on True Crime Garage in the last 15 to 18 months, we have talked a lot about license plate readers. We've talked about several cases involving license plate readers and how much they are helping us catch the bad guy. Not only catch the bad guy, we can often track a. A trail of the offender. We might be able to figure out how the offender got to Nancy's home, how they left her home, what route they took, and where they are. Nancy's location, the location of the abductors, we might be able to figure that all out with license plate readers, street cameras, and surveillance systems. So even if someone has used stolen plates, you know, if you've listened to this show long enough that these readers capture vehicle, make, model and color, offering leads. And in some cases they're so detailed, in some locations they're so detailed and close enough that the camera angle can provide you an idea of what the driver may look like, a description of the driver. Someone disconnected and stole Nancy Guthrie's doorbell camera. That, to me, is very interesting. And again, it would appear, I would think, somebody from inside the home opens up the front door and puts their hand and arm out there and rips that thing off of the wall. They're never seen, never spotted by that camera. The camera, this doorbell camera, was removed from the scene. Keep that in mind. It's still missing from the scene. Very serious stuff. We hope and pray for the very best for Nancy Guthrie. Nancy Guthrie is an 84 year old grandmother with a pacemaker and she needs vital medication. Okay, so she takes daily heart medication. She needs this, presumably daily, I'm hoping and praying. Traditionally, the kidnapper takes a victim, demands a ransom, and in some cases gets that ransom and returns the victim or lets the victim go. I'm hoping that that abductor, these abductors in Nancy's case were smart enough and knew enough about her that they want to keep her alive. It. It would seem to me that it is in their best interest for a multitude of reasons to keep her alive. And if that is the case, hopefully they brought this medication with them and can continue to give it to her. Give her food and water. At least keep her comfortable. Please do not hurt her. Nancy Guthrie is an 84 year old grandmother with a pacemaker and she needs vital medication. Anyone with any information at all please call the number for help. Here is 1-800- call FBI 1-800-C A L L F B I. The number for information 1-800- call FBI. There is a fifty thousand dollar reward leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie. We thank you for listening. We thank you for telling a friend about true crime. Garage Join us back here in the garage next week when we take a look at a cold case with some new information, some very new vital information on a cold case. And until then, be good, be kind and don't litter.
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