Newly surfaced details in the investigation into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie indicate that at least one image captured by her Nest doorbell camera was recorded on a different day than the others, suggesting the masked suspect may have visited the property prior to her suspected abduction on Feb. 1. A source familiar with the probe confirmed the development to Fox News Digital on Monday.
According to the source, one of the images released by the FBI does not match the date of the remaining footage, pointing to the possibility that the individual surveyed the residence in advance. The source declined to identify the specific date of the earlier image, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News that the information about the differing date did not originate from him.
Investigators have at various times asked neighbors to review their home surveillance footage from the entire month of January, specifically the night of Jan. 11, and also the period between Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, when Guthrie is believed to have disappeared.
ABC News was the first to report that the suspect may have scouted the property earlier, citing unnamed sources.
Jason Pack, a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, said the apparent advance visit suggests the crime was deliberate rather than spontaneous.
“That’s sophistication. That’s the hallmark of someone who thought about this before they acted. And it matters significantly from a legal standpoint, because premeditation and planning elevate the severity of what investigators are looking at,” Pack said. “The suspect in this case may have thought they were being careful. But appearing twice on camera while trying to avoid identification isn’t careful. That’s exposure. And right now, investigators are working very hard to close that gap.”
The disclosure also implies that the information recovered by the FBI and Google from the camera system extended beyond the final event stored in the device’s memory.
According to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, Guthrie’s doorbell camera went offline at 1:47 a.m. on the night she was taken. Roughly 25 minutes later, at 2:12 a.m., another camera on the property detected a person but failed to record any footage.
Initially, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department directed inquiries to the FBI. After publication of the initial report, however, the department released a statement clarifying that no timestamps had been publicly disclosed in connection with the Nest images.
“We are aware that doorbell images released earlier in the investigation depict a suspect in different stages of attire, including with and without a backpack,” the PCSD said in a statement. “There is no date or time stamp associated with these images. Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”
Prior to this clarification, experts had raised questions about whether the masked individual shown in the images was the same person, noting differences in clothing and the absence in some images of a backpack and holstered firearm that appeared in others.
{Matzav.com}