Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance more than two weeks ago resulted from a botched burglary and not an intended kidnapping, according to a new report.
CBS 5 crime correspondent Briana Whitney, an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy-winning journalist, said Sunday the information was from an inside source “that is now reportable.”
“We can now report investigators now believe this was a burglary gone wrong,” she said in a video she shared on X. “We’ve interviewed multiple experts since this began who also said, based on evidence, surveillance video and other aspects of this case that they also believed this was not an intended kidnapping.”
The report contradicts authorities’ public statements that the 84-year-old Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, was kidnapped intentionally.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos reiterated that stance in an interview on Sunday.
The FBI appeared to push back at Whitney’s report, telling Fox News’ Matt Finn that it has “no clue where that came from.” Nanos told Finn that the “report did not come from us.”
“We will let the evidence take us to motive,” he reportedly said.
The elder Guthrie has not been seen since the night of Jan. 31. Her personal effects reportedly remained in her Tucson-area home, and several ransom notes have been transmitted since her disappearance.
The past week or so has produced some of the most meaningful evidence that could lead to the perpetrator(s).
Photos emerged of an armed, masked suspect wearing gloves while seemingly tinkering with Guthrie’s door camera ― and a glove was found that appears to match them. Its DNA profile is being processed.
Whitney also reported that DNA lifted from an SUV stopped on Friday by law enforcement is being tested. The driver was reportedly en route to a house that was raided by a SWAT team and the FBI that same night.
As for Guthrie’s well-being, Whitney said investigators believe she “could be alive.”
JS has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI for comment.
