Former FBI agent says Nancy Guthrie security footage appears 'staged'

TUSCAN, ARIZONA: The search for Nancy Guthrie has now entered its 13th day, as the investigation into the disappearance of 'TODAY' co-anchor Savannah Guthrie’s mother continues to draw public attention. Experts and critics have weighed in on the case, and comments from a former FBI agent have sparked widespread discussion.

Retired FBI agent Kristy Kottis and 31-year FBI veteran Barbara Daly spoke in a recent 'Katie Couric Media interview'. Kottis said the kidnapping “felt like a staged video” and expressed puzzlement over the suspect’s actions when attempting to cover the security camera.

Meanwhile, Daly suggested that multiple individuals might have been involved, noting that the perpetrator(s) could be “someone who entered her circle at some point.”

Nancy Guthrie's security footage looks staged 

Katie Couric, who is Savannah’s former colleague, spoke with the two former agents in her 'Katie Couric Media interview', which was published on Thursday, February 12. Couric asked for their thoughts on Nancy’s kidnapping and the masked suspect captured on the front porch of her Tuscan home.

“That seemed and felt like a staged video to me,” Kristy Kottis stated. “It was an individual, we don’t know whether it’s a male or female, showing us what they want us to see: head down, approaching the house, clearly, to me, wearing two sets of gloves, two sets of pants, a bulky shirt, two masks."

"First they’re like, ‘Head down, don’t look at me.’ Then it’s like, ‘Oops, look at me. I looked right into the camera.’ Then it’s like, ‘I’ve got a gun. I want you to think it’s a gun strapped right to the front in my crotch area.’ I’ve never seen a gun worn that way in any condition.”

Kottis also expressed confusion over the suspect’s unusual actions in Nancy’s yard. “If that was the lookout team or the team that’s supposed to do something from the front, all you do is hide your face, walk up, and cover the ring camera, rip it off the wall right then,” she said. “So I don’t necessarily assume that individual even went into the house.”

Daly offered another perspective. “It’s either the most amateurish thing ever -or it’s what someone wants us to think. It was very strange...I think it tells us something about the individual.” She added that adult kidnappings are “extremely rare,” and Nancy’s age, classifies the case as a “high-risk crime.”

“High-risk crimes like this are rarely spontaneous. There’s usually pre-planning: knowing the person’s patterns, whether there are cameras, the layout of the home, the method of egress,” Daly explained.

“We almost never see a spur-of-the-moment (kidnapping), which is what it would look like if this person is an amateur... Also, removing an 84-year-old woman with mobility issues from inside a house would be very difficult for one person. It would be very risky.”

Update on Nancy Guthrie kidnapping

The Arizona Sheriff’s Office confirmed that DNA evidence has been recovered at the scene, but it does not belong to Nancy Guthrie or any member of her family. On Thursday, the FBI released an updated description of the suspect captured in security camera footage. “The suspect is described as a male, approximately 5’9″-5’10″ tall, with an average build. 

In the video, he is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack,” the agency said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). “We hope this updated description will help concentrate the public tips we are receiving.”