Ring founder responds after FBI recovers deleted doorbell video in Nancy Guthrie case

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is pushing back against growing questions about deleted doorbell footage after federal authorities said they recovered video evidence in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

Speaking on Tuesday, February 10, Siminoff insisted that Ring does not store deleted recordings without an active subscription.

His comments came after FBI Director Kash Patel revealed that video was recovered from “residual data located in backend systems,” raising fresh debate over how the footage was accessed in the ongoing investigation.

Jamie Siminoff defends Ring footage policy

During an appearance on 'The Bottom Line' with hosts Dagen McDowell and Brian Brenberg, Siminoff addressed concerns about storage policies and privacy.

“I do know with Ring specifically, if you delete a recording or if you don't want a recording, you don't have a subscription. We do not have it stored. I know that because I built the systems with my team,” Siminoff said.

He repeated the point several times throughout the interview, making it clear that, according to him, deleted footage without a subscription is not saved on Ring’s systems. Siminoff was careful not to directly comment on the specifics of the Nancy Guthrie investigation. He stressed that different companies design their systems differently and that details reported in the early stages of investigations are not always accurate.

“I wouldn't want to speculate,” he said. “Maybe they're also, maybe we're wrong, and that she did have some sort of subscription. You know, again, in these cases, I've found that a lot of the things that we're hearing are not always correct, and we find out later what's actually happening.”

He added, “I mean, definitely hard to speculate on something like this because, you know, everybody builds their systems differently.”

Kash Patel says video recovered from backend systems

The debate intensified after FBI Director Kash Patel posted a statement on X saying that video had been recovered from “residual data located in backend systems.”

A federal source confirmed to Fox News Digital that Google cooperated with the FBI to retrieve the footage. Siminoff declined to draw conclusions about what may have happened in this specific case. “Again, I don't want to speculate exactly like what happened or what subscription they had or whatever,” he said. “I think there's a lot of probably information out there that we don't know.”

He also expressed relief that authorities were able to obtain evidence. “But again, I'm happy to see here that, you know, for whatever the reason was that they were able to, with this camera, you know, recover this,” Siminoff said. “Because I do think this evidence is hopefully going to lead to a solution here to this really just tragic case.”

Despite the uncertainty, Siminoff acknowledged that the recovered footage could be important for investigators. “It does seem like this video footage might be the best evidence so far,” he said, “and it shows why it is just so important to have these cameras.”

Ring Super Bowl ad sparks privacy debate

Beyond the investigation, Siminoff also responded to criticism surrounding Ring’s Super Bowl “Search Party” advertisement. The ad focused on a feature designed to help neighbors locate lost pets, but it drew backlash from some who raised privacy concerns. 

“It actually like is a completely built on privacy,” Siminoff said. He explained how the feature works: if someone posts about a lost dog, the system may alert a nearby user if the animal appears on their camera.

“We like we look for a dog, someone post a dog, we find it, we say, you know, Jamie, this dog that's lost in your neighborhood looks like this dog in front of your camera. Do you want to contact your neighbor?” he said.

According to Siminoff, users stay in full control. “If you say no, your privacy is protected. You're totally fine,” he explained. “If you say yes, then like I think most people would want to, you help return the dog.”

He added that the feature has already made a difference. “We're returning over a dog a day,” Siminoff said. “And we're doing it by keeping privacy and trust because that is very important.”