William Morgan
Kash Patel has provided the biggest update so far in the case of missing 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, with the release of the first images of a masked and armed potential suspect captured on a surveillance camera.
The mother of TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie is thought to have disappeared from her home at some point between the evening of January 31 and the morning of February 1, but investigators have not been able to confirm whether or not she had been kidnapped.
Ransom notes sent to her family have asked for them to pay $6 million in bitcoin for the safe return of their mother, but police and FBI officials have been unable to even verify if these demands are legitimate.
The FBI Director have some major insight into the complex investigation into Nancy's disappearance, with part of their difficulty apparently being the removal of recording devices at her Arizona home.
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Patel said of the breakthrough in the investigation: "Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home that may have been lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors - including the removal of recording devices."
The update claimed that the potential suspect in Nancy's disappearance was armed in the footage which was captured on the morning that she disappeared.
They appear wearing a balaclava with mouth and eye holes cut into it, jacket, backpack, and also seem to be wearing at least one pair of gloves
The reason this doorbell footage was unable to be released until today, Tuesday February 10, was that it had been scrubbed. Patel added: "The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.
"Working with our partners - as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie's front door the morning of her disappearance."
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos had previously confirmed that the elderly woman's doorbell camera had been disconnected in the early morning, with one of the other key pieces of evidence pointing to a struggle - Nancy's blood in the porch.
With the ransom deadline passing yesterday, Monday February 9, Nancy's news anchor daughter Savannah said in a desperate plea that the family are 'at an hour of desperation', but continued to plead with the public to help locate her mom.
"No matter where you are, even if you’re far from Tucson, if you see anything, if you hear anything," she added.
Anyone with information that could help the investigation is being encouraged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit http://tips.fbi.gov. A $50,000 reward has been posted for any information leading to her safe return or the conviction of her captors.