A key piece of evidence in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance could be the camera discovered on the roof of her home days after he disappearance.
Police have been unable to publicly identify suspects since her disappearance, which is believed to have occurred overnight between January 31 and February 1, but detectives were seen last week removing a previously unidentified camera from the roof of her home.
Neighbor Laura Coates told CNN that she had mentioned to a detective that Guthrie's roof looked like it had recently been recoated and was unusually clean - prompting the police to search it.
Criminal expert Dan Donovan, told Us Weekly that this camera is unlikely to be 'a throwaway detail' in the case, which is currently being treated as a kidnapping/abduction.
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"It's potentially one of the most important clues," Donovan - the founder of risk management firm Stratoscope Holdings - pointed out.
Donovan pointed to this roof camera, likely planted there by someone other than 84-year-old Nancy, as a sign that whatever happened to her had been carefully pre-planned.
“A camera on the roof suggests surveillance, planning and situational awareness. That’s not the behavior of someone improvising,” he said. “It could mean they were watching entry points, watching police response patterns or monitoring the home to see who comes and goes.”
This careful preparation appears to be corroborated by the latest FBI update in their search for the elderly woman.
Today (February 10), missing doorbell footage from Nancy's home was released by FBI director Kash Patel, showing the first images of a potential suspect: a masked and likely armed individual who turned up at her Tucson, Arizona home the morning that she vanished.
This individual appears to tamper with Nancy's doorbell camera, which authorities struggled to recover any footage from.
Patel said in a Tuesday update: "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 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."
Meanwhile, Nancy's family continue to make pleas for her return, with Savannah sharing on Monday, as an apparent ransom deadline passed, that they are 'at an hour of desperation.'
A ransom note that has yet to be confirmed as real told Nancy's family to pay $6 million in untraceable bitcoin to have their mother returned to them.
The FBI has urged anyone with tips or leads to call 1-800-CALL-FBI in addition to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office number, 520-351-4900. A $50,000 reward has been posted for information leading to Nancy's safe recovery or a conviction.
William Morgan