Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera disconnected just before 2 a.m. on February 1, the day she was reported missing by her family, authorities have said.
Now, the public is seeing images that authorities say came from the camera at Guthrie’s front door the morning she disappeared. Investigators were able to recover the video from “residual data located in backend systems,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Here is the timeline officials have put together so far:
January 31, the night before she was reported missing:
- Guthrie’s family members drop her off back home after dinner and a game night. Guthrie’s garage door opens at approximately 9:48 p.m. and closes at 9:50 p.m.
February 1:
- At 1:47 a.m. Guthrie’s doorbell camera is disconnected.
- About 25 minutes later, surveillance camera software detects movement.
- At 2:28 a.m., data from Guthrie’s pacemaker app shows the device was disconnected from her phone.FBI is still offering $50,000 reward for information about Nancy Guthrie or her captor
A $50,000 reward has been offered “for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance,” the FBI posted this afternoon as a reminder following the release of photos and videos.
“New images released today show an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance,” the bureau said. “The FBI seeks information that will lead to the identity of this individual.”
The FBI first announced the reward on February 6.
The FBI has released an additional video from a Nest camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home.
“Additional recovered footage, from the same camera – at the same timeline the morning of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X. “This footage is just before the original video shared, with the individual approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door.”
A look at other cases where surveillance images led to a breakthrough in the investigation
Releasing surveillance images tied to Guthrie’s disappearance “could be the moment that turns this incredibly excruciating investigation around,” Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI, told CNN’s Dana Bash.
“It takes me back to April 18, 2013, when we sat in Director (Robert) Mueller’s office and decided to release the photographs of the Boston Marathon bombers to the public,” McCabe said. “The fact was, we were at an end point; there were no other leads to pursue.”
And so, the FBI turned to the public. The decision to release images of the suspects led to numerous tips and sightings. Investigators ultimately tracked the suspects to the suburb of Watertown, Massachusetts, where, after a shootout that ended in the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev — and an hourslong standoff — authorities arrested his younger brother, Dzhokhar.
More than a week after Guthrie disappeared, McCabe said the investigator’s decision to release images of a suspect is “very telling.”
“They are at the point where they really need … the power of crowdsourcing this identity.”
Other notable cases where images lead to a major break:
- Charlie Kirk shooting: The day after the conservative political activist was assassinated, the FBI released photos and video of a suspect. Those photos were seen by a Utah man whose intuition told him the person in the black T-shirt and sunglasses was Tyler Robinson — his son. That night, Robinson was taken into custody.
- Luigi Mangione: Five days after the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, the manager of a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, called 911 to report a suspicious customer. The manager said her colleagues felt the man’s eyes and eyebrows matched those seen in images of the suspect. Police arrived and ultimately arrested Mangione, ending the dayslong manhunt.
Video released by the FBI Tuesday in the ongoing search for Nancy Guthrie shows a masked individual tampering with the camera at the 84-year-old woman’s home, the agency says.
The person is seen walking up to the Nest doorbell camera and appears to cup the camera with a gloved hand.
The person is wearing a jacket, pants, gloves and a backpack, the video shows. They also appear to have a flashlight in their mouth during the incident.
At one point, the person steps away from the camera and picks up what appear to be plants from the front yard and covers the camera with them, the video shows.
Ski mask and gloves: How subject is trying to hide their identity
The person who came to Nancy Guthrie’s house in the middle of the night went to great lengths to conceal their identity, according to a new video the FBI released. In the surveillance footage, the person is appears to have tampered with Guthrie’s camera, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on social media.
The person is wearing a full ski mask that leaves only their eyes and lips visible. The rest of their body is also fully covered by heavy gloves and a jacket that zips all the way up to their neck.
None of the subject’s clothes have obvious logos or identifying markings on them, including the person’s backpack.
