More than a week after they snatched Savannah Guthrie‘s mother, the identities of her abductors remain a mystery.
But former hostage negotiators and criminal profilers who have dealt with previous kidnappers tell the Daily Mail there are personality traits that can be gleaned from their actions so far.
That includes a desire to exert ‘control’ over authorities, an ambition to become infamous, and a level of sophistication that has enabled them to keep the FBI on the back foot.
‘I think they like the notoriety, I think they like the exposure,’ former NYPD hostage negotiator Mike Alcazar told the Daily Mail.’ I feel like they probably think that it’s pressuring the family to comply. The ball is totally in the abductors’ court.’
The first major step forward for the FBI came on Tuesday as they secured and released images of a masked and armed figure tampering with Nancy Guthrie‘s doorbell camera before her disappearance.
Early Wednesday, it emerged a man had been detained in connection with Nancy’s abduction and then released after being stopped by police near the Mexican border.
He later told reporters he was a delivery driver and had ‘no idea’ why he was taken into custody because he does not watch the news.
Meanwhile, TMZ’s Harvey Levin said the outlet had received a ‘bizarre’ email from someone claiming to know the identity of the kidnapper, and demanding one Bitcoin to reveal it.
The FBI released terrifying pictures of a suspect tampering with Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera before her abduction
Nancy is presumed kidnapped for ransom after vanishing from her Arizona home on February 1.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department has still not identified any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to her disappearance, and no proof of life has surfaced publicly.
The FBI said it is ‘not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers.’
At least two apparent ransom notes have come under FBI scrutiny since Nancy vanished, both delivered initially to news media rather than the family.
The Guthrie family was ordered to pay $6 million in Bitcoin by 5pm local time on Monday. But the digital wallet referenced in the email remained empty, according to TMZ, which was sent a copy of the note.
‘The way it’s going, it’s a one way contact, meaning the abductors send a message out, and then the family sends an Instagram message back to them, and that’s not the way we negotiate,’ Alcazar told the Daily Mail.
‘Working with little information that the investigators have, they (the abductors) do seem to have a little bit of ability, because they’ve evaded capture for over a week. They seem to be controlling this event.’
A surveillance image shows an armed suspect outside Nancy Guthrie’s door
A close-up of the suspect in a ski mask outside the door of Nancy Guthrie’s home
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie on June 15, 2023
Nancy Guthrie was abducted from the $1million home she has lived in for more than 50 years
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But he added: ‘It gives me a little bit of pause because – was this targeted? Did they really want to abduct an 84-year-old woman with failing health?
‘You know, to me, that doesn’t sound like careful planning. But they have evaded capture, so they do have some kind of skill to keep away from the police, and still be hiding their whereabouts.’
There are fears those who sent the emails are not the real abductors, and they could be opportunists trying to cash in, or pranksters.
But Alcazar said the family’s video messages suggested there had been some kind of confirmation.
‘I feel that because Savannah stated that they’re willing to pay, that they must have got some kind of confirmation, hopefully proof of life, or proof of the abduction, that they sent to Savannah, that they identified the mother in some way or form,’ Alcazar said.
He said a short video Savannah posted over the weekend, in which she acknowledged receipt of a message, was very deliberate.
‘It was definitely intentional. We don’t know what she’s talking about, but they made some kind of a demand, and she’s acknowledging that she understands what they said, whatever that was,’ he said. ‘It was a very sad, short message, but in my opinion, it told me a lot.
‘I feel like the ball is totally in the abductors’ court. They (the FBI) are just sitting and waiting and hoping that the abductors will call today. I hope they communicate with the FBI.’
The suspect walks away from Nancy Guthrie’s door
Savannah Guthrie and her mom Nancy on set in April 2019 in New York
Retired NYPD hostage negotiator Mike Alcazar said the abductors could be seeking ‘notoriety’
Messages of support near Nancy Guthrie’s house in Arizona
Alcazar said much of the focus of the investigation behind the scenes will be on analyzing the emails.
‘The FBI has the ability to electronically investigate the data from that email,’ he said. ‘We’re hoping that these abductors are dumb and make mistakes, although they only seem to have communicated twice, so it’s very limited.
‘It is 100 percent frustrating because we cannot have a conversation. They’re just making demands, and they’re hoping the family complies. We need some kind of solid agreement that Nancy will be released and without that communication, I don’t believe it’s going to happen.
‘I don’t believe they’re just going to send the money out to a Bitcoin account without without any kind of reassurance that Nancy will be released.’
Profilers will be analyzing the style and length of language used in the emails to assess the rough age of the writer, and whether they are male or female.
They will also be looking for similarities with any previous ransom notes in other cases.
Mary Ellen O’Toole, a retired FBI profiler, who worked on the Unabomber and Zodiac killer cases, said the abductors had shown arrogance, and technology would be key to tracking them.
‘This is a very arrogant crime,’ she told KGTV. ‘In the case of the traditional kidnapping, it has waned, and in part I think because of the ability of law enforcement to track the money, to track the phone call, to track the cell phone.
‘And so by the time, they finish putting all these pieces together, knowledge of cell phones and cell phone towers, knowledge of cryptocurrency, they’ll bring all that in because that (tells) a lot about the offender or the primary offender’s personality,”
She said the abductors could be known to Nancy.
‘You start to look at the victimology. Who is the victim, and where did the crime occur? The more we know about the victim, the more we know about the offender. That’s kind of our mantra.’ she said.
Former FBI Special Agent Chip Massey said the abductors, wherever they are, would have to be controlling their environment
Pima County Sheriff blocks Nancy’s street as FBI conducts a search at her home
Former NYPD hostage negotiator Chip Massey said the brazenness of the crime was also a clue to the abductors’ personalities.
‘You have to have a lot of confidence to go into somebody’s home and not be a family member, or someone who has a regular day to day contact with them,’ he told the Daily Mail.
But he said finding where they were hiding was a needle in a haystack.
‘Three people in a house, a farm, some other type of apartment building, if they were set up right they could be in a lot of different places, but there would have to be, certainly, some preparations to ensure a control of the environment.’
