A masked figure wearing black latex gloves carrying a backpack and a gun was filmed tampering with Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera on the morning of her disappearance.
The nightmarish images were released by the FBI on Tuesday as the hunt for the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie enters its tenth day.
Clad in a ski mask, the figure was filmed tampering with Nancy’s Nest doorbell camera. It is unclear if the figure is male or female, but some images appear to show facial hair above their top lip.
Nancy did not have a subscription to Nest, meaning it took investigators longer to extract the images from her camera.
A spokesperson said: ‘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 on the morning of her disappearance.’
FBI Director Kash Patel added that the images showed an ‘armed individual’ tampering with the cameras. What looks like a gun inside a holster appears to be clipped to them, one image shows them with what looks like a penlight in their mouth.
The subject ripped the Nest camera from its holder on the frame of the door, it was missing by the time sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene that morning.
Subsequent video released by officials showed the individual attempting to cover the lens with a clenched fist before searching the area around the door and ripping a bunch of flowers from the entrance way and waving them at the camera.
The images were released after investigators asked Nancy’s household staff to submit DNA swabs they intend to check against samples found inside the grandmother’s home.
The 84-year-old was last seen entering her home in Tucson, Arizona, on the evening of January 31 after having dinner with her daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni.
The next morning she was reported missing after she failed to turn up for a virtual church service with friends, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.
This masked figure was seen on Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep on the morning of her disappearance
Another terrifying image caught the suspect staring right into the lens of the Nest doorbell camera as he removed it
The figure’s latex gloves can clearly be seen in this image, with apparent facial hair also visible
Another image shows the figure with fist clenched as Nancy’s doorbell camera was removed
The entrance to the home can be seen here in daylight
Since then law enforcement have continued to comb over the home, which sits on a large lot on a street with no lights, while Savannah and her two siblings Anne and Camron plead for help in finding their mother.
Annie and Cioni realized she was missing around 11.10am last Sunday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office said.
They reported her disappearance to police at 12.15pm. Her phone, wallet, vital daily medications and car were all still at her Catalina Foothills home.
Cioni said he saw his mother-in-law enter her home through the garage before driving off the night before at at around 9:45pm MT.
Investigators found drops of blood on Nancy’s front porch that were later confirmed to be hers and that her doorbell camera was disconnected at around 1.45am.
Less than 30 minutes later, her security camera detected movement. Her pacemaker stopped transmitting data to her Apple Watch and phone shortly afterwards, suggesting she had been taken out of the devices’ range.
Nancy requires medication every 24 hours and it is unclear if whoever abducted her has ensured she has access to her medications.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office said it has no suspects and that there has been little new information about the case since last week.
The Today Show host’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, was taken from her $1 million home in the Catalina Hills neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona in the early morning hours of February 1
Guthrie was abducted from the $1million home she has lived in for more than 50 years
Savannah and her two siblings, Camron and Annie, are seen here in a video they shared to social media asking for help
A ransom note sent to multiple news outlets last week stipulated an initial deadline of Thursday evening, with a final deadline for Monday evening.
The notes are said to have made specific reference to damage to Nancy’s home and the placement of a possession, both details that have not been shared with the public.
It is unclear if those specific pieces of information were accurate.
Guthrie said she and her family were taking the demands seriously but there has been no official update on whether the notes’ contents have been verified and if their senders really are holding Nancy captive.
Efforts to negotiate with alleged captors also came to a standstill as a digital wallet referenced in the first letter for a potential transaction remained empty, according to TMZ, which was sent a copy of the note.
Once the payment was made, the alleged kidnappers claimed they would return Nancy to Tucson within 12 hours, the outlet reported.
After Monday’s deadline passed, the FBI said it ‘is not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers…’
The bureau is now leading all elements of the investigation in connection with Nancy’s kidnapping, including alleged ransom notes.
That announcement came as Savannah released a video message to her social media, pleading for help in finding her mother.
The search escalated on Friday when forensics returned to her home for a third time to collect new evidence, including a car from her garage and a camera from her roof.
Earlier that day, PCSD Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News that he believes that Nancy is ‘still alive.’
While Nanos offered an optimistic view of the search, he previously admitted that investigators are in a race against time.
