Nancy Guthrie is yet to be found after her family reported her missing on February 1. Authorities believe the 84-year-old was taken from her home the night before. It has been over three months as the search for Nancy continues. Amid this, Lisa Miller, a retired Colorado detective, shared a possible theory of what might have happened to Nancy Guthrie.
The former law enforcement official, who said she’d been trained in hostage negotiation by the FBI, shared her insights on the case with Fox News. Miller shared a chilling ‘wrench attack’ theory, which she drew on from crimes in Europe, and which she used to explain the behavior of the masked man seen on camera. While there are no suspects in the Nancy Guthrie case yet, the FBI had released footage of a masked man in gloves, seen at Nancy’s door the night she is believed to have been taken from her Catalina Foothills home, near Tucson, Arizona.
The masked suspect has often been referred to as ‘porch guy’ by those following the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case. Miller spoke about the possible suspect, the modus operandi, and what might have happened with Nancy Guthrie.
Nancy Guthrie: Chilling ‘wrench attack’ theory from Miller
Miller explained the ‘wrench attack’ theory came from a comic book back in 2009, about a hacker. The hacker was trying to find their way into the system to get crypto or ‘bad’ things, in the comics, Miller recalled.
She then dropped the line that would go on to shape similar crimes in the real world. ‘We’ll just drug him and use the $5 wrench and beat him till we get the password,’ Miller recalled.
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The former detective went on to explain that wrench attacks came from the brains of mastermind criminals who sit behind a computer somewhere. Miller explained that these individuals scoured the net, and social media platforms to identify those who might be crypto-rich. Then, they’d hire street level thugs to go into these houses and ‘beat these people’ so they turn over the passwords to get in. “The mastermind then walks the street criminal into how to get this money,” Miller continued. She noted that in Europe this was happening a lot, including family being abducted and fingers being cut off.
Miller then pointed to Savannah Guthrie’s appeal to the kidnappers in the video message where she was seen alongside siblings Camron and Annie. The TODAY show host had made repeated pleas for their mother to be returned. The former law enforcement official noted that some of the language Savannah used was what hostage negotiators were taught. The ex-cop added that this could mean the FBI took the first ransom notes seriously.
She added that the FBI would not have put them through the trauma of recording the videos unless they did not believe there was ‘something real’ there. Pointing to the lack of arrests in the Guthrie case, Miller said the perpetrator was likely sitting behind a computer screen, somewhere. She hinted they might be in another country and could have used apps like Signal to hire the muscle, that is, street level criminals.
Doubling down on this, Miller pointed out that the masked man’s actions were amateurish to her. She described him as a ‘bit of a doofus’ pointing to the man’s dressing and how he carried his firearm. Focusing on the ‘unsophisticated’ approach of the masked man and the ‘elements of sophistication’ in the kidnapping case, Miller circled back to the ‘wrench attack’ theory.
At this point, Miller also noted that Savannah was a well known figure and her mother had appeared on television too. The ex-detective theorized that they might have discussed wealth on social media. If not, she still noted that Savannah was pretty well off and someone might have decided to exploit that by targeting Nancy Guthrie.
Miller concluded that she thought the ‘mastermind’ would have taken steps to shield themselves, but she did not believe the person to be invincible. She also expressed hope that someone would come forward which might lead to a break in the Guthrie case.
