Nancy Guthrie remains to be found, four months after her family reported her missing on February 1. At the time, authorities said they believed, TODAY show host, Savannah Guthrie’s mother had been kidnapped from her Catalina Foothills home near Tucson, Arizona. Now, a former FBI agent has asked questions of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department – who are lead on the case – and the FBI, who are assisting, while the nation follows the matter closely.
Jennifer Coffindaffer used to be a FBI special agent. Now, she shares expert insight on crimes or missing persons cases across the country. Coffindaffer has been following the Nancy Guthrie case from the get-go, and has now hinted that someone may have ‘dropped the ball’ in the investigative process.
The law enforcement expert raised a couple of critical questions regarding the search for Nancy Guthrie. She made her points in an X post. Here’s what the ex-FBI agent had to say about Nancy Guthrie’s case.
Ex-FBI agent raises key questions in Nancy Guthrie case
The former FBI agent started off with a jibe at her old employers, not to mention, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department – which has faced its fair share of fire over the handling of the Guthrie case.
“LE and the FBI are making no sense,” Coffindaffer wrote. Notably, the PCSD has been criticized most severely over the decision to send the forensic evidence to a private lab in Florida first, before handing it over to the FBI for analysis. Currently, the federal agency is looking into this evidence with many hoping it will be what provides a break in the case.
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In the meantime, the ex-FBI agent asked some pointed questions.
“Where is the enhanced photo of Porch guy. It exists. Why not share with the public for their help?,” she asked. Notably, the only photo of the suspect is from the doorbell footage at Guthrie’s house, where a masked man with a backpack was seen the night before she was reported missing. Coffindaffer dubbed him ‘porch guy’ and he’s all the public knows by way of a suspect in the case. The former FBI agent appears to be suggesting that a more enhanced photo might generate leads as someone might recognize who the man behind the mask is.
She then asked “Billboards: Why is Nancy’s face on them? Put Porch Guy’s face & add Spanish if you want more of the public’s help. Or do you know who porch Guy is?”. Notably, this ties in with Coffindaffer earlier. With the suspect’s face on billboards, there might be a chance of someone recognizing the man. However, in missing cases, the individual’s face is also put on billboards, so someone may contact authorities if they’ve seen the person – in this case the octogenarian – somewhere.
The ex-FBI agent then raised questions about vehicles in the case. “Vehicles: Nothing on any traffic or Ring/Nest cams to distribute after 4 Months? Nothing. It is unfortunately possible,” she asked. Given Guthrie’s neighborhood, the house had to be accessed by a vehicle and authorities had also sought neighbors’ doorbell camera footage to try and determine if any vehicle in the area seemed out of place.
The veteran also flagged the lack of public searches. “Finally, 0 searches since day 2? Why? What could it hurt?,” Coffindaffer said. She added “No contact with Mexican authorities from the beginning-Remember.” These remarks come amid speculations that Nancy Guthrie might have been taken across the border. Recently, a tip claimed her body was buried in Mexico, but it turned out to be a dud.
The former FBI agent then noted that law enforcement either knew who was responsible or had left glaring gaps in the investigation. Relying on her years of experience in the FBI, Coffindaffer added “25 years in the FBI tells me they must have an idea of who is behind this. If this is not the case, then let the public help.”
She suggested that law enforcement should release the enhanced photos, change the billboards, and start searching the deserts.
