Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SAVANNAH GUTHRIE MOM MISSING: DAY 41

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

Conversations that keep the Nancy Guthrie investigation alive! Is the damaged utility box around the corner from Nancy Guthrie's home relevant to the investigation into her disappearance?  Sherif...f Nanos says no, but the FBI continues to investigation.  What should be done now and what clues where initially missed in the investigation? Was the crime scene protected as individuals, including a pizza delivery person approached the front door where Nancy's blood was found, just days into the investigation/ Join Nancy Grace and her panel of expert as she looks for answers to help bring Nancy Guthrie home. Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie should contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or submit tips online at tips.fbi.gov.  There is a $1.2 million dollar reward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, missing day 41. The very latest in the search for Nancy Guthrie, an 84-year-old, beloved grandmother. Plus, do we have a motive? If we have a motive, can we ID the kidnapper? Straight out to Dave Matt, Crime Stories Investigative,
Starting point is 00:00:31 reporter. What about it, Dave? Nancy, we know that over the last couple of weeks, there had been zero press conferences done by Sheriff Nanos, but he has talked to some media one-on-one, not really having to answer questions, just softball stuff for him to share what he's thinking. And he actually, Sheriff Nannos actually came out with some stuff on the NBC Nightly News that was actually pretty scary. Scary for the community, scary for all of us. us who have been watching this story unfold. But here is Sheriff Nannos on NBC Nightly News.
Starting point is 00:01:07 We believe we know why he did this. And we believe that it was targeted, but we can't, we're not 100% sure of that. And so it'd be silly to tell people, yeah, don't worry about it. You're not his target. Don't think for a minute that because it happened to the Guthrie family, you're safe.
Starting point is 00:01:29 No, keep your wits about you. So Nanos is now saying we believe she was targeted. We know the motive. Nobody is safe. But that's it. Not giving us any specifics. I guess the biggest problem we have with all of this is why is it that after this long of a period of time are we just now telling everybody you're not safe? We thought from the very beginning targeted going after Nancy Guthrie.
Starting point is 00:02:01 the obvious connection to her daughter Savannah being very high profile with the Today Show, being local in Tucson for a number of weeks prior to the kidnapping. I mean, there was a lot going on here that was all very, very specific to Nancy Guthrie. Now, even though Sheriff Nettos is not telling us there's anything specific, but saying that others could be at risk, that's a shocking beginning to the news. One has to wonder if Nanos is using this as an opportunity to take some of the attention away from the resume and why he left El Paso back in the day. It's all I can think of. Now to Brian Fitzgibbon's joining us, Director of Operations, USPA, nationwide security, leading a team of investigators around the world, including extractions from Mexico, finding missing people, former Marine Iraqi War vet.
Starting point is 00:02:59 Brian, weigh in. I like to separate signal from noise, meaning on radio traffic, you get good signal, and then you get noise that clutters that message from coming in. I have to interpret this as noise coming from Sheriff Nanos. He's made statements in the past that have gone hot across the presses, and then he's walked them back time and again. this isn't yet another one that's very confusing to say we have a motive, the public isn't safe, yet earlier he said this was targeted directly to Nancy. So if we take it at face value, this is very concerning, right? Because it means that there's an individual or a group of individuals that are directly targeting
Starting point is 00:03:53 wealthy, elderly citizens in the greater Tucson area. I don't believe that that was Nanos's intention. My hope is that he misspoke and that this didn't come across correctly, but hey, there's no playbook for what Nanos has been saying here. It seems like he's shooting from the hip in these press releases and in these media engagements and causing quite a bit of confusion with the point. And, Ryan, one of the things that we have been following all along, blood deposition on the front entryway and inside the house.
Starting point is 00:04:32 But the security of this site from the very beginning, we know that when Nancy Guthrie's family shows up to check on her, okay, they came going to assume they came into the home. They didn't just stand outside in the driveway and say, oh, we don't see mom. So we know that they went into the house. We probably can assume a neighbor or two was there as well,
Starting point is 00:04:53 you know, as they were trying to figure out where she was. But the scene was not secured after 24 hours. We even know that a pizza delivery guy showed up at the front door. How corrupt is the DNA or how usable will it be as this investigation moves forward? Because Nanos is suggesting the case will be broken by DNA. Chain of evidence on the DNA on the front porch? What's going to happen with all of this?
Starting point is 00:05:17 You know, I have to, if we take a step back, you know, most crime scenes aren't secure for some period of time. after a crime's committed, right, until police arrive and actually get a hold on that scene and put up a perimeter to keep the public out. Now, in this case, you're spot on, right? They had the scene, they released the scene, then you had days of nobody there, then a security guard posted out front, keeping the media away. then the law enforcement was back to the scene. So again, what was collected on that initial shot by Pima County, we won't know right away.
Starting point is 00:06:02 I believe that they were able to preserve and collect probative DNA evidence at the scene in their first walkthrough. So I'm not so particularly worried about that evidence in like. of a potential prosecution. I think what's very concerning right now is this new statement from Nanos really opens up, are they aware of a motive? What direction is this investigation going? And do they believe that the people in Tucson are really in some sort of danger? Was that, again, like we said earlier, was that just an off-the-cuff statement taken the wrong way?
Starting point is 00:06:47 If this was your investigation, you're in charge and we're at day 40 plus now, what would you be doing today, Brian? Well, so to be clear, as a private investigator on the private side, we're never in charge of an investigation like this. We would work, the first thing that we would do is generate what we call a memorandum of understanding with the Pima County Sheriff's Office to clear. clearly define the left and right lateral limits of what our organization would do. And one of the first things we do is bring in advanced search and rescue assets as well as, and that could include drones, identifying areas for grid search. The second thing would be identifying who we can and can't talk to because as a private investigator, we never want to step on the toes of law enforcement. So the first immediate step
Starting point is 00:07:50 would be a briefing with Pima County to clearly identify where they would or would not want us to go, set up reporting parameters. Everything we do would be sent effectively in a one-way street of information to the sheriff's office. And then, as I said, search and rescue, advanced search and rescue technologies would be brought in to start aggressively grid searching that area. Is Nancy Guthrie, a beloved mother and grandmother, alive? What is she suffering right now? Is she hidden away in some basement being fed what? Does she have her meds? Does she dream about her children and going back to her home? Joining us now is a woman who knows the answers firsthand to those type of questions. With us, Cheryl Hunter, kidnapped survivor,
Starting point is 00:08:51 an author of Use It, Turn Setbacks into Success on Amazon. Use It, turn setbacks into success. You can find her at Cherylhunter.com. That's Cheryl with a C. Cheryl, thank you for being with us tonight. Nancy, it's good to see you again. I can only imagine what Nancy. Guthrie's ordeal has been triggering in your mind? It has been triggering a lot. One of the things that is most haunting is that there has been no proof of life. And I, like everyone now, am just praying that she is safe, she is alive and that she will be returned.
Starting point is 00:09:40 Cheryl, for those not familiar, with your ordeal. What happened? I was a teenager traveling overseas with my best friend. I was approached by a man with a camera who said, are you a model?
Starting point is 00:09:58 I can make you one. Just come with me and my friend over there. And I thought that's not a very prudent thing to do, but I wanted to live in a big city. I was from a very rural horse ranch in the mountains of Colorado and I thought aha this could be my opportunity now obviously they were not photographers they had nothing to do with modeling they were criminals they held me
Starting point is 00:10:28 captive they abused me in every way and they eventually let me go and over the years nancy i've speculated on why. And the best I can come up with is that I humanized myself. Now, none of this happened consciously. I was a teenager at the time and I started talking about my little brother who was having problems in school and he was being held back a year. And I said, but he's very smart. He invents things. I think he could really make something of his life. and I hope he doesn't let this discourage him. And I would talk about my grandmother trying to hold my hand in public. And I think what I did was I turned myself out of being an object,
Starting point is 00:11:21 which is how a criminal relates to a kidnapping victim. You know, they're an object, they're a means to an end. They're a tool to get what they want. And somehow, in this fit of brilliance that I had in talking about my, family, I turned myself back into a human. I can only pray that Nancy Guthrie, if she's alive and able to have any interaction with them, is doing the same. With us as Cheryl Hunter, kidnapped survivor and author of Use It, turned setbacks into success. Cheryl, in the darkest moments of your ordeal, the darkest moments, how did you keep going? How did you survive? I, in the, in the darkest moments,
Starting point is 00:12:06 And by that, I mean, these monsters were torturing me and cutting me and they were on top of me and assaulting me in every way you could imagine. I now I know I dissociated. I craned my head as far as I could. And on the wall, in the room that they had me, there was a little speck of light. and I thought that light must be coming from something outside, something which is free. And I stared at it with all my mind thinking, if I stared hard enough, I could become this. Now, that wasn't something I planned out. I simply could not look at them, cutting me, torturing me, raping me.
Starting point is 00:12:54 I had to look away. And somehow that dancing spot of light that stayed there all of the days that I was, was held gave me a sense of freedom. I couldn't, I could just like this spark of light fly away any time I chose. Cheryl, I have so many questions to ask you, but that story that you just told about that dancing, glittering spark of light on the wall getting you through the worst moments of the worst moments of your life. Just, I don't know, it's very, very poignant. I think some of what you're saying is you are acting out of instinct,
Starting point is 00:13:45 focusing away from what was happening to you on a dancing speck of light, humanizing yourself to your abductors, but you were held for a considerable period of time were you fed? Were you allowed to sleep? What happened? Well, I was not fed and I passed out. I don't know how else to characterize it. They gave me water. Originally, they had drugged me. They asked me if I wanted wine and that was drugged. I passed out and it was much later. I was in a car and I woke up and saw that we were
Starting point is 00:14:26 going up a windy road and I realized this was not good. My head was hanging out of the of the passenger front passenger window with my tongue out kind of like a dog. And over the period of days I got water a couple of times, but that was it. And I presume that's how they continued to drug me. But I was just out of it entirely. I was laying there at times in water. And I'm sure it was my own urine, but they also tried to drown me. Yes, it was instinct, those things that I did, humanizing myself and looking away and staring at the light. But I can't say that I thought to do those things. It was not conscious thought at all.
Starting point is 00:15:21 It was just a reflexive, instinctive response. I was too young. I had no experience with anything horrific. It was just, as you'd said, an instinct. Cheryl Hunter, when you have been hearing about Nancy Guthrie and what she's going through, what her family is going through, how has that affected you? It's very hard to be with. I initially thought, I must turn off the TV and stop watching this. But the truth is that I'm very blessed. I not only overcame the impact of the kidnapping in my life, but I went on to help thousands of other people overcome the impact of the violent crime
Starting point is 00:16:12 in their own lives that they had faced. And I thought, it's my duty to pay attention because I do demonstrate that it's possible to go on after trauma. As I've followed Nancy Guthrie's case, one of the things that's become disturbingly sad is that I've read in many comments that people say, my son has been gone for 17 years and I don't know where he went or my father disappeared and no one can find him. I say that to say that there are many people suffering right now. And what's common in an occurrence like this where we have experienced something that seems unfathomable and out of our control is that we feel hopeless.
Starting point is 00:17:06 And I've found over the years since my kidnapping that the antidote to hopelessness is action, is inspired action and helping another. So, yes, contribute in some way to different funds and causes that are supporting the family of Nancy Guthrie or to the beautiful tributes that people are paying to her. But there's also those in our own communities who are suffering and hurting. And whenever we feel hopeless, if we just remember that there's someone else who's hurting and feeling hopeless as well. And what we can control is contributing, being kind, and finding a way to make those people's lives
Starting point is 00:17:58 just a little bit brighter. And I want to demonstrate that and lend my voice to this sad, sad state of affairs. Cheryl Hunter, you survived. That gives people hope that Nancy Guthrie can survive. Yes, I know. She's elderly. yes, I know she has health problems, but she can survive.
Starting point is 00:18:23 There is a hope. There is a glimmer of hope that she is yet alive and can be brought home. You did it. I pray that that's the case. And people say, well, there's been no proof of life as though that is definitive. Well, there's also been no proof of death. And I'm hanging my hat on that and my hopes on that, that she is in fact alive, that as crazy as it sounds, somehow she's watching all of these conversations about her. And she's allowing this massive outpouring of love and attention and affection to fortify her.
Starting point is 00:19:07 We are really, each of us, far more resilient than we could ever anticipate. and we all have proven it to ourselves in one way or another. We've all dealt with circumstances that we never would have chosen for ourselves. And I know that if Nancy is alive, that Nancy Guthrie can truly overcome, as can her family and her loved ones. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In the mind of Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper, joining us now, special guest Robin. Drick, behavioral expert and former FBI special agent, chief of the FBI counterintelligence behavioral analysis program, repeat, chief of the FBI counterintelligence behavioral analysis
Starting point is 00:20:08 program, author of Sizing People Up, a veteran FBI agent's manual for behavior prediction. Robin Drake, it's so great to have you joining us tonight. First of all, based on the status of the investigation right now, what we know right now, clearly no robbery, no burglary, not a random kidnapping. What could possibly be the motive, Robin? I'm going to remove the ransom notes from this one, only because I think the ransom notes is a great attempt of spearfishing because, you know, typically when people are targeted, someone to take advantage of them, manipulate them through really nasty, black-hatted social
Starting point is 00:20:52 engineering, they're taking known information and knowledge and manipulating it for their own gain. Because if you're going to do a ransom and an abduction, this is exactly not the way to do it, and that's ever been done this way before, because the first thing you always have to do for a ransom is sign of life, proof of life, not given. The other thing that they also do in ransoms is they communicate directly with the family. because remember, we always got to look at, according to what John Roberts, the first FBI profile that says, you always have to look for intent. And if the intent is to get money, you have to make it easy to get the money. Whoever is doing these ransom notes through media, which is also never done, made it very, very difficult to get the money because they made it implausible with no sign of life.
Starting point is 00:21:37 And so I kind of discounted that from the very beginning. I agree and disagree with what you just said. I think initially the motive was money. but many legal eagles believe that everything went sideways and the original motive became impossible to achieve but if it wasn't for ransom money then what could it have been so now we got to look at what's the motive slash intent there's really kind of two schools of thought on this so let's take for for argument's sake that it was targeted. It was targeted for Nancy or her establishment or something there. They wanted something inside that house. They either wanted an object or they wanted Nancy.
Starting point is 00:22:27 Some theories out there are that it was targeted towards Nancy through some sort of retribution against either Nancy or Savannah herself, and that even if it was Nancy, that might be a secret that she held of someone that had it in for her. To me, that kind of falls apart a bit because there's always leakage of an individual that is targeting someone that has malicious intent or there's some sort of stalking or there's some sort of note there's something that says it was for that intent. And if it was intent to take Nancy out of that house because I looked up the research on this too, if it was a targeted abduction in retribution for Nancy that the intent was to take her out of that house, three to 12 minutes is as long as those take on
Starting point is 00:23:11 average. This was 41 minutes. And so something went different. Well, Robin Jirke, you're a former FBI behavioral analyst, and I don't want to throw you in the same pot to stew with online conspiracy theorists, but you're stating that the perp, maybe someone that had a, quote, relationship with Nancy Guthrie. Take a listen to this. My theory, my opinion, is that Nancy was abducted by a boyfriend or a friend. that is a boy, a man of her own. Not an obsession with Savannah, not anything to do with anybody else but Nancy. I am not an intuitive.
Starting point is 00:23:57 I'm not anything like that. I don't know anything other people don't know. I just want to speak into the universe that my theory is this is about Nancy and her friend or a boyfriend and maybe he hired somebody. maybe. That's from Abby and Mom, TikTok, Abby and Mom
Starting point is 00:24:17 on TikTok, a boyfriend. Don't you think by now we would know if 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie had a boy toy? I think we would. That said, Robin Drake, let's veer back out of the wheeze
Starting point is 00:24:34 and into the middle of the road. Robin, you are unconvinced that the purpose someone that Mrs. Guthrie had with him she had a relationship? Think about this. If it was for retribution against Nancy in some way and she was hiding it because that's one of the theories is that she didn't share it with someone, what 84-year-old woman that's close to her family that has church friends and all these things isn't going to share with her relatives, friends, and close associates that someone has it in for her or she got hate mail or something. So that's why that's
Starting point is 00:25:09 kind of on the outskirts, but at the same time, more of my theory of that, this was a home invasion for robbery targeted for something inside that house that it took them 41 minutes to find. It's an outlier because of the type of targeting, 84 years old, but at the same time, though, there's no data that supports the other one and a little bit more on this one, in my mind. But both sides are open, but again, targeted against Nancy for something in that house, whether her or an object or a thing of monetary value. Okay, Robin Drake, I hate to argue with an FBI behavioral analyst, but that sounds crazy to me. This top secret thing that they wanted out of her house, what?
Starting point is 00:25:55 The necklace Savannah gave her two Christmases ago? What just doesn't make any sense? She's not a special agent. What could possibly be in her home that would justify this? They could easily break in when she's not there. And even if they did or did not find the top secret object you're talking about, if it was for an object, why would they take an 84-year-old that can't walk past 50 yards along with them? That doesn't make any sense. None at all.
Starting point is 00:26:31 Okay, let me go with another topic. The suspect's behavior. What do you make of that, Robin Drake? Yeah, suspect's behavior at the front door, definitely someone that had some reps, as I call them, in doing a home invasion of some sort. They were very fluid with their actions and what they were doing. They're very comfortable with it. And so, again, this kind of supports my theory that someone that was on that front porch had some experience in home invasion before, for whatever purpose that was, for abduction or for getting something inside that house. And so they're comfortable doing it.
Starting point is 00:27:08 but not as experienced, obviously, to deal with a ring camera or a nest camera because they were trying to cover it with a branch, which also kind of discounts, you know, one of the theories that someone has come out with recently that maybe they use a Wi-Fi jammer or something, which also has a very limited distance that works on. Because if they had a Wi-Fi jammer on them, they wouldn't have tried to kind of cover up that Ness camera. Also, one of the theories out there that people were flowing out was there's a relative or someone close to Nance, knew the property well. And my theory is that it was someone maybe one degree of separation, that knew of something in that house, knew of something of value,
Starting point is 00:27:46 because there's a lot easier ways to get in that house than that front door, which had a double gate on the front, the side door, the back door, around the pool. There's a lot of other ways to do this than actually going in that front door. That was covered very well. Robin Drake, behavioral analysis expert and former FBI, what do you make of the porch guy, the perps, behavior on the front porch, and how that relates to an internet outage in the neighborhood? Would he be able to tell that it was still connected to Wi-Fi or just connected to power?
Starting point is 00:28:20 Because if he's trying to take down the Wi-Fi in the neighborhood, it's still, again, it's a hard thing to assess on the front step. And here's the other thing that I think is important for people to also take in. You're looking at limited data from the neighbor, who said they lost connectivity to their own ring camera that night at that time. Okay, have they looked at the pattern of behavior how often that ring camera loses connectivity over the course of a day, a week, a month, to see if it actually fit a pattern or if it was an enigma or a blip.
Starting point is 00:28:52 So data points are great if you're actually doing them and looking for an arc of behavior between technology as well as human behavior, because if it's a blip, then it's something to pay attention to. If it's just another data point that it's completely normal, it might not pan out. Robin Drake, I hear what you're saying right there. And while you were talking, I was reassessing what you said about the perp going into Nancy Guthrie's home, A, as retribution against Nancy Guthrer. I still think that's completely bogus. That's crap right there.
Starting point is 00:29:23 Forget that. Just mark that off my list of possibilities. But you did say going in for a specific item and that they spent 41 minutes looking for the item. and I took it to me some secret item nobody else knew about, but actually, you might be right. What if a granny-nanny told her son, the black sheep son that Ms. Guthrie has jewelry hidden in a certain spot in her home
Starting point is 00:29:53 or keeps $10,000 cash taped to the bottom of the bit? I don't know, something like that. An item of value in that home and it leaked to someone. I can go with you that far, Robin, that they went in for a specific item, but then taking Nancy Guthrie with them, they were in full disguise.
Starting point is 00:30:18 So taking Nancy Guthrie with them, she can't walk over 50 yards. She has all sorts of health issues. They should just go in and get it and leave. With that scenario, that's where you lose. me, why would they take her with them if this were not a kidnapping, kidnapping for ransom? And the whole retribution thing as a motive against her for what?
Starting point is 00:30:46 She screwed up the knitting circle? No. And retribution against Savannah Guthrie or her husband, this is pretty far-fetched. I'm going to kidnap your mom because you said X during the Today Show or because your husband worked for fill in the blank and then never take credit for it and explain why is retribution. None of that makes any sense to me. It's very fantastical, but everything's on the table tonight. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Starting point is 00:31:29 Tonight, a vandalized, cracked, wide open utility box is taking center stage. Straight out to Dave Matt, Crime Stories, Investigator, reporter Dave, why? Because this utility box that shows really vandal, it shows a lot of vandalism, but Nancy, this utility box right there, you gotta realize this brings in phone, fiber optic cable, which by the way,
Starting point is 00:31:54 that's how many of us use the internet. This box is being tied to possibly an internet outage that was happening in the neighborhood at the time we believe Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped. This utility box is just around the corner from her home next to the neighbor that her, the neighbor's home that sees into Nancy Guthrie's backyard. Nancy, we've got a lot going on with this box and the possibility that internet connectivity was blacked out for a brief period of time the night Nancy Guthrie disappeared.
Starting point is 00:32:33 The video we're showing you right now is from our friends at WCNC, this utility box, Nancy Guthrie's home. Okay, straight out to our guest, an all-star panel, James Bass joining us. James is a digital forensic analyst, expert witness with Evidence Solutions, Inc. There in Tucson. James Bass, thank you for being with us. What do you make of it?
Starting point is 00:33:00 Let's take a look at this video again. A utility box, pride open and vandalized. At the time, Nancy Guthrie, goes missing, what would this have to do with the blackout experience by we know two neighbors of Nancy Guthrie's? By the way, this video from our friends at WCNC. What about it, James? Well, not exactly sure that these two could be connected. Looking at the utility box, the way it's set up and the wires that are in it, they appear that they are likely just your regular telephone wires, your telephone infrastructure. That would not affect.
Starting point is 00:33:38 your Wi-Fi. I would assume this most folks now interact. I want to see the utility box. James. Granted, I'm just a trial lawyer. You're the digital expert. How can you look at this tangle of wires and tell me
Starting point is 00:33:57 oh, it's nothing but phone wires? And then to me, I don't understand how you know that by looking at that, that it's just phone wires. I mean, doesn't a lot of fiber optics include phone, your cable, your Wi-Fi connection? And again, thanks to WCNC for this.
Starting point is 00:34:18 But what do you mean? They're just phone wires. I didn't think there even were just phone wires anymore. Well, the wires are still there and the infrastructure is still there. It still supports a lot of what we do today. Your fiber optic is just one, is a fiber optic cable. your phones would have three or four pairs that are connected in that junction box. It looks like spaghetti.
Starting point is 00:34:46 If you were to have something that interrupted the service, if it were severed at the box, then it would require a work order to be fixed. It would have been an outage that was permanent. It would not have been intermittent. If that were the intent, then you would have to come back. fix it, it would not come back on it's on. Okay, now that is making sense. If the box were vandalized and Wi-Fi cut off,
Starting point is 00:35:19 then it would stay off. They couldn't repair the Wi-Fi. Okay, but what about this? Let's see the porch guy, please, control room. What if the perp, go with me on this, not just his face, his whole self, please. what if the PIRP thought he had disabled it by attacking that utility box? Then he comes up and sees the light on the porch cam blinking
Starting point is 00:35:48 or sees some type of activity, a motion sensor movement or something. He's go, oh, H-E-W-L, and then goes to get the foliage to cover it up. He's like, okay, well, that didn't work. Would that make sense, Bass? Possibly, but if you were going to the extent, to attack a utility infrastructure, you would probably know that that was not going to affect how the internet service is delivered.
Starting point is 00:36:20 Well, you know that because you're a digital forensic expert, but not every regular person would know that. They would see that utility box near Nancy Guthrie's home and go, hey, I'll attack that, I'll take out the Wi-Fi. Entirely possible. That would be possible. Yeah. Okay, hold on, hold on.
Starting point is 00:36:44 Let's see the video of the porch guy walking up. I want to hone in on what we think is a walkie-talkie or a signal jammer. Okay, take a look at what's in his pocket. Is it just a walkie-talkie and he attempted to take out the utility box? Is the utility box attack? The reason investigators are now stating, at least one of the, them, that they are close to a breakthrough. Straight out to Brian Fitzgibbons joining us. He is the Director of Operations at USPA nationwide security. Fitzgibbons leads a team of investigators that go
Starting point is 00:37:25 around the world, finding and extracting missing people. He is a former Marine, and he is an Iraqi war vet. There could be the issue of motive, is this connected to Guthrie or not, has this happen in similar neighborhoods? If so, is it just a thug? Is it just like a graffiti artist or somebody that goes around knocking down mailboxes or throwing stones or shooting out street lamps? No real motive except for the pure joy of it. Yeah, I think Occam's Razor tells us that number one, the motive could be to try to find copper wire or number two, it fits that second category that you just described. This is just straight up vandalism. I don't believe that this has any connection to Mrs. Guthrie's disappearance for the simple fact that there's no fiber optic
Starting point is 00:38:24 in there. This would have nothing to do with disconnecting a security system. Fis Gibbons, you know, I think it's the strongest argument that this is not connected to Guthrie. What Bass said at the get-go, James Bass. He said that if that caused the outage, it would have remained outed. You'd have to have somebody come and fix it. The perp can't destroy it and what he just happens to be a fiber optic repair person.
Starting point is 00:38:53 No. So that, I believe, is going to be a dead-in unless the perp tried to out it with that and it didn't work and then went to jammers. Now, I'm going to circle back to jammers, but I want to really hit something with Bass. We've heard so much about data dumps. And I remember starting it on day one, a data dump of all the cell phones in and out of the area.
Starting point is 00:39:24 That was before Nanos allowed the FBI in. They lost a lot of valuable time, by the way, while Nanos was twiddling his thumbs. The data don't would have showed all cell phone connectivity in the area. It would have shown, for instance, a UConnect, which is a device already pre-wired in vehicles, newer vehicles that connect you to the car Wi-Fi. iPads that are trying to connect or touch Wi-Fi sources as they go by. It could be a smart watch. It could be any number of devices that connect via Wi-Fi. but you're saying Google and or Apple could save the day.
Starting point is 00:40:12 Now, as you're talking, James Bass, remember, I'm just a trial lawyer. Dummy down for me. Google's already saved the day once by getting resurrecting from the dead that porch cam. So what can they do for us, Google or Apple? Most folks don't realize just how much data they create every day. Just through a normal course of business, every day of their lives. They're creating data points that they couldn't even comprehend. So once you're able to filter down from the cell phone tower dumps,
Starting point is 00:40:55 you know, if you can find a specific suspect address or device cell phone, you're they're going to be able to go back to people like Google or Apple. Google clicks more data than Apple does. But for instance, your location points, every minute. You completely skeved everyone out when you were talking about how Google, you said, in the background, is following you? Well, I'm like, my thought on that is fine. And follow me to Kroger. Follow me to Walmart.
Starting point is 00:41:36 I'd just be mad if you didn't. But that's me. So you stated that Google, and I guess Apple too, but you mentioned Google, is following you in the background. In other words, you don't really know this is happening. And they can say, oh, she parted her car at Walmart. All right. It's like every 30 seconds, they're updating your location.
Starting point is 00:41:57 How's that going to help me? Well, what it will enable you to do is, once you identify this device, you send a search warrant to Google and ask for this information. And anyone can download their information and look at what is being collected. It's free. They'll email it to you and you can review it. But with the location stamps, you'll be able to put an individual or the cell phone generally within a 3 to 10 meter radius, you know, anywhere from 10 to 30 feet to a particular latitude and longitude at a millisecond time stamp.
Starting point is 00:42:32 So once you get the device and you get this information, now you see when they're taking their steps, where they've parked their car, where they've gone shopping, where they've, how they drive to work and how they drive home, it unlocks an entire history because that data is saved for the life of the account. If you know or think you know anything about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, please dial toll-free 800-225. 5324, repeat. 800, 225, 5324. Or if you wish to remain anonymous, 520882-7463, 520882-7463. There is a 1.2 plus million-dollar reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Nancy Guthrie. $1.2 plus million dollars on the table. There does not have to be an arrest, much less a conviction.
Starting point is 00:43:38 We continue to do our very best to keep the search for Nancy Guthrie alive. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.

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