New York: The FBI has released video and images of a masked intruder appearing to tamper with a surveillance camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home early on the morning of her disappearance, providing significant new evidence in a mystery that has gripped the nation and the world.
FBI director Kash Patel posted four images from a video he said was recovered from “residual data located in backend systems”, after eight days of attempting to recover lost or inaccessible data from cameras at the 84-year-old’s home in Tucson, Arizona.
“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 the morning of her disappearance,” Patel said.
The black-and-white images show the person wearing a mask and dark gloves, along with a sweater, pants and a backpack. Patel subsequently posted a 27-second video that showed the person holding their gloved hands up to the camera and loitering outside the front door.
It was previously known that a security camera at Guthrie’s home detected a “person on camera” at 2.12am on February 1, but there was no video to show what triggered that alert.
Guthrie is the mother of US Today show host Savannah Guthrie, who was born in Melbourne. The anchor has posted numerous videos since her mother’s disappearance, including one that appeared to acknowledge a “message” from a kidnapper, and offering a willingness to pay a ransom.
Police are yet to verify the authenticity of a purported ransom notes that were sent to some US media outlets.
In her most recent Instagram video, Savannah Guthrie begged the public for assistance. “We believe our mum is still out there,” she said. “She was taken, and we don’t know where, and we need your help … No matter where you are, even if you’re far from Tucson, if you see anything, if you hear anything.”
More to come
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.