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It’s been nearly two weeks since the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, and her family is still desperate for answers.
Thankfully, police now appear to be zeroing in on a possible kidnapping suspect.
The first major break in the case came earlier this week, when investigators obtained video of a masked man at Nancy’s door on the night of her abduction.
No part of the man was visible except for his eyes and facial hair, but the video was revealing in other ways.
For one, the suspect appears to be an amateur rather than a career criminal (at one point, he attempts to cover up the lens of Nancy’s Nest camera using shrubbery plucked from her yard).
And now, investigators have used details of the suspect’s clothing and accessories to trace his activity in the days leading up to the disappearance.
As TMZ reports, the suspect’s backpack — a Walmart Ozark Trail Hiker — has been especially useful as a source of information.
Using security cameras from Nancy’s neighbors, police were able to find footage of a man wearing what appears to be the same backpack just minutes before Nancy was abducted.
The footage was shot at 1:53 am on the morning of February 1, and it shows the suspect trying unsuccessfully to force open a gate and enter a backyard.
Nancy’s Nest camera was activated by the presence of the man at her door at 2:12 am.
That means the suspect would have had 19 minutes to drive the five miles, put on his mask, and approach the door.
It seems unlikely that two men were prowling around Tucson with similar-looking backpacks on the same night — meaning the guy who was tampering with the gate was probably the same guy who was seen outside Nancy’s house.
So the good news is that the police are that much closer to zeroing in on their man.
The bad news is that if the man was out prowling in search of easy targets, he’s probably not an experienced kidnapper — which means it’s less likely that Nancy is alive and well and being held for ransom somewhere.
As Nancy’s daughter — Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie — has pointed out in her pleas to the public, Nancy is 84 years old and relies on a pacemaker and multiple daily medications.
She’s now been without those meds for 12 days.
The family has received ransom notes demanding $6 million in Bitcoin in exchange for Nancy’s safe return.
They’ve been skeptical about the authenticity of those notes, and it’s looking more and more like they were right to be.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
