How FBI Retrieved Eerie Footage Of Nancy Guthrie's Suspected Abductor Despite Unpaid Subscription

By Favour Adegoke on February 10, 2026 at 6:15 PM EST

Savannah and Nancy Guthrie.
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Footage of a yet-to-be-identified individual linked to Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie's mysterious disappearance, has been released by the authorities.

The images were posted by FBI Director Kash Patel, who said they had previously been inaccessible. Beyond Patel's explanation for the delay, experts have also suggested reasons why little progress has been made in the investigation.

Still, the general consensus among experts and relatives of the 84-year-old kidnapping victim is that she is still alive.

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The Images And Videos Of The Suspect Were 'Previously Inaccessible'

As the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping continues, FBI Director Kash Patel has recently released images of one of the suspects involved.

The images come over a week after Guthrie was abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, home and appear to have only become available now due to initial difficulties in accessing them.

"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 wrote in a tweet.

Explaining the initial inaccessibility, Patel noted that although Guthrie had security cameras installed throughout her home, she had not paid her subscription at the time of the kidnapping.

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As a result, footage from the night she disappeared was not automatically saved to an account, but was ultimately able to recover it from "residual data located in backend systems."

However, it took the combined efforts of Arizona law enforcement, FBI specialists, and "private sector partners" to obtain the images and videos, highlighting how tedious the process was.

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All About The Creepy Footage Showing Nancy Guthrie's Suspected Kidnapper

Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie
Instagram | Savannah Guthrie

Despite the footage, the suspect's identity remains unknown, as he arrived at Guthrie's home wearing a ski mask that concealed his facial features.

He also wore gloves and clothing that covered nearly every inch of his body. Strapped to the front of his waist was what appeared to be a gun, and he carried a backpack that may have contained additional items.

Shortly after arriving, the suspect attempted to block the front door camera with a gloved hand, but the effort proved futile.

For a moment, he appeared to be searching for something in the patio area before finally making his way to Guthrie's garden. There, he picked a handful of flowers before returning to the door and attempting once again to obscure the camera.

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To illuminate his path, the suspect used a small torch, which he held in his mouth as he moved.

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An Ex-FBI Agent Was Left Shocked By 'The Darkness' Around Savannah Guthrie's Mother's Home

Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie
Instagram | Savannah Guthrie

The footage released by the authorities represents the first substantial information they have shared about a possible suspect since the kidnapping.

Given that many expected such details to have been released much earlier, a former FBI agent recently explained how certain factors may have further hampered the authorities' efforts.

"What I was immediately struck by was this — the darkness," retired FBI supervisory special agent James Gagliano said in an interview with FOX & Friends on Tuesday morning.

He continued, "Even with a full moon, the light pollution out here is negligible. There's none. It is so dark."

The Remoteness Of The Area Contributed The Lack Of Witnesses, Former FBI Agent Reveals

Savannah Guthrie and her mother at the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation's 37th Annual Gracie National Awards
MPI28/Capital Pictures / MEGA

The former FBI agent explained that the area's remoteness, combined with its natural vegetation, may have contributed to the lack of information from any witnesses.

"The type of cacti, the flora and fauna that are native here in Arizona, for somebody to be able to sneak up in the dark not to be seen or to bring a car in with no lights on the road right behind my shoulder," Gagliano further remarked.

"This really took my breath away about how difficult this is going to be, and it made a lot more sense to me why somebody that night might not have seen anything," he also noted.

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Experts And Relatives Still Believe Nancy Guthrie Is Alive

Elsewhere in the conversation, Gagliano predicted that the kidnapping case would be solved sooner rather than later.

"The good guys always win here. There are no perfect crimes. This isn't the era of Jack the Ripper, where you don't have any of the forensics and any of the police sciences," he said.

"This case will be solved, and we're all praying for a wonderful reunion with Savannah and her mother and her family."

Gagliano's optimism also seems to be shared by Savannah, the daughter of the 84-year-old victim.

"We believe she is still alive. Bring her home," Savannah wrote recently on social media while asking for information from the public.

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