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By Joshua Rhett Miller
Senior Reporter
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The suspect sought in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie appears to be a novice criminal who likely hasn’t kidnapped before, a former FBI profiler told Newsweek.
FBI officials on Tuesday released surveillance photos and video footage of a masked individual in the search for the 84-year-old mother of Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.
Jim Clemente, a former FBI supervisory special agent and profiler who specialized in abductions, said the masked, armed individual caught on a doorbell camera outside Guthrie’s Arizona home appeared to be in his late 20s to 40s.
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“He has some forensic and criminal sophistication, but is not police or military trained,” Clemente told Newsweek. “He is not a professional abductor and he has likely not done this before.”
The footage, which depicts the suspect wearing a ski mask, backpack, gloves and a jacket, also shows what appears to be a handgun in a holster. At one point, the individual spots the doorbell camera and tries to block it, initially with a gloved hand and then with foliage, as shown in the video.
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“He was not prepared to deal with the door camera,” Clemente said. “He did not have tools in his hands to force his way into the house in the front.”
The suspect appeared to wear light-colored clothing with reflective material on his backpack for a nighttime operation, Clemente said.
“He also did not wear a mouth covering that would have minimized him leaving DNA in the residence,” Clemente wrote in an email. “We shed cells through our breath every minute, every day.”
The suspect spent approximately 40 minutes inside Guthrie’s home after the doorbell camera was disconnected around 1:45 a.m. on February 1, authorities have said. Guthrie’s pacemaker disconnected from her cellphone around 2:30 a.m., indicating she had likely been abducted around that time.
“He spent approximately 40 minutes in the home/crime scene which is a very long time for a simple targeted kidnapping,” Clemente said. “It increased his risk significantly.”
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The suspect may be known to Guthrie, Clemente said, although he suggested the relationship could be “transitory contact”—an individual who has previously worked on her home.
“Repairing, plumbing, electrical or roofing, pool cleaning, yard work or deliveries, in addition to Uber or Lyft drivers,” Clemente said. “If so, then it would have given him critical information that she lived alone and was vulnerable at the time of this crime.”
Bill Stanton, a security consultant and former NYPD officer, said he believes the masked suspect is likely known to Guthrie’s family.
“Someone tangential to this woman’s life,” Stanton told Newsweek on Tuesday. “Someone that plays bingo with her, it could someone who cleans the pool, it could a friend of someone in church.”
Stanton suspects more than one person is linked to the disappearance of Guthrie, who was last seen at her Tucson home on January 31. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said she desperately needs medication and has limited mobility.
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Carlos Palazuelos, a man who was detained late Tuesday in connection to Guthrie's kidnapping, had been released early Wednesday after being questioned for several hours.
Palazuelos, of Rio Rico, about an hour away from Guthrie's home, told reporters he worked as a delivery driver in Tucson and acknowledged he may have previously dropped off a package at her home.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Guthrie's recovery or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
Savannah Guthrie, meanwhile, has pleaded with the public for clues in the high-profile case and, on Tuesday, shared a video of the suspect with her 1.8 million followers on Instagram.
"Someone out there recognizes this person," Guthrie wrote. "We believe she is still out there. Bring her home."
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