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Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing Feb. 1 after she did not show up to a friend's house to watch a virtual church service.
Shortly after Guthrie disappeared, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that a camera affixed to her door had been disconnected, that she did not have a subscription that would have saved video and that investigators were trying to work with a tech company on the difficult forensic task of recovering any video.
Against those odds, they were successful. More than a week after her reported disappearance, that video was revealed.
An internet-connected Google Nest camera captured an unidentified person in a mask and gloves, carrying a backpack and a gun, approaching Guthrie’s home just before her disappearance. FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was able to collect the video from “backend systems.”
It’s not yet clear how the FBI was able to collect the video. Experts told NBC News that, in some cases, it is possible to collect data from the complex infrastructure that has enabled cloud-based cameras to become a common household feature.
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The footage the FBI recovered from Guthrie’s Google Nest doorbell camera has provided critical clues in the investigation and led to an outpouring of tips. Now, home security companies including Nest, Ring and Blink, are being thrust into the spotlight.
More than 4,000 calls have come into the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in the 24 hours after the FBI released photos and videos of a potential subject.
The department yesterday said it has received 18,000 calls with tips since Feb. 1.
Law enforcement, digital forensics experts and the public have been analyzing every frame of the videos recovered from Guthrie’s Nest camera to identify clues about who may have taken her.
A pair of black gloves has been recovered by investigators searching for clues in the disappearance of Guthrie, according to a report from NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson. The gloves are being tested for traces of DNA, the report said.
KVOA also reported that residents in the Catalina Foothills where Guthrie lives have been asked to provide investigators with any doorbell camera footage between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Jan. 11.
The need for this is urgent as investigators fear the footage could be automatically overwritten and deleted if it isn’t retrieved soon, KVOA reported.
NBC News has asked the FBI and the Pima County Sherriff’s Department for comment and has not received responses.
NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson has called for anyone with information on the whereabouts of Guthrie to come forward.
The station, where Savannah Guthrie once worked, hung a banner outside its office yesterday that simply read “BRING HER HOME.”
“As we’re now almost through 11 days into the search, we all want to know where she is, if she’s okay and we want to bring her home to her family,” an online story at kvoa.com said.
Members of the FBI surveil an area around Guthrie's residence in Tucson, Ariz., yesterday. Brandon Bell / Getty Images
Today marks one week since authorities have provided an official news briefing on the status of the Guthrie case, though the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been supplying written updates.
They have said that investigators continue “working around the clock” as they follow up on all leads.
Since Feb. 1, when Guthrie was reported missing, the sheriff’s department has fielded more than 18,000 calls, they said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department searched a property in Rio Rico, a community 60 miles south of Tucson, on Tuesday night and took a man into custody.
But that man, who identified himself as delivery driver Carlos Palazuelos, told reporters early yesterday that after being questioned, he was released without being arrested. Authorities confirmed that a man was detained and released as a follow-up on incoming leads. He has not been charged.
Palazuelos said he might have delivered something to Guthrie’s home at some point, but didn’t recall doing so. He said he was stopped while driving and was detained and questioned because officers thought his eyes matched those seen in the doorcam footage released by the FBI.
Palazuelos said that he doesn’t know who Guthrie is and wasn’t involved in the kidnapping.
Palazuelos said being questioned and stopped was “terrifying. Something I didn’t do. I felt like I was being kidnapped, bro. They didn’t tell me anything.”
Palazuelos confirmed his house was searched as per a warrant. His front and back doors were damaged, he said.
NBC News