Nancy Guthrie remains missing nearly three months after investigators say she was abducted from her Arizona home in the middle of the night. The whereabouts of the 84-year-old are still unknown as authorities continue vetting tips and working leads.
During a recent episode of his new podcast, The Fairfax Files, Michael Hershman spoke with former FBI Assistant Director John Miller about several high-profile cases, including Guthrie’s disappearance. When Hershman described the case as “unusual” and asked for Miller’s perspective, the former law enforcement official suggested that the person responsible for Guthrie’s abduction is likely local to Tucson. “I think the answer is—and I think that the Guthrie family believes this, too—the answer is right there. The answer is in Tucson,” Miller began. “This was probably something hatched locally by someone who thought, ‘Here’s an individual who is relatively defenseless, lives alone, is vulnerable, unable to put up a lot of resistance. If we came and took her away, who is connected to… someone with resources and money.”Miller went on to say that these factors strongly suggest the person was local, noting that people in the area are familiar with the Guthrie family and aware that Nancy lives alone. He added that in the vast majority of kidnappings, those responsible had some prior connection to the victim, such as a former employee, current employee’s partner, family member, or someone who had worked on the property and had access.
“I don’t think that this case is going to be vastly different, other than someone local who had enough contact around that house to assess what that would be like, and had some idea, some nightmarish dream about, ‘We’re gonna demand a lot of money, and we’re gonna do it through crypto, and we’re never gonna have to go to a ransom drop or pick up a package or show ourselves, we’re gonna take kidnapping into the digital age, and we’re gonna get a big payday,’” Miller added…