A former FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit researcher says the kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie from her home near Tucson, Arizona, may have been a deliberate act of retribution, not against Guthrie herself, but against someone in her family or inner circle. Dr. Ann Burgess, a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist and expert criminal profiler, told NewsNation's "Brian Entin Investigates" on Friday that the circumstances of the case point toward a perpetrator with a personal grudge, the New York Post reported.
Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show presenter Savannah Guthrie, was taken from her home on Jan. 31. She is believed to have been kidnapped in the early hours of Feb. 1. Her Bluetooth-enabled pacemaker disconnected from her phone around 2:30 a.m., indicating it had moved out of range. Blood was found spattered on her front porch.
No arrests have been announced. And more than two months later, the public still knows remarkably little about who took Nancy Guthrie or why. Dr. Burgess wants that to change, and her theory about the motive raises hard questions about what investigators already know and why they are keeping it quiet.
Burgess told NewsNation that the kidnapping bore the marks of a targeted, personal crime, not a random act or a serial predator.
She posed a pointed question during the interview:
"Who in her orbit, let's call it family, could be friends, would be hurt the most [by her kidnapping]?"
The implication was clear. An 84-year-old woman with a pacemaker is not a typical kidnapping target. But she is the mother of one of the most visible women in American morning television. Burgess suggested that Nancy Guthrie may not have been the real target at all, that hurting her was a way to hurt someone else.
She described the act as calculated but poorly executed. Something, she said, went wrong inside the house.
"I think something went very wrong inside the house... because you know, there was blood."
Burgess added that the crime was deeply personal in nature, what profilers call a "personal cause" crime, one that holds meaning only for the perpetrator. She said she did not believe this was the work of a serial offender who would go on to target others in the same way.
"If it's what we call a personal cause, in other words, only to that person does it have meaning, so it's not like you have a serial offender that he's going to go out and do this to someone else."
But not everyone in law enforcement shares that confidence. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News that the suspect could "absolutely" strike again. When asked whether the public could be at risk, Nanos said bluntly: "No, you could be." He also said investigators believe the abduction was targeted, but added that they are "not 100% sure of that."
Sheriff Nanos has acknowledged that investigators have an idea of the motive behind Guthrie's kidnapping but are withholding it for investigative reasons. He told reporters the case does not appear to be a burglary gone wrong. Authorities are examining whether the crime was financially motivated or, as Nanos put it, possibly "revenge for something."
That framing aligns with Burgess's retribution theory. But the FBI and local authorities have released only fragments of evidence publicly, and Burgess made clear she thinks they should share more.
"I think there are other small bits of evidence that could be released that people could then have more to be able to, again, hypothesize on or speculate. I think they could let more out."
Burgess also said she believed more than one person was involved in the kidnapping, though the basis for that assessment was not detailed. She said law enforcement would have spoken to Savannah Guthrie about whether her mother's abduction was connected to her high profile, and whether Savannah had ever received threatening letters or communications over the years.
Earlier in the investigation, Savannah Guthrie revealed that her mother's back door had been propped open the night she vanished, a detail that deepened suspicion the crime was premeditated.
The FBI released surveillance video showing a masked man wearing a handgun holster outside Nancy Guthrie's home the night she disappeared. That man was later identified as a suspect, AP News reported. He has not been publicly identified.
Investigators collected unidentified DNA from the property and found several gloves nearby. One black glove, recovered near the home, appeared to match the gloves worn by the suspect in the surveillance footage. The FBI said it contained a DNA profile and was being analyzed through the federal CODIS database.
Forensic processing of that glove became a focal point of the investigation. The Washington Examiner reported that investigators traced the suspect's clothing and backpack, an Ozark Trail Hiker model, to Walmart. Authorities began reviewing both online and in-store purchase records, along with surveillance footage from local Walmart stores, in an effort to identify the buyer.
The FBI said the DNA process "typically takes 24 hours from when the bureau receives DNA," but weeks passed without a public identification of the suspect.
Meanwhile, purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets. Two payment deadlines passed without resolution. Investigators have not confirmed any of the ransom communications as authentic. A former FBI agent has called the ransom notes a cruel scam, raising the possibility that opportunists are exploiting the family's anguish.
The Guthrie family has made public pleas for information. AP News noted that the family's latest public statement included a home video of Nancy Guthrie and a promise to "never give up on her."
Thousands of tips have poured in. The FBI has coordinated large-scale searches. Yet no arrest has been made, and no proof of life has been confirmed.
The case has dragged past the two-month mark, and fresh ransom notes have continued to surface, claiming knowledge of Guthrie's location. Each unanswered deadline compounds the uncertainty.
Burgess described the kidnapping in stark terms during her NewsNation appearance:
"And I think you can answer... It's a very mean, angry, horrible thing to do. And then if it goes wrong, which obviously it did, I think it doesn't make sense that she would be a target to do more than abduct her."
She said she believed the FBI would eventually release more information, "at some point."
Dr. Burgess's public commentary throws the FBI's tight-lipped approach into sharp relief. She is not a cable-news commentator guessing from a distance. She is a former researcher with the Bureau's own Behavioral Analysis Unit, the same unit that pioneered modern criminal profiling. When she says the agency should release more, it carries weight.
The tension between investigative secrecy and public accountability is not new. But in a case involving an elderly woman with serious medical needs, Nancy Guthrie requires daily medication, the cost of silence grows with every passing week. Investigators at one point incorporated Ring camera footage from 2.5 miles away into the investigation, suggesting the net has been cast wide. Yet the public remains largely in the dark.
Sheriff Nanos says the abduction was likely targeted. Burgess says it was likely retribution. Both point toward a perpetrator who knew exactly what he was doing, and who he wanted to hurt.
An 84-year-old woman was taken from her home in the middle of the night. Her blood was found on her porch. Her pacemaker went silent. Months later, the people paid to find answers still won't share what they know. At some point, the family, and the public, deserve more than silence dressed up as strategy.
