Investigators have increased the reward for information relating to the suspected kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie to $100,000 at the very moment new, potentially critical, information has come to light.
Last week, the Express US reported on Today Show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother Nancy disappearing from her home in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills on February 1, with doorbell camera footage showing a masked intruder. The FBI revealed the individual was male, around five-feet-nine-inches tall.
The suspect was said to be of medium build and wearing an Ozark Trail Hiker Pack on his back. Authorities have had to trawl through 13,000 tips and a huge amount of video evidence, with additional footage taken from a home 4.5 miles away from Nancy’s residence revealing a man reportedly carrying a similar backpack to the suspect. It comes after an ex-FBI agent revealed the hidden codeword that Savannah used in her message to the kidnappers.
Forensic criminologist Dr. Ron Martinelli pointed to a forensic tent that had been raised by investigators near Nancy’s home.
“Whenever you see a tent set up, that’s an indication that they have found something on the ground and they want to preserve that,” he told HELLO! “Usually if you set up a tent outside, then that’s where you have recovered something… it could have been a tire track, they could have found a footprint. Every single hour that passes when the environment is outside, the site deteriorates and deteriorates,” he added. “It really depends on the environment, the timing, and the expertise of the searchers.”
Dr. Martinelli turned to the progress of the investigation and whether it is typical for a kidnapping suspect not to have been named 12 days into a disappearance, “I would say that it’s unusual that this type of kidnapping has gone on for 12 days.”
Apart from the lack of having identified the suspect, the expert pointed to a detail he found more chilling, “The things that really bother me about this case is that there has been no proof of life after 12 days. And then whoever has represented themselves as being the kidnappers keep moving the date of the ransom… That’s extremely unusual and that’s distressing.”
However, he stressed that each case is different.
Explaining the crucial second significant piece of video evidence to have been made public, he described it as “the most interesting evidentiary aspect for comparison,” referencing the commonality in the 25-litre backpack both men featured in each of the videos appeared to be wearing.
Dr. Martinelli explained how investigators in such cases use the method of photogrammetry, where experts painstakingly measure and “reconcile” details.He said this can be used to “make determinations of heights, weights and the gait of an individual.”
Another detail Dr. Martinelli flagged related to the physical characteristics of the suspect was that they appeared to have a “salient feature,” which could be a tattoo, on the right wrist.
Importantly, what could prove to be a key item has also been discovered. Dr. Martinelli believes investigators “may very well be able to extract DNA from that.” As for how long it might take to identify and apprehend a suspect based on video evidence, he said it depends on investigative resources and databases.
“It really depends on the database that you’re going to source from,” he said, adding that the FBI is “very good” at tracing distinctive items such as backpacks, clothing and equipment.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com ’
