Nearly five months after Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson home, a volunteer search group in Mexico has returned to the field following an anonymous tip and a new cybersecurity report raising the possibility that Nancy may have been targeted as part of a calculated crime linked to her daughter and Today host, Savannah’s fame.
Expert raises ‘wrench attack’ theory
A cybersecurity firm called CertiK released a report designating Nancy’s abduction as a “wrench attack by proxy”, a type of crime in which criminals orchestrate an attack and hire others to carry it out, targeting a vulnerable relative of someone they wish to extort, according to Fox News Digital’s Mike Ruiz.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed to Fox News Digital that the report had been “flagged to the investigation team,” though there is no official indication that Nancy’s case involved this type of crime, per Parade.
Retired detective and law enforcement executive Lisa J Miller explained how these crimes typically work. “The bad guys in these cases and in many types of criminal cases utilize open-source information and social media information to find their targets and the targets’ vulnerabilities, the pressure point,” Miller told Fox News Digital.
“News releases from companies describing wealth, social media posts showing off big expenditures, big toys, big homes. Many of us put at least some of our lives out there for everyone to see and it’s usually the happiest part.”
Miller suggested Nancy’s profile as the mother of a high-profile television personality may have made her a target. “Nancy Guthrie could have been viewed by someone watching her Today segment as a vulnerability, Savannah Guthrie’s pressure point,” she added, per Parade.
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Search team focuses on two new locations following anonymous tip
A Mexican volunteer group that searches for missing people, Buscando Corazones Nogales, has launched a follow-up search after receiving an anonymous tip about Nancy’s possible whereabouts. The group is focusing on two new locations near Nogales, a border city close to Nancy’s hometown of Tucson, Arizona which is described as “vast” and “difficult to cover,” per TMZ.
Last week, the group’s leader Ramona Guadalupe Ayala Ortiz said they had received an anonymous call claiming Nancy had been buried in an unmarked grave in the Mariposa area which is located west of Nogales near the Arizona border strip, per TMZ. While that search uncovered 25 unmarked graves, none were connected to Nancy and no other evidence was found.
Despite the setback, the group remains committed to continuing its search.
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Where the investigation stands
Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing since February 1, when police believe she was abducted from her home in Tucson. Investigators have released doorbell camera footage of a masked suspect and sent DNA for testing at the FBI lab in Quantico but no suspects have been named.
On June 11, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department issued a statement acknowledging the tip from Mexico. “We are aware of the reports regarding an anonymous tip related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation that was provided to a group in Mexico. At this time, we have not been contacted by the Mexican authorities,” the statement read. It added: “The investigation remains active and ongoing, and we will continue to follow up on any credible information,” per TV Insider.