‘Rookie’ Nancy Guthrie suspect made grave error on night of kidnapping: expert

Nancy Guthrie’s suspected kidnapper made a grave error when breaking into the elder’s Tucson, Ariz., home on Feb. 1, according to an expert.

On Tuesday, the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department released previously unavailable images and videos taken on a Nest camera mounted next to Guthrie’s front door, which showed a disguised suspect tampering with the device before ultimately disconnecting it and taking it.

Longtime private investigator Andy Kay subsequently explained to Page Six how investigators were likely able to recover the footage even though Guthrie did not have a Nest subscription.

“The cameras will record to the servers as long as they have internet. According to Nest, without a subscription, usually they are quickly overwritten by next images. But if the camera is disconnected, there should be nothing to overwrite on the server,” the Kay & Associates founder told us.

Essentially, if someone does not have a subscription to the service, it’s almost like a livestream being sent to the server: new images override previous images. But because this was the last image before the kidnapper disconnected the camera, it’s the last thing that was sent to the server and therefore able to be recovered.

Kay branded the suspected kidnapper, whose weapon appeared to be holstered to their pants incorrectly, a “rookie.”

Reps for Nest did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

The newly released pictures and clips show an unknown, masked and armed individual — who was also carrying a backpack — approaching Guthrie’s front door and fidgeting with the camera.

The individual turned back around to grab a handful of foliage on the ground, which they then used to try to cover the camera.

“Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home that may have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible due to a variety of factors — including the removal of recording devices,” read an accompanying statement authorities released to the press, which noted that the footage “was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.”

The statement continued, “Working with our partners — as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.”

Savannah, 54, took to Instagram to post the chilling photos and videos shortly after they were released.

“Someone out there recognizes this person. We believe she is still out there. Bring her home,”she begged, adding, “We believe she is still alive.”

Amid the desperate search for Nancy, multiple ransom notes were sent to news organizations describing demands for a large bitcoin payment along with deadlines and specific details about her and her house.

On Friday of last week, the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department announced that they were “actively inspecting” a “new message regarding Nancy Guthrie.”

The note demanded $6 million in bitcoin and set a deadline that expired Monday at 5 p.m. MT.

After the deadline came and went with no sign of Nancy and no payment, an FBI spokesperson said in a statement that the Guthrie gamily had not had “any continued communication” with the matriarch’s kidnapper.

Since the “nightmare” began, Savannah and her siblings — sister Annie Guthrie and bother Camron Guthrie — have posted several Instagram videos pleading with their mom’s abductor and agreeing to pay for her return.

On the evening of Jan. 31, the Guthrie matriarch — who lives alone — took an Uber to Annie and her husband Tommaso Cioni’s house for dinner, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos previously shared. Cioni dropped her back off around 9:45 p.m.

Around 1:45 a.m. on Feb. 1, Nancy’s Nest camera was disconnected. About 30 minutes later, the software detected a person.

Just before 2:30 a.m., her pacemaker disconnected from the app on her phone.

Then at around 11 a.m., a parishioner at her church called her family to let them know that she did not attend that morning’s service, which was unusual.

The family then went to Nancy’s house to look for her and called 911 just after 12 p.m.

Investigators believe Nancy was abducted in her sleep and “harmed” in the process, as a trail of her blood was found just outside her front door. She requires daily medication, which was notably left behind.