What To Know
- Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer emphasized the importance of keeping Nancy Guthrie’s case in the media.
- She recommended a nationwide campaign featuring images of the masked suspect, including Spanish-language outreach.
- Coffindaffer also shared her insights on how the FBI tests for authenticity of ransom notes.
As the Nancy Guthrie investigation continues into its fifth month with no update on her whereabouts or potential suspects, a former FBI agent has said it is “critical” to keep her name in the spotlight.
Speaking to NewsNation’s Hena Doba on Sunday (July 5), former FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer, who has been closely following the case from the start, said, “I think it is so important that her name stay out there and that somebody who knows something continues to see this.”
Nancy, the 84-year-old mother of Today’s Savannah Guthrie, went missing on February 1, when police believe she was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona. 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 publicly.
“Everybody thinks because we’re newsies or love crime and follow, that everybody knows about it,” Coffindaffer added. “But the fact of the matter is, people really don’t know about these cases. So, keeping it in the media is critical.”
She suggested the FBI do a “blitz campaign,” plastering pictures of the masked suspect across the country. Coffindaffer also said that the authorities need to use Spanish when communicating with the public, especially when it comes to posters and billboards.
Coffindaffer’s recent comments echo what she posted on X last month when she outlined her “Top 10 investigative tools” to help solve the case. This included, “Change the Billboards to feature Porch Guy’s face,” “Update billboards to include the Spanish language,” “Put Billboards in Tucson,” and “Release enhanced photos of Porch Guy to the Public.”
She also commented on the recent drama surrounding the ransom notes. There has been debate over which notes were authentic and which were fakes. The FBIPhoenix X account released a statement last week commenting on the matter.
“The FBI and its task force partners have received several ransom notes over the course of this investigation,” the statement read. “Some have been deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy. Other ransom demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such.”
Coffindaffer noted how the FBI uses various methods to test the authenticity of a ransom note. “They’re going to compare IP addresses,” she said. “They are also going to look at how they’re worded, what is used in terms of syntax, and so forth, in that lettering. The demands that were made and actions that were followed after. So, they’re going to be looking at all of that.”
However, Coffindaffer said it’s not the notes but most likely the DNA evidence that will lead to the case being solved. “I think there’s a lot more DNA they’re working with,” she speculated. “We know about a rootless hair, and I think that’s a possibility. So, I think that that’s really a road that could meet with ending this and figuring out who did this.”