Nancy Guthrie update: Expert flags ‘a lot of things wrong’ with ransom note, points to new ‘burglary’ theory
More than six months after mother of Savannah Guthrie, Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home, questions remain over two letters that were presented as ransom notes in the case.
Forensic psychologist Dr Kris Mohandie told Fox News Digital on August 9 that he does not believe the letters are genuine, although he said investigators were right to release them and continue looking into them.
Expert doubts the ransom notes are real
Dr Kris Mohandie said he still believes investigators were right to release the notes publicly, even though he doesn’t think they’re genuine. “I don’t think the ransom note is legit, and I don’t think that that letter days later is legitimate but I think it’s appropriate for law enforcement to investigate it just in case it might be,” he said. He added, “A good investigation keeps an open mind. It really does.”
Mohandie also pointed out that the first letter’s mention of crime scene details like Nancy’s Apple Watch and a broken floodlight on her property doesn’t prove it’s real. “I don’t make much out of those two details,” he said. “They seem to be details that inadvertently could have gotten to somebody, and so that’s not enough for me to say, this is something only the killer would know.”
What are the red flags in the letters?
Mohandie gave several reasons the notes seemed suspicious to him, like they were sent to a news outlet, the writer straight-up said it was a ransom note, and the pronouns switched between “we” and “I.” “I certainly question the legitimacy of the so-called ransom note in which the individual is sending it to a news outlet, saying this will be a ransom, so on and so forth, talks about ‘we’ and then breaks into ‘I’ in terms of pronouns,” he said. “There are a lot of things wrong with that ransom note, and it raised a lot of questions for me of veracity.”
He also had doubts about the second letter, which claimed Nancy had “perished” days after the alleged kidnapping. He said it seemed odd that a kidnapper would risk sending another message just to apologize. Still, he said investigators are right to follow every lead, comparing it to the Unabomber case: “I understand why law enforcement needs to investigate these as potential leads, and it is a strategy that has worked. You look at Ted Kaczynski and putting that out there on the Unabomber case is what led to it being resolved. So they need to put that out there. Maybe somebody does recognize something unique in these writings.”
Also Read: Nancy Guthrie update: Surprise activity near missing mom’s Tucson home adds new twist to mystery
Expert says Nancy Guthrie case may have started as a burglary
Mohandie said the surveillance footage of a masked suspect is still the most important piece of public evidence in the case. He believes it points to something other than a planned kidnapping. “Unfortunately, I think this case is a simple matter of a burglary gone wrong and then attempts to cover things up,” he said. “But that’s a hypothesis, and good investigators are investigating all hypotheses and following leads, and I think they’re doing their job here.”
Nancy, 84, was last seen at her Catalina Foothills home on the evening of January 31. Investigators have released footage of a masked suspect on her front porch, and Savannah Guthrie has offered a $1 million reward, but no suspect has been named yet. The FBI describes the unidentified man seen in the doorbell footage as roughly 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall with an average build. He was seen carrying a black Ozark Trail backpack. The investigation is still underway.
