A former FBI agent has publicly rejected the idea that missing Arizona grandmother Nancy Guthrie was taken during a robbery gone wrong, arguing that the way the suspect moved around her Tucson‑area home in the early hours of 1 February points to aplanned abduction rather than a panicked break‑in.
The early theory that Nancy Guthrie may have interrupted a burglary has never sat well with some former law‑enforcement officials following the case from the outside. One of them, retired FBI agent Greg Rogers, has now set out in unusually blunt terms why he thinks that picture does not fit what little the public has seen.
'I have never thought this was a robbery gone wrong,' Rogers toldParade.
He pointed to the suspect's apparent care in disabling the camera and moving slowly around the property, arguing that it looked more like someone executing a plan than snatching at a chaotic opportunity. In his experience, he said, professional burglars tend to "case" homes and strike when nobody is in, going in and out within minutes, not in the small hours when an elderly homeowner is almost guaranteed to be inside.
'There were too many opportunities to have hit the house when nobody was home,' Rogers said. 'There are a good number of interstate home burglars that are much more careful, case homes, know when the owners are away, and are in and out in minutes. They do not hit residences when it is almost guaranteed someone is home.'
Rogers notes that, based on what is publicly known, there is no clear sign that valuables were taken from the home, which makes the "botched robbery" frame harder to sustain. In his view, the absence of obvious theft, combined with the apparent care over the camera and the timing of the snatch, points in a different direction.
Rogers toldParadehe believes the circumstances suggestsomeone with a link to Nancy Guthriemay have been involved.
'I think it is highly likely that someone who knew Guthrie and/or had something to do with her – [think] home maintenance, health care, yard and pool care – was involved,' he said. 'One of those persons could have been hired to give info about security systems, Guthrie's schedule etc. That person could have also worked in one of those positions to be able to learn that same information.'
The gloves, found about two miles from Guthrie's home, were initially treated as a possible link to the masked person seen indoorbell footage, in part because the suspect appeared to be wearing similar gloves. Pima County Sheriff's Department officials later said DNA analysis traced the gloves to a restaurant worker, and that person 'is not considered part of this investigation', according to a department spokesperson.
The sheriff's department said the gloves were one of about 16 collected near the home, while noting many of the others belonged to searchers who discarded them during volunteer efforts. Investigators also submitted a DNA profile from the gloves to the FBI's national database, CoDIS, but it did not return a match at the time, the sheriff's department said.
Source: International Business Times UK
