Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, remains missing in Tucson, Arizona, after what investigators have described as her abduction on 1 February, whileretired FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer has now pushed back against online claimsthat Guthrie's brother in law, Tommaso Cioni,'looks the part'of a suspect.
The 84 year old was last seen at her Tucson home on the evening of 31 January. The Pima County Sheriff's Department opened a search the next day, later joined by the FBI. Despite national media attention and a $1 million reward offered by Savannah Guthrie for information leading to her mother's recovery,no suspect has been identifiedand no arrest has been made.
Speculation around the case has increasingly centred on Cioni, the husband of Savannah's sister, Annie. In recent weeks, he has become the focus of intense online scrutiny, fuelled by amateur sleuths examining doorbell footage and family details.
Coffindaffer addressed that speculation directly in apost on Xon Sunday 19 April. In the video, she outlined what she knows about Cioni's background and argued that he has become a target largely because of how he looks, not because of any publicly known evidence.
Nancy Guthrie- The Searcheshttps://t.co/25JPTPi0WS
According to Coffindaffer, Cioni is originally from Italy, has lived in the United States for more than 20 years and married Annie in 2006. She said he teaches sixth grade biology and plays in a Tucson band called Early Black. In her view, nothing about that background suggests the profile of someone behind a family member's disappearance.
Still, suspicion has persisted. Coffindaffer said much of it appears to rest on appearance rather than fact. 'Tommaso looks the part,' she said in theX video, arguing that his looks alone had made him an easy target. Some people may see him as handsome, she said, while others appear to read something more sinister into his features.
That point cuts to the heart of the backlash surrounding the case. In a story tied to a well known television anchor and watched closely online, appearance has become a stand in for evidence.
At the centre of the online speculation is grainy doorbell camera footage from Nancy Guthrie's front porch. Online commentators have dubbed the masked figure in the clip'Porch Guy', and some have insisted the person shown is Cioni.
Coffindaffer rejected that claim in blunt terms. 'It's so absurd to me,' she said, adding that some people were nevertheless treating the theory 'as a fact'. She said there was'no physical corroboration'linking Cioni to the person on the porch.
Source: International Business Times UK
