RetiredFBIprofilerJim Clementehas laid out what he believes happened in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case, sayingblood evidence at the 84-year-old's Tucson homepoints to a violent struggle and an abductor who used'overwhelming force'. In a detailed US television interview on Wednesday, 22 April, Clemente said theblood spatterand doorbell camera footage suggest Savannah Guthrie's mother fought back, while the suspect also made a series of crucial errors.

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, vanished from her home in Tucson, Arizona, earlier this year. Her disappearance triggered a major search, intense national coverage and a $1 million family reward for information leading to her recovery. Local investigators have since been joined by the FBI, which recently took over analysis of a key hair sample linked to the scene after it was transferred from a private Florida laboratory.

Speaking to NewsNation correspondentBrian Entin, Clemente said the blood pattern on and near Nancy Guthrie's front porch suggests a sudden and violent confrontation, not a quiet or voluntary exit. He believes the 84-year-old tried to resist either at the doorway or just outside it.

'I believe that Nancy fought him, either inside the door, or just outside, depending on where the first appearance of this blood splatter evidence is,' Clemente said. He then described what he believes happened next. 'At that point, she was likely either blitzed with overwhelming force, punched in the face or the nose, and she began bleeding. She went down, either on her knees or just hunched over. And then coughed up this blood, which is why we see this pattern.'

His account is clinical, but the picture is stark. Clemente believes Nancy Guthrie was forced down, injured in the face and then coughed blood in a pattern investigators have been studying for weeks. In his view, the evidence suggests the abductor was not guiding her away but physically overpowering her.

He also suggested she was lifted or carried from the porch rather than made to walk. 'I think at that point, she was likely picked up by the offender,' Clemente said, adding that smears in the blood indicate that another body part or item of clothing may have dragged through the droplets she had coughed up.

From there, Clemente believes she was taken straight to a waiting vehicle. He told Entin that the lack of any further visible blood trail suggests she may have been turned face up while being carried, which could have stopped more blood from falling from her nose or mouth.

Clemente also believes a weapon was used to force Nancy Guthrie from the relative safety of her home to the point where the assault escalated.

'I believe that she was threatened, she was controlled by, most likely, the gun that the offender had at his waist or his crotch area,' he said. 'And that he used the gun to threaten her, control her, and get her down to the front door. At that point or shortly thereafter, she realized he was trying to take her out of the house.'

Clemente has repeatedly argued that the abductor likely carried outsurveillance before the attack, learning Nancy's routines and the layout of the property. Yet he also believes the same offender made major mistakes once the plan was put into motion.

Source: International Business Times UK