Like the hunt for Nancy Guthrie continues, several experts are weighing the importance of proof of life in his case.
“Ransom is often not paid without proof of life because paying without verification risks financing a crime with no possibility of recovery.” Dan Donovanthe founder and managing partner of Stratoscope Holdings, a security and risk management company, explains exclusively Us Weekly. “Proof of life is critical: it confirms that the victim is alive, validates that communicators are in control of the victim, and helps assess credibility and intent.”
Retired FBI agent Scott Curtis accept and share a warning about the alleged ransom threat to Nancy’s loved ones, including her daughters, today cohost Savannah Guthrie i Annie Guthrieand son Cameron Guthrie – received (The alleged kidnapper or kidnappers of the 84-year-old man asked for a reported $6 million at 5:00 PM MST before February 9).
“I don’t think they got proof of life. You won’t pay a ransom unless you have proof of life because once the payment is made, you won’t hear from these kidnappers again, will you?” Curtis says we. “So you want proof. You want some kind of guarantee.”
Nancy Guthrie
Instagram/Savannah GuthrieIt also warns that there is no technical guarantee with advanced technology.
“There could still be some doubt in this proof of life, especially in this AI-generated world we live in now,” warns Curtis. “It couldn’t be a still photograph. It would have to be a video with audio with a definite date stamp.”
Former CIA Officer and FBI Special Agent Tracey Walder stresses that it is the Guthrie family’s decision whether or not to pay a ransom. (Several notes have been sent to the media, claiming to be Nancy’s kidnapper and demanding money, including Bitcoin. The FBI has not yet confirmed to the public whether any of the ransom notes are real).
“I don’t think they ever got a photo or anything like that, but maybe in the second note there was (details of) something that may or may not have happened to him,” Walder says. “Whether or not that decision rests solely with the family, not the FBI.”
The camera discovered on Nancy Guthrie’s roof could be a crucial piece to her kidnapping investigation, according to an expert. “This is not a throwaway detail, it’s potentially one of the biggest clues,” Dan Donovan, founder and managing partner of Stratoscope Holdings, a security and risk management firm, tells Us Weekly exclusively. As (…)
She also sympathizes with the struggle faced by Savannah, 54, and her siblings.
“We don’t know what we would do in that situation. We can say, ‘Oh, I’m not paying $6 million without life proof,’ but if I was your 84-year-old mother and you had that money, maybe you would.”
On February 10, the FBI published images and videos from Nancy’s doorbell camera, showing a masked man armed with what appeared to be a gun outside her front door in Tucson, Arizona, the night she disappeared.
The individual was wearing a backpack and gloves as he tried to cover the camera with his hand and plants from the front yard.
Security expert Dan Donovan is considering possible next steps as the search for Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, continues. “The 5pm deadline is not the end of the clock, it’s the start of the most dangerous window,” Donovan, founder and managing partner of security and risk management firm Stratoscope Holdings, said exclusively (…)
Later that day, a man from the neighboring town of Rio Rico was arrested and questioned in connection with Nancy’s disappearance. He was subsequently released and has maintained his innocence.
Savannah has shared several emotional messages since her mother’s disappearance on February 1st.
“We think she’s still alive. Take her home,” he wrote via Instagram on Tuesday after the images of the masked man were released. “Anyone with information please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department 520-351-4900.”