Because the hunt for Nancy Guthrie continues, several experts are weighing in on the importance of proof of life in her case.
“Ransom is usually not paid without proof of life because paying without verification risks funding against the law with no likelihood of recovery,” Dan Donovan, the Founder and Managing Partner of Stratoscope Holdings, a security and risk management firm, exclusively tells Us Weekly. “Proof of life is critical: it confirms the victim is alive, validates that the communicators control the victim, and helps assess credibility and intent.”
Retired FBI agent Scott Curtis agrees and shares a warning in regards to the alleged ransom threat Nancy’s family members — including her daughters, Today cohost Savannah Guthrie and Annie Guthrie, and son Camron Guthrie — received. (The 84-year-old’s alleged abductor or abductors demanded a reported $6 million by 5 p.m. MST by February 9).
“I imagine they haven’t received proof of life. You’re not going to make a ransom payment unless you will have proof of life because once that payment goes [through], you won’t ever hear from those kidnappers again, right?” Curtis tells Us. “So you wish proof. You would like some sort of guarantee.”
Nancy Guthrie Instagram/Savannah Guthrie
He also warns that there is no such thing as a technical guarantee with advanced technology.
“There still could possibly be some doubt in that proof of life, especially on this AI generated world we’re living in now,” Curtis cautions. “It couldn’t be a still photograph. It might need to be a video with audio with some definitive date stamp on there.”
Former CIA officer and FBI special agent Tracey Walder stresses that it’s the Guthrie family’s decision to pay a ransom or not. (Multiple notes have been sent to media outlets, claiming to be Nancy’s kidnapper and asking for money, including Bitcoin. The FBI has not yet confirmed to the general public if any of the ransom notes are real).
“I don’t think they ever received an image or anything like that, but perhaps within the second note it had (details of) something that will have happened to her or not happened to her,” Walder says. “Whether or to not pay that call lies solely with the family, not the FBI.”
The camera discovered on Nancy Guthrie’s roof could possibly be an important piece to her kidnapping investigation, in keeping with an authority. “That’s not a throwaway detail — it’s potentially one of the vital necessary clues,” Dan Donovan, the founder and managing partner of Stratoscope Holdings, a security and risk management firm, exclusively tells Us Weekly. As […]
She also sympathizes with the struggle Savannah, 54, and her siblings face.
“We don’t know what we might do in that situation. We may say, ‘Oh I’m not paying $6 million without proof of life,’ but when it was your 84-year-old mother, and also you had that cash, then perhaps you’d.”
On February 10, the FBI released images and video from Nancy’s doorbell camera, showing a masked man armed with what gave the impression to be a gun outside her front door in Tucson, Arizona, on the night she disappeared.
The person wore a backpack and gloves as they attempted to cover the camera with their hand and plants from the front yard.
Security expert Dan Donovan is weighing in on possible next steps because the seek for Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, continues. “The 5 p.m. deadline isn’t the tip of the clock — it’s the beginning of essentially the most dangerous window,” Donovan, founder and managing partner of security and risk management firm Stratoscope Holdings, exclusively told […]
Later that very same day, a person from the neighboring town of Rio Rico was detained and questioned in reference to the disappearance of Nancy. He was subsequently released and has maintained his innocence.
Savannah has shared several emotional messages since her mother’s disappearance on February 1.
“We imagine she continues to be alive. Bring her home,” she wrote via Instagram on Tuesday after the pictures 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.”