Nancy Guthrie’s body is ‘unlikely’ to ever be found if she was murdered during a botched abduction, an expert has claimed.
Private investigator Dan Ribacoff said turning the case from ‘just’ a kidnapping into a murder probe would likely drive those behind it ‘underground’.
The 84-year-old mother of US TV journalist Savannah Guthrie vanished on February 1, sparking a huge manhunt.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department is investigating with the FBI and believe she was taken ‘against her will’ in a ‘targeted’ crime.
Despite the huge search, blanket news coverage and her family offering up to $1 million for information, her whereabouts remain unknown five months on.
During that time, three ransom notes, all demanding millions of dollars in Crypto, have been sent.
They were initially treated as genuine, though Reuters reported yesterday that the FBI were now treating them as fakes.
The Phoenix FBI later posted a statement on X clarifying that, while some of the notes ‘have been deemed extortion attempts without legitimacy’,other ‘ransom demands may potentially be legitimate’.
Speaking as the case remained unsolved, Ribacoff told the BBC that if she died during the abduction ‘now it’s a murder and not just a kidnapping’.
‘He doesn’t want to release … where the body is buried, because he doesn’t want to expose himself.’
Ribacoff, who founded the International Investigative Group, claimed the situation would have played out differently if it went to plan.
‘She probably would have been released, causing additional leads to be generated — maybe through IP addresses or telephone records, things along those lines, but it went cold very, very quickly evidence-wise right after that kidnapping.’