A former FBI special agent says investigators are narrowing in on the identity of a masked man captured on doorbell camera footage outside Nancy Guthrie's Tucson, Arizona, home, a potential break in a case that has dragged on for months without an arrest.
Maureen O'Connell, the former agent who claims sources inside the investigation, told Megyn Kelly that law enforcement is "getting close to the porch guy." She put her confidence at 75 percent that the individual would be taken into custody soon, Irish Star reported.
If true, it would be the first real movement in a case that has tested the patience of the public and the family of the 84-year-old woman, the mother of NBC Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, who vanished from her home on February 1 under deeply troubling circumstances.
What happened on February 1
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing after she failed to appear for a virtual church service. Friends raised the alarm. The Pima County Sheriff's Department launched a search-and-rescue operation, coordinating with the FBI and Border Patrol.
The early evidence pointed to something far worse than a missing-persons case. Blood confirmed to match Nancy Guthrie's DNA was found on her porch, Breitbart reported. Her doorbell camera was disabled at 1:47 a.m. that Sunday. Movement was detected at 2:12 a.m. Her pacemaker disconnected from her personal device at 2:28 a.m.
That sequence, camera disabled, movement detected, pacemaker offline, all within 41 minutes, told investigators they were not dealing with a woman who wandered off on her own.
Homicide investigators were brought onto the case. The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy's return or the arrest of anyone involved in her disappearance.
The doorbell footage and the ransom notes
The FBI, with assistance from Google engineers, recovered doorbell camera footage from Nest back-end systems that had been previously inaccessible, the Washington Examiner reported. The footage showed an armed, masked individual, wearing a gun holster, ski mask, and backpack, tampering with the camera at Nancy Guthrie's porch the night she disappeared.
Investigators released stills from that footage to the public, generating more than 4,000 tips. That masked figure, the "porch guy", became the central lead in the investigation.
In the days following Nancy's disappearance, a Tucson TV station received the first of two ransom notes. It demanded millions in bitcoin for Nancy's release and included specific details about her home, her bedroom, and the surrounding property. The note was believed to have been addressed to Savannah Guthrie. As a crypto security firm later linked the case to a $6 million bitcoin ransom scheme, the financial dimensions of the crime came into sharper focus.
A second ransom note arrived on February 6. It carried no demands. Instead, it claimed Nancy had died and was "buried with nature now." The language was similar to the first note.
Law enforcement has not publicly confirmed whether either note has been authenticated or whether the second note's grim claim about Nancy's fate has been verified. That silence has left the case in an agonizing limbo for the Guthrie family and the public.
Dead ends and false starts
The investigation has not been without leads, but none have stuck. On February 10, the Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed that an individual was detained during a traffic stop south of Tucson, just hours after the FBI released the surveillance photos. Just The News reported that the person had not been officially labeled a suspect and that law enforcement was preparing to search a location associated with the individual.
That individual turned out to be Carlos Palazuelo, a delivery driver. Authorities searched his home in Rio Rico and released him after midnight. Palazuelo denied any involvement.
"I hope they get the suspect, because I'm not it. They better do their job and find the suspect that did it so they can clear my name."
That was Palazuelo speaking to the Washington Examiner, a man caught up in an investigation that, weeks in, still had no confirmed suspect.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos warned at the time that Nancy Guthrie, who depends on daily health medication, was at high risk. "The clock is literally ticking," he said.
As months passed without an arrest, former FBI agents pressed investigators for answers about the pace of the case.
Several hundred investigators, still no arrest
AP News reported that FBI agents and several hundred investigators have been combing desert terrain near Tucson for clues. The scope of the operation is enormous. Yet the case remains open with no confirmed suspect in custody.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department issued a statement affirming its continued cooperation with the FBI: "The Pima County Sheriff's Department continues to work closely with the FBI as investigators follow up on leads, review information, and pursue the facts surrounding this case."
That is the language of an investigation still in progress, not one approaching a conclusion. Which is what makes O'Connell's claim to Megyn Kelly so significant, if it holds up.
Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed federal agents are assisting local authorities. "We're doing everything to assist the locals. We're working with the locals," Bondi told Newsmax, adding, "I've known Savannah for over 30 years and it's breaking my heart."
Meanwhile, the FBI has been testing a DNA hair sample recovered from Nancy Guthrie's Tucson home, another thread that could tie the masked figure to the crime scene.
O'Connell's claim and what it means
O'Connell, the former FBI special agent, told Kelly she suspected that once the masked man's identity is confirmed, the "floodgates" would "swing open." That suggests she believes the suspect's identity will connect to other evidence already in hand, evidence that, without a name attached, has remained inert.
Kelly's response captured the stakes plainly: "That's big news. That's huge, big if true, as the kids say."
It is worth noting that O'Connell's claim rests on her assertion that she has sources among the investigators. That has not been independently confirmed. The Pima County Sheriff's Department has not corroborated her specific claim about the suspect's identification being imminent. As a former FBI agent previously predicted a breakthrough in the case, the question remains whether this latest assessment will prove more durable than past optimism.
What is confirmed: the doorbell footage exists, the masked figure is real, the ransom notes were received, the blood on the porch was Nancy's, and an 84-year-old woman has been missing for months.
The family's ordeal
Savannah Guthrie took several weeks away from the Today show after her mother's disappearance. She returned to the air in April and gave an interview with co-host Hoda Kotb, acknowledging that returning was not easy.
NBC reportedly placed what was described as a "crystal clear" gag order on guests, instructing them not to offer condolences to Savannah Guthrie on air. The sourcing on that claim is thin, attributed only to "reportedly" with no named source, but if accurate, it reflects the network's effort to manage a deeply personal crisis playing out in front of a national audience.
Savannah Guthrie also called 911 at one point about strangers lurking outside her mother's home. As Savannah publicly begged for help finding her mother, the second ransom note's claim that Nancy was dead cast a shadow over the family's hopes.
What remains unanswered
The list of open questions in this case is long. Has the identity of the masked man actually been confirmed by law enforcement, or is O'Connell ahead of the official record? Were the ransom notes authenticated? Has the second note's claim about Nancy's death been verified or ruled out? What was the exact bitcoin amount demanded? And what is the basis for O'Connell's access to investigative sources?
None of these questions have public answers. The Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI have kept their cards close, understandably, in an active investigation, but frustratingly for a public that has watched this case grind forward without resolution.
An 84-year-old woman was taken from her home in the middle of the night by someone who knew how to disable her camera, knew the layout of her property, and sent ransom demands in cryptocurrency. Hundreds of investigators and thousands of tips later, no one has been charged. If O'Connell is right that the floodgates are about to open, the question for law enforcement is simple: what took so long?
