January 1, BOMBSHELL Blood Evidence Reveals What Happened to Missing Mom on Front Porch

Wyatt’s Take

• Nancy Guthrie’s blood evidence shows she was alive when a masked intruder forced her from her Arizona home — and she fought back hard on her front porch before being taken
• This bumbling suspect made critical mistakes including exposing what appears to be a tattoo and failing to properly disable security cameras — the FBI recovered video he thought was erased
• Nearly 100 days later and over $1.2 million in rewards, this amateur criminal’s sloppy work should lead investigators straight to him if the right person speaks up

Blood spatter on Nancy Guthrie’s front porch tells a chilling story. She was still alive when a lone abductor coerced her out of her Tucson home, according to retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente.

“We also know at least that she was alive at that time,” said Clemente, who spent 22 years in the bureau.

His analysis of the blood evidence reveals a concentrated pattern of round droplets near the front door, then a thinning trail toward the driveway. This pattern suggests Guthrie made what investigators are calling her “last stand.”

“She must have aspirated and then coughed up blood with her face very close to the ground, and I don’t believe that would have happened had two people been carrying her at that point,” Clemente said.

Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, vanished from her home in the Catalina Foothills around 2:30 a.m. on February 1. For days there were few clues until the FBI and Google recovered imagery from her Nest doorbell camera showing a masked man wearing gloves and a holstered pistol arriving on her front steps.

The suspect is described as above average height and build, wearing a black Ozark Trail backpack, long sleeves, gloves and a ski mask. Nearly 100 days later, he remains unidentified.

But the video is loaded with clues, Clemente explained.

Although the suspect appears to have scouted the location beforehand, he made amateur mistakes. He used foliage to try blocking the Nest camera lens and potentially shed facial hair through his ski mask.

“In the process of doing that, I believe he revealed what looked like a tattoo on his wrist, which would not have been revealed had he adequately prepared for that camera being there,” Clemente said.

“So it tells me that he is not a sophisticated offender. He was sort of bumbling his way through this, and he made other mistakes, and I believe those mistakes will directly lead to his capture.”

Details that have leaked from inside the home paint a disturbing picture of what happened that night.

“I believe that what it means is he threatened her with his gun when he was at her bedside,” Clemente told investigators. “He got her to come down, and at the front door is where she realized he’s going to take me and this is very dangerous and I should fight. And she did.”

The doorbell video doesn’t show Guthrie being taken from her home, though blood was clearly visible on her stone walkway. The camera itself was missing when deputies arrived the next morning.

But the fact that the FBI recovered the video anyway — which the kidnapper thought he’d erased — likely shocked him. And that panic should have been visible to people in his life.

“Because of all the mistakes this guy made, because of his ineptness and non-professional behavior in this, I believe that he exhibited a great degree of stress when the images were first released,” Clemente said. “Anybody around him should have noticed that change in behavior and potentially be able to identify him because of that.”

Investigators also recovered an unidentified hair sample from the home. The sheriff’s department initially sent it to a private lab in Florida. After 11 weeks, the lab sent it to the FBI for more advanced analysis.

“If it is a hair from the offender, then it will lead to his identification,” Clemente said. “They will have his name.”

There is a combined reward of more than $1.2 million for information that cracks the case.

To remain anonymous, contact Tucson’s 88-Crime tip line at (520) 882-7463. The family is also urging anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Why It Matters

This case shows why neighbors watching out for neighbors still matters in America. An 84-year-old woman fought back against a masked intruder in her own home and someone out there knows who did this. With over a million dollars in reward money on the table, it’s time for people who saw something suspicious to speak up. Justice for Nancy Guthrie depends on regular Americans doing the right thing.