Three snippets of video released by the authorities on Tuesday gave the first glimpse of a suspect in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of the “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.
The silent, black-and-white doorbell camera videos total just 44 seconds, but what they depict is frightening: a masked, armed person approaching Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep late at night, shortly before she was abducted.
For the past 10 days, it appeared that the footage had been lost, but the F.B.I. and Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that they had managed to get it on Tuesday morning after working with private companies and accessing “residual data” in “back-end systems.”
Here is what the videos show:
The person approaches the front door of Ms. Guthrie’s home, just north of Tucson, Ariz., seemingly holding a flashlight in their mouth. The F.B.I. declined to provide the exact time of the footage, but said it was on the morning that Ms. Guthrie was abducted.
The person at the front door is wearing a ski mask, a backpack, gloves and a jacket. The person also has what appears to be a handgun holstered at the waist.
The person looks around the porch and notices the Nest doorbell camera, quickly raising a gloved right hand to block it.
Despite trying to block the camera, a few of the person’s features are visible: eyes, eyebrows and part of the mouth. About 10 seconds after blocking the camera, the person turns around.
The masked suspect walks off Ms. Guthrie’s porch and bends down to pick up some foliage. The person quickly looks around before returning to the front door.
There, the person, once again holding a flashlight in their mouth, tries to drape the plant around the camera to occlude its view.
The police have said that the doorbell camera was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. on Feb. 1.
At 2:28 a.m., Ms. Guthrie’s pacemaker lost contact with her cellphone, which was later found at the home, suggesting that she was taken at that time.
She has not been heard from since.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports for The Times on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice.
The post The 44 Seconds of Video That Show the Guthrie Abduction Suspect appeared first on New York Times.
