SerpApi.Org
Nancy Guthrie is still missing—but the FBI was able to recover video footage from her front stoop that became a key piece of evidence early in the investigation.
When Guthrie, 84, first disappeared on Feb. 1, the Pima County Sheriff's Department was leading the investigation. The FBI was brought into the case after the investigation was already underway, and that delay may have come at a cost, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
Patel says that agents worked with Google to recover cached video from Guthrie's Nest doorbell after discovering that she did not have a cloud storage subscription and that the physical camera itself was missing. The footage they recovered had never been intended for long-term storage and was on the verge of being automatically deleted.
Patel told Fox News Digital that while investigators were ultimately able to retrieve the video from Guthrie's front stoop, any additional footage that may have existed could have been lost before the FBI got involved. Whether that unrecovered video contained evidence relevant to the investigation remains unknown.
"We were looking for the needle of all needles in all haystacks, because since she didn't pay for [the subscription], they didn't record that data," Patel said. "But there was a chance that it was located in their cache just before it was being deleted."
The footage obtained showed an individual wearing a balaclava and carrying a backpack. The person also had a gun holstered on the front of his pants. The images and videos have been analyzed, but authorities have not publicly identified the individual.
"What we do know is that the longer you wait, there's no chance of recovering the video," Morgan Wright, the CEO and founder of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, told Fox News Digital. "The earlier you get started, the better your chances. Waiting four days may have been fatal to the recovery of some video that could have been more illuminating."
There haven't been many major updates in the Guthrie case in recent weeks. Earlier this month, questions surfaced about the legitimacy of ransom notes sent to news organizations after Guthrie disappeared. However, the authenticity of those messages remains unclear.
Anyone with information about the Guthrie case is asked to call Tucson’s 88-Crime hotline at 1-520-882-7463 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
READ NEXT: Fans Notice Eerie Moment Behind Savannah Guthrie While She Was Live on ‘Today’
