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An ex-FBI agent suggested authorities turn their attention toward a remote area in hopes of recovering information about what happened to Savannah Guthrie's missing mother, Nancy Guthrie.
Former special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told a news outlet that search efforts for the missing 84-year-old should be expanded into the surrounding desert of Arizona, as the difficult terrain could still contain evidence missed during earlier searches.
Investigation Into Nancy Guthrie's Disappearance Enters Sixth Month
As OK! previously reported, the senior was last seen on January 31 after being dropped off at her Tucson, Ariz., home by her daughter Annie Guthrie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni.
Police believe she was abducted from her home after her doorbell camera captured a masked intruder on her porch at around 1:45 a.m. on February 1, the day she was reported missing. DNA found at the scene was sent for testing, and no suspects have been publicly identified.
Arizona Presents 'Significant Challenges'
Coffindaffer, who was been following the case closely, claimed the landscape in Nancy's home state "presents significant challenges," but warned against ruling out additional searches.
The Pima County Sheriff Department has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the case, including a four-day delay in allowing the FBI access to the crime scene, releasing the home to the family too quickly and sending DNA evidence to a private lab instead of prioritizing FBI testing facilities.
Kash Patel Claims Police May Have Prevented Crucial Video Evidence Being Uncovered
FBI director Kash Patel claimed the time wasted in allowing the FBI to assist in the investigation may have cost them crucial video evidence.
Local police were initially unable to recover footage from Nancy's Nest doorbell camera due to an inactive subscription. Patel claimed the FBI worked with Google to recovered cached video – which was on the verge of deletion – as the device was not intended for long-term storage.
"We were looking for the needle of all needles in all haystacks, because since she didn't pay for it, they didn't record that data," he told Fox News on July 21. "But there was a chance that it was located in their cache just before it was being deleted."
A masked intruder was reportedly seen on the footage twice, on the day of Nancy's disappearance and again about three weeks earlier, per the outlet. Patel alleged that if the FBI had been involved sooner, agents may have been able to recover additional evidence, including possible vehicle footage or more images.
"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 the outlet. "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."
