Ex-FBI Suspects Nancy Guthrie Suspect ‘Changed His Appearance’ in Order to ‘Get Away’ with Murder
One of the biggest questions in the Nancy Guthrie investigation is how no suspect has yet been identified. Police released surveillance photos and video of a masked man. They recovered DNA from the house. And yet we’ve gotten no hint that law enforcement has any credible leads about the identity of the man who presumably kidnapped Savannah Guthrie’s mom.
Why? Retired FBI profiler Jim Clemente spoke with NewsNation’s Brian Entin about the perpetrator, with Entin asking, “What do you think is going through his mind now?”
Related: Who are Savannah Guthrie’s siblings?
“What is going through his mind is likely, ‘Did I actually get away with this?’” Clemente replied. “‘Was I able to permanently conceal her body? And will there be any way that they won’t be able to tie it to me?’”
He also said the perpetrator is likely building a defense already. “I think knowing, and I would say absolutely watching, every bit of coverage that there is on this case. Perhaps even talking to people about it to try to find out more information, or been setting up an alibi with other people. In other words, that he was somewhere else and could not have been involved.”
Clemente also theorized that at this point, the suspect is likely “doing what he can to change his appearance, to change the appearance of his car.” Plus, Clemente believes whoever is responsible is probably attempting to “get as much distance between himself and this crime scene as possible” and “as much distance between himself and the victim as possible.”
He also said, “I firmly believe that the mistakes that this offender made during the course of committing this crime and afterwards—and even before actually committing the crime in the pre-attack surveillance that appears to have happened—that he will be caught.”
During the conversation, Clemente also spoke about the possibility that there was more than one kidnapper. “There’s no evidence to me that there are more than one offender here. If there was three different shoe print patterns in the blood stains … that would tell me something. I don’t see it. I’m not aware of that evidence.”
The retired FBI agent also seems to believe the motive was money, but that something went wrong. “In order to get that money, he would have to control her, take her, threaten her life,” Clemente explained. “The fact is clearly that actually didn’t happen in these circumstances.”
He’s not the only one who believes money was the main driver in the kidnapping. Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer recently wrote on X that the simplest explanation was that the kidnapping was motivated by money. Police “said they know the motive for the abduction of Nancy and they have known it from the beginning,” she wrote, adding, “Kidnapping for Ransom. Nancy sadly died. The kidnappers didn’t care and tortured the family with 2 notes knowing the FBI would not recommend paying a ransom without proof of life. Like most cases, this one is simple, but everyone wants to make it complex.”
