As the hunt for Nancy Guthrie continues, several experts are weighing in on the importance of proof of life in her case.
“Ransom is often not paid without proof of life because paying without verification risks funding a crime with no chance of recovery,” Dan Donovan, the Founder and Managing Partner of Stratoscope Holdings, a security and risk management firm, exclusively tells Us Weekly. “Proof of life is critical: it confirms the victim is alive, validates that the communicators control the victim, and helps assess credibility and intent.”
Retired FBI agent Scott Curtis agrees and shares a warning about the alleged ransom threat Nancy’s loved ones — including her daughters, Today cohost Savannah Guthrie and Annie Guthrie, and son Camron Guthrie — received. (The 84-year-old’s alleged abductor or abductors demanded a reported $6 million by 5 p.m. MST by February 9).
“I believe they haven’t received proof of life. You’re not going to make a ransom payment unless you have proof of life because once that payment goes [through], you will never hear from those kidnappers again, right?” Curtis tells Us. “So you want proof. You want some kind of guarantee.”
He also warns that there is no technical guarantee with advanced technology.
“There still could be some doubt in that proof of life, especially in this AI generated world we’re living in now,” Curtis cautions. “It couldn’t be a still photograph. It would have to be a video with audio with some definitive date stamp on there.”
Former CIA officer and FBI special agent Tracey Walder stresses that it’s the Guthrie family’s decision to pay a ransom or not. (Multiple notes have been sent to media outlets, claiming to be Nancy’s kidnapper and asking for money, including Bitcoin. The FBI has not yet confirmed to the public if any of the ransom notes are real).
“I don’t think they ever received a picture or anything like that, but maybe in the second note it had (details of) something that may have happened to her or not happened to her,” Walder says. “Whether or not to pay that decision lies solely with the family, not the FBI.”
She also sympathizes with the struggle Savannah, 54, and her siblings face.
“We don’t know what we would do in that situation. We may say, ‘Oh I am not paying $6 million without proof of life,’ but if it was your 84-year-old mother, and you had that money, then maybe you would.”
On February 10, the FBI released images and video from Nancy’s doorbell camera, showing a masked man armed with what appeared to be a gun outside her front door in Tucson, Arizona, on the night she disappeared.
The individual wore a backpack and gloves as they attempted to cover the camera with their hand and plants from the front yard.
Later that same day, a man from the neighboring town of Rio Rico was detained and questioned in connection with the disappearance of Nancy. He was subsequently released and has maintained his innocence.
Savannah has shared several emotional messages since her mother’s disappearance on February 1.
“We believe she is still alive. Bring her home,” she wrote via Instagram on Tuesday after the images of the masked man were released. “Anyone with information, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department 520-351-4900.”
