A $10 Walmart gun holster could help identify suspect in Nancy Guthrie case
TUCSON, Ariz. — The holster seen in surveillance video taken on the front steps of the missing mother of "TODAY" co-host Savannah Guthrie may provide key leads to law enforcement, experts said Friday.
The holster is cheap, easily distinguished and only available at a limited number of retail stores, according to an active-duty Miami-area police officer who shared his analysis with Fox News Digital in the hope it can help investigators find whoever is responsible for the abduction of Nancy Guthrie.
The FBI teamed up with Google in the groundbreaking recovery of Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera video last week. It is not publicly known where the device itself is, and she didn’t have a subscription that would have stored it in the cloud. But investigators were able to recover video showing a masked and gloved man on Guthrie’s porch, where law enforcement later found drops of her blood.
It shows a man described as being of average build and height, covered from head to toe and wearing a backpack. He also has what appears to be an awkwardly worn holster.
The officer, who asked not to be named, told Fox News Digital that the holster’s seemingly light-colored appearance is misleading since it appeared in an infrared recording. The main panel consists of a different material from the piping, he said. But the shape and other details align with a Strategy brand hip holster available at some Walmart stores for around $10.
As of Saturday afternoon, the holster was listed as in stock at five Walmart stores in the Tucson area: 1260 E. Tucson Marketplace Blvd., 7150 E. Speedway Blvd., 7635 N. La Cholla Blvd., 1650 W. Valencia Rd., and 8280 N. Cortaro Rd., according to the retailer’s website.
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According to details on Walmart’s website, the water-resistant holster is designed to hold a revolver with a barrel measuring 4 to 6.5 inches. The product description states the holster is designed for right-hand use. The gun in the Nest video appears to be a Walther semiautomatic or something similar, the officer said, an unusual and distinctive pairing.
It has a distinctive shape and retention band and is not considered popular among firearms aficionados. As a result, the officer doesn’t expect that investigators will find many purchases.
Another identifiable item the masked suspect wore on Nest doorbell camera video released by the FBI this week is also available exclusively at Walmart stores — the Ozark Trail backpack.
While the backpack is common, popular and widely available, the holster was only in stock at two of more than a dozen Tucson-area stores as of Friday, according to Walmart’s online shopping site.
"I think it is more indicative of someone who was grabbing his stuff and improvising," said Betsy Brantner Smith, a retired police sergeant and trainer. "But I don't think this guy was a ‘professional’ either. I think his demeanor says that he was in on the kidnapping, the home invasion, whatever it's going to be."
Investigators can cross-reference purchases of these two items to try to find a suspect or narrow down the pool of persons of interest.
"Probably less people bought the holster than bought the backpack," Brantner Smith told Fox News Digital.
Neither the Pima County Sheriff’s Department nor the FBI immediately responded to emails about the holster.
Guthrie, 84, was taken by force out of her home in northern Tucson in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
There is a $100,000 reward for information that cracks the case. Dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.