Former FBI analyst believes Guthrie suspect is amateur criminal, Savannah's latest message tailored to him
A former FBI agent who worked in behavioral analysis told Fox News Digital that he believes Savannah Guthrie's latest Instagram video was directed towards a suspect who could be an amateur criminal feeling the heat of a now-massive investigation.
Savannah Guthrie began her latest video by saying that after two weeks of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, 84, being missing, she and the rest of the Guthrie family are not giving up. She then made a direct plea to her mother's alleged abductor.
"It’s never too late. You are not lost or alone, and it is never too late to do the right thing," she said in the video. "And we are here. We believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it’s never too late."
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Jonny Grusing worked in the FBI’s Denver Division for 25 years, investigating violent crimes, missing persons, serial killers and more. He coordinated the behavior analysis unit for the division for 13 of those years.
Grusing said he believes the FBI is likely behind Savannah Guthrie's messaging. Since Nancy Guthrie went messing, several related videos have been posted to the TV anchor's Instagram page. She personally delivered messages in three of them: the first directed towards a suspect in what Grusing described as an attempt to humanize her mom, the second, a plea to bystanders to come forward with information, and Sunday night's video.
Grusing does not believe the suspect in the Nancy Guthrie case is a sophisticated criminal, and believes that Savannah Guthrie's Sunday message was coached by FBI profilers with that in mind to try to get the suspect to turn himself in.
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"I think he got in way over his head with whatever happened with Nancy, and they're hoping that he is panicking enough since his family and friends haven't turned him in," said Grusing. "They're appealing to him directly, like, ‘Look, guy, this is not going away, you just need to summon up the courage in any humanity you have left and do it.’"
Drawing on his decades of experience, Grusing noted the signs of the suspect's amateurishness. The suspect, who was already masked, kept turning his head away from the doorbell camera, and even attempted to obscure the camera's view with brush pulled from a front garden.
"If you look at him and the awkwardness of this guy walking up there, this guy is not a professional," Grusing said. "So I don't think whatever happened in the house is what he intended to happen. What I would say is that he didn't plan for this sort of news coverage, for this sort of intense searching, for the FBI to come in and for this to be going on two weeks later."
He also told Fox News Digital that no matter how long the investigation takes, the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department are committed to seeing through, and that it's only a matter of time before the suspect is taken into custody.
"He's going to be arrested. At one point, he's going to get turned in, something's going to break. So the SWAT team is going to come through his door, and I think that's what they're saying. Even if it's not [an appeal to] his humanity, he needs to get the courage to turn himself in and be proactive with this."
Nancy Guthrie disappearance timeline:
Jan. 31, 2026
• Between 9:30–9:45 p.m. – Family drops Nancy off at home
• 9:50 p.m. – Garage door closes (per authorities)
Feb. 1, 2026
• 1:47 a.m. – Doorbell camera disconnects
• 2:12 a.m. – Security camera detects motion
• 2:28 a.m. – Pacemaker disconnects from phone application
• 11:56 a.m. – Family checks on Nancy after she misses weekly church livestream gathering
• 12:03 p.m. — 911 called
• 12:15 p.m. — Sheriff’s deputies arrive at home