More than two months after Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her Tucson-area home, an expert has weighed in on the kidnapping suspect's potential motive, suggesting that Savannah and her family could be targeted again.
The ‘Today’ show host's 84-year-old motherdisappeared in the early hours of February 1, with troubling signs pointing to violence at the scene. Blood was found on the front porch, and data from her Bluetooth-enabled pacemaker showed it disconnected from her phone around 2:30 AM, suggesting she had been forcibly taken.
Former FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit researcher Ann Burgess believes the attack may not have been primarily about Nancy herself. Instead, she suggested the motive could involve retaliation against someone close to her.
“Who in her orbit, let’s call it family, could be friends, would be hurt the most [by her kidnapping]?” Dr Burgess told NewsNation’s ‘Brian Entin Investigates’ on Friday.
She further pointed out to the possibility that the abduction was meant to emotionally impact loved ones.
“And I think you can answer… It’s a very mean, angry, horrible thing to do. And then if it goes wrong, which obviously it did, I think it doesn’t make sense that she would be a target to do more than abduct her,” she said.
Burgess also indicated that law enforcement likely explored whether Savannah’s public profile could have made her family vulnerable.
“I am sure that law enforcement talked with her about that. Has she had any kind of, over the years, it wouldn’t have to be just recent, did she ever get any bad letters, or anything along that line?” she said.
The expert suggested the risk of repeat targeting may be low if the motive was personal and specific.
“If it’s what we call a personal cause, in other words, only to that person does it have meaning, so it’s not like you have a serial offender that he’s going to go out and do this to someone else,” she explained.
