As the mother of Savannah Guthrie, Nancy Guthrie She disappeared from her home near Tucson on February 1 and is still missing more than a month later. Her family has also announced a $1 million reward for any information that could help find her.
A legal expert with 30 years of court experience, who goes by the online name of Lawyer Li, said on her YouTube channel with 216,000 subscribers that there were six major points in the case that were “illogical.”
DNA evidence from gloves
Nancy’s Ring doorbell camera showed a masked person wearing gloves near her door. Police later found the gloves about two miles away.
“There are a couple of reasons. The first is that the gloves may not have been connected to the scene. They were found two miles away,” Lee said.
She also noted that investigators appeared to have recovered other DNA evidence from inside the home.
“The good news is that there appears to be more DNA in the house. It doesn’t match the glove, but it will be very important evidence.”
Limitations of DNA databases
Lee explained that the DNA database only contains people who have been previously recorded in the system.
“The real risk for law enforcement is that it’s not enough to just find a DNA match. If they found that and extremely important evidence was excluded, that would be catastrophic. They have to do it in a way that a judge would say ‘Yes, I’m going to let you use this at trial.'”
Questions about Nancy’s son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni
Nancy’s son-in-law, Tommaso Sione, was the last person to see her alive after bringing her home.
Investigators searched his home and then conducted a second search that lasted several hours.
“It seems really weird, unless Sioney is the suspect,” Lee said. “They were looking at Sioney’s home, which means they must have thought they were doing it for some reason.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department issued a statement last week saying family members, including spouses and siblings, had been removed from the suspect list.
Also read: Nancy Guthrie Update: Annie, Camren show up at Catalina home again; Savannah makes big decision
timeline gap
Lee said the timeline of the disappearances is confusing. Nancy’s son-in-law dropped her off at 9:48 p.m., and her garage door closed two minutes later.
She described what happened next as unclear.
“What happens next is a bit like a fever nightmare, with horrific moments briefly brought into focus and then we’re back into darkness and we never really get the full picture.”
Nancy’s doorbell camera stopped working at 1:47 a.m. and detected activity at 2:13 a.m. About 16 minutes later, her pacemaker stopped sending signals.
Lee said the timeline suggests someone may have been in the house for about 40 minutes.
“So the intruder was in the house for probably 40 minutes from the time the line went out. That’s a really long time. What was that person doing?”
“If this was a kidnapping, it’s really weird. How long does it take for a man to subdue a frail 84-year-old woman? The whole time is weird and I can’t explain it.”
Questions about how intruders entered
Lee also questioned why authorities did not disclose whether there was any forced entry into the home.
She said there may be unusual circumstances surrounding the suspect’s entry into the home.
“Did Nancy leave the door unlocked that night? Did this person have a key? Did someone tamper with the door ahead of time so it wouldn’t lock?”
Doubts about the kidnapping theory
Finally, Lee said the alleged ransom demands were inconsistent with typical kidnappings.
She explained that the suspect reportedly requested Bitcoin through the media rather than contacting the family privately.
“The kidnapper wants to control the victim until the last moment, and the victim’s family wants to ensure that the person is captured and does not want the victim to be harmed. Usually the kidnapper will contact the victim’s family privately: ‘Do it yourself, don’t bring the police.'”
“But instead, they sent out requests to the media, in this case for Bitcoin. That’s definitely the biggest public concern.”
She also points out that there is no evidence that Nancy is still alive.
“And they clearly provided no evidence that Nancy Guthrie was alive. If the kidnappers didn’t do this, why should Nancy’s family pay? None of this seems appropriate for a kidnapping. If this was a kidnapping, it seems really incompetent.”
Authorities say the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance remains ongoing.
