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TUCSON, Ariz. – A retired FBI agent says the Guthrie family’s new $1 million reward offer puts “psychological pressure” on any potential accomplices to come forward with information.
In an Instagram video on Tuesday morning, Savannah Guthrie announced a family reward of up to $1 million for the recovery of Nancy Guthrie, her mother. The family is also making a $500,000 donation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, she said.
“I’m coming on to say it is day 24 since our mom was taken in the dark of night from her bed. And every hour and minute and second and every long night has been agony since then,” Guthrie said. “We still believe, we still believe in a miracle. We still believe that she can come home. Hope begets hope. As my sister says, we are blowing on the embers of hope.”
Savannah Guthrie acknowledged in the Tuesday video that her mother may no longer be alive.
“We also know she may be lost,” Savannah Guthrie said. “She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she lives, and is dancing in heaven, with her mom and her dad and with her beloved brother Pierce — and with our daddy.”
Sources with knowledge of the family’s thinking told Fox News Digital that the Guthries initially brought up the idea of an increased reward funded by the family, but were advised by law enforcement to hold off as “doing so earlier might overwhelm the infrastructure set up to field leads, tens of thousands of which have been coming in organically.”
Retired FBI Agent Jason Pack told Fox News Digital the new reward by the Guthries has the potential to make a massive impact on the investigation.
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“It applies psychological pressure on any accomplices. Ransom schemes involving multiple people are inherently unstable. The more time passes, the more the financial disparity between holding out and collecting $1 million starts eating at the weakest link,” he said. “The message is: your partners are not going to protect you. We will. It preserves moral offramps.”
Pack added that the increased reward could pit suspects’ family inner circle against each other, potentially leading to a break in the case.
“The $1 million announcement is also a direct market disruption. The FBI has a $100,000 reward. 88-Crime is at $102,500. By introducing a private family reward at $1 million, the Guthries just changed the calculus for anyone sitting on information: a driver who saw something, an accomplice having second thoughts, a family member of the suspect weighing loyalty against a million dollars. That is a number that can fracture criminal conspiracies,” Pack said.
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“A million-dollar announcement generates a new news cycle and sends people back to their phones scrolling through memories of anything unusual they saw in the Catalina Foothills in January,” he added.
FBI agents on Wednesday were seen walking onto Nancy Guthrie’s property, one day after the increased reward. According to NBC News, the federal agency saw a surge of tips after Savannah Guthrie announced the $1 million reward, with over 750 tips coming in since Tuesday.
Investigators haven’t yet publicly identified a person of interest or suspect in Nancy Guthrie’s abduction. Since releasing doorbell video of a masked individual at Nancy Guthrie’s door before she was believed to have been taken, investigators have been trying to identify clothing that the person was wearing, as well as other items.
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Sources told Fox News Digital that one of the Nest doorbell cameras released by the FBI was taken on a different day than the others.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos pushed back, saying reporting on the dates of the images are “speculation.”
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