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Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino outlined three stark possibilities in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance, saying the lack of leads has left investigators confronting unsettling questions.
“The first [possibility] would be, obviously, it’s a kidnapping. That was an intended kidnapping for a ransom payment…” he said on “Hannity” on Monday.
“The second possibility would be this was just a crime that went awry. Someone was at the house, maybe it was a burglary, maybe something went bad, and you’ve got some bad actors committing another crime unrelated — in other words, requesting a ransom for something you didn’t do just to take advantage of a situation like this.”
The third possibility, he said, is that Guthrie’s disappearance may not have been a kidnapping at all, but instead the result of a medical emergency or another non-criminal event that was later misunderstood or misrepresented.
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Bongino said the theory is raised by the complete absence of digital, forensic and surveillance indicators, noting that when investigators are unable to locate someone within the first few days of a case, it can suggest either highly sophisticated perpetrators or that “the story you’ve been told, or you may have believed may not be the story.”
Bongino repeatedly declined to give one theory more weight than the others, but said the absence of DNA, license plate hits, cellphone activity or social media data raises serious questions about the initial narrative of the case.
Addressing commentary from veteran FBI Special Agent Lance Leising, Bongino noted that legitimate ransom kidnappings typically involve rapid communication and early proof of life, patterns that have not emerged in Guthrie’s case.
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“At this point, I think we have to consider everything outside the box, because whatever is inside the box is not really panning out right now,” he added.
Guthrie, the mother of NBC “TODAY” co-host Savannah Guthrie, vanished from her Arizona home earlier this month and has not been seen since, prompting a multi-agency investigation that now includes the FBI.
As the search intensified, Savannah Guthrie made an emotional public plea for help, describing the situation as an “hour of desperation” as authorities investigated an alleged ransom note tied to her mother’s disappearance.
Savannah urged anyone with information to come forward as investigators worked against a looming deadline outlined in the note, which authorities have not publicly authenticated.
The final deadline outlined in the alleged ransom note passed Monday night without any proof of life or resolution.
Fox News’ Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
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