Nancy Guthrie Case: Back Route Abduction ‘Impossible,’ Ex-SWAT Chief Reveals Why

Two months after Arizona resident Nancy Guthrie went missing from her home, troubling clues continue to emerge — including blood found near the front door and Ring doorbell footage showing a masked individual.

In a recent interview, her daughter Savannah Guthrie revealed that the 84-year-old’s back doors had been propped open when she went to check on her after the family realized she was missing, raising fresh concerns that she may have been taken from the rear of the property.

However, former Pima County SWAT commander Bob Krieger dismissed the theories.

Behind Guthrie’s home lies rugged terrain filled with dense brush, cacti, and trees.

“You can’t even see her house necessarily, there’s just so much brush and trees back here,” said former Pima County SWAT commander Bob Krieger.

Krieger said, “There’s no way they’re bringing her back this way. If they got there that way, they clearly had to go out the front.”

“If they’re propped open, it’s clearly for a reason. Quick in, quick out, whichever it was,” according to NewsNation’s Brian Entin.

Authorities have faced significant challenges searching the area behind Guthrie’s home.

Cold case investigator Sheryl McCollum described the neighborhood as particularly difficult to navigate. “I mean, the plants can cut you,” McCollum said on Jesse Weber Live. “There are rattlesnakes. There are bobcats. There are mountain lions. There are black bears. The ground is so hard, it’s like cement. There’s just rocks everywhere. And then you’ve got extreme heat.”

“Just based on her size and weight of carrying someone and getting over walls… I don’t think the back way would be practical at all,” Krieger said.

The law enforcement expert added that attempting to carry someone out through such terrain would likely draw attention.

“It’s not going to be quick, and it’s going to be loud. You’re going to get more attention at one o’clock in the morning in an area like this, than you are walking up to someone’s front door,” he said.

Krieger further noted that even if the back route had been used, it would have required careful planning and familiarity with the area.

“If someone used it back here, they would have had to come out a couple of times, they would have to be really familiar with wherever they parked, to get through here, to get back to wherever they parked,” he said.

Unless the abductors knew the area extremely well, they would likely lose their sense of direction within seconds in such terrain.

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing from her ranch-style home in Tucson on February 1, after she failed to attend an online church service. The victim’s son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, was the last person to have seen her after he dropped her home the previous night from a family gathering.

Despite ongoing efforts from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Guthrie is yet to be located.