Nancy Guthrie Case: Former FBI Expert Reveals 2 Possible Motives Behind Alleged Abduction

Day 58 into the search for Nancy Guthrie, former FBI agent Steve Moore discussed potential motives behind the 84-year-old’s abduction during an appearance on Brian Entin Investigates.

Broadcast journalist Savannah Guthrie’s mother was taken from her Catalina Foothills, Arizona, home on the night of January 31.

Even after a foreign DNA sample from the crime scene was sent to a lab in Florida, a suspect has not yet been identified.

Moore said investigators typically work to rule out less likely explanations early on.

“You have to quickly eliminate any other motive. Does she have money? Savannah does. Has she made anyone angry? Not bloody likely,” the law enforcement expert said.

“You step down from all the possible motives, and one or two are left. One of them is sexual assault or something, and you don’t even want to talk about that, and kidnapping would not even come into the equation unless there was someone in Nancy’s family perceived as very wealthy, ” Moore continued.

The latest update comes after Savannah Guthrie gave her first interview since her mother’s kidnapping, where she said her fame and financial status may have made her mother a target.

She recalled asking her brother, Camron Guthrie, whether her public profile could have played a role. “Do you think because of me? And he said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe.’”

Savannah said the uncertainty has been difficult to process.

​“But it’s because she's my mom, and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl, that lady has money, we can make a quick buck.’ I mean, that would make sense, but we don't know. Which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside. That, it’s because of me. And I just say, ‘I'm so sorry, mommy,’” Savannah said.

In the interview with Hoda Kotb on Today, Savannah also said she believes at least two of the ransom notes her family received may be credible.

​“There are a lot of different notes, I think, that came. And I think most of them, it’s my understanding, are not real. And I didn’t see them. But a person who would send a fake ransom note really has to look deeply at themselves. To a family in pain. But I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real,” Savannah said.