Investigator Suggests Public Collaboration May Uncover Mysteries Surrounding Nancy Guthrie Case

Over a span of more than 21 weeks following the alleged kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, significant progress was made when the FBI and Google managed to recover crucial footage from a Nest doorbell camera. Despite this breakthrough and the detention and subsequent release of two men without charges, as well as the thorough investigation of thousands of leads, her location remains a mystery.

Herman Weisberg, once a detective with the NYPD and now a renowned private investigator, remains hopeful that a single phone call could still unlock the case.

“Patience is absolutely essential in this field,” stated Weisberg, who now leads at New York’s SAGE Intelligence. “You might find yourself making that 7,000th phone call with a coffee overload, but the next call—7,001—could finally bring the necessary breakthrough.” He insisted that persistence could unveil that critical piece of information.

As the probe stretches past the 150-day mark with fewer updates from officials, Weisberg emphasizes that the overwhelming public fascination with the case might ultimately serve as a pivotal resource for those conducting the investigation.

“The awareness that comes with a high-profile crime like this should be an advantage in solving it,” he told News Media.

Weisberg points to cases like that of Gabby Petito, where ordinary citizens reviewing their own dashcam footage provided the breakthrough investigators needed to find her remains in a remote Wyoming campground.

Other cases solved with help from the public include the Boston Marathon bombing, where tipsters reported the movements of the Tsarnaev brothers after the deadly attack, and the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted as a teenager and rescued after attentive Utah residents recognized her suspected kidnappers from news coverage of the case and called police.

“Crowdsourcing wins cases these days, you know, all the armchair sleuths and the true crime fans that are out there,” Weisberg said. “Maybe one of them is like what I always say, is the one that looks outside their window and said, ‘That’s strange, that car’s been parked out there too long. It’s got Arizona plates.’ You know, it’s a stolen car. Get the police to come.”

While he said he’s surprised that digital forensics haven’t solved the case already, not everything goes investigators’ way.

“Actually, I’m pretty shocked that this case didn’t come down to technology,” he said. “A perfect example is that Kohberger case in Idaho. Technology was the case breaker for them, but anything can happen in a case like this. I think the old expression, three can keep a secret if two are dead. If this was a solo perpetrator of this crime, we lose a big advantage of somebody else being able to point the finger here. Whatever it is, my personal idea on this is it was a crime that went very wrong from the beginning. We didn’t have some of the advantages, some of investigative opportunities there because this didn’t play out the way that the perpetrator intended it to.”

On the other hand, Weisberg said, as in the Kohberger case, there’s a strong chance that investigators are farther along than the public is aware.

“They could be working on a lead right now,” he said. And if that doesn’t work out, investigators and the Guthrie family are still asking for tips from the public.

There are combined rewards of more than $1.2 million for information in the Guthrie case, including $1 million from the family for information that leads to her recovery.

Her daughter, “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, is asking anyone with information on Guthrie’s case to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Tips can be provided anonymously to Tucson’s Crime Stoppers affiliate, 88-Crime, at 1-520-882-7463.