Nancy Guthrie Update: Former FBI Agent Reveals 'Big Find' in Investigation

It's now been more than a month since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, went missing in an apparent kidnapping. So far, authorities have not made much progress in the case, at least publicly, but one significant and telling detail has seemingly emerged over the past several days.

As authorities continue to pore over the photos and video of the suspect at the 84-year-old's door, they have seemingly made a discovery that would indicate more than one person was involved with her disappearance and help explain one dead end investigators seem to have hit.

A Major Finding

Jennifer Coffindaffer, a retired FBI Special Agent and former SWAT Team member who now contributes to NewsNation, has been sharing her opinions on the case on social media throughout the investigation.

In a social media post last week, she pointed out what appears to be a walkie-talkie in the pocket of the suspect, which would indicate that there was at least one accomplice to the apparent kidnapping.

"Porch Guy definitely had an accomplice and maybe more than 1!" Coffindaffer wrote in a post on X. "No way you commit this abduction by yourself. See the antenna? See the handheld walkie-talkie? They were coordinated."

In fact, Coffindaffer doesn't rule out the possibility that the image that is believed to have been the same suspect visiting Guthrie's home on a previous day was actually an image of an accomplice on the same day.

"Don't be too sure that the guy with no gun and no backpack wasn't an accomplice," Coffindaffer added. "So many cases where bad guys choose to dress alike."

Coffindaffer concedes that it's perfectly possible that the images showed the same suspect on different days, but she does believe that the presence of a walkie-talkie indicates that there are multiple suspects.

"The source could be right- Different days," Coffindaffer wrote. "But without a doubt, Porch Guy had help!"

A 'Big Find' in the Investigation

The presence of a walkie-talkie is a significant finding for a few reasons. First, as Coffindaffer explained, it suggests that there was more than one person responsible for her apparent kidnapping. However, it also helps explain a problem that authorities have been having in the investigation.

In an attempt to narrow down the search, authorities have been using geofencing, which is where they use technology to identify all mobile devices present within a specific, defined geographic area during a particular timeframe. It acts as a reverse search to find suspects when none are initially known using GPS, cellular, or Wi-Fi data.

So far, this has produced no leads. Coffindaffer believes that this could be because the suspects communicated with walkie-talkies and did not bring anything into the area that would be traceable.

"Several days ago I spoke of this big find," Coffindaffer wrote in a post on X this week. "You see, this is likely why geo-fencing has perhaps been a dead end providing no usable leads."

"Walkie talkies are the untraceable way to communicate," she explains.

This move, she explains, seemingly indicates a level of sophistication from the suspects.

"Porch Guy has been able to allude the FBI and local LE for 30 days now," Coffindaffer added. "He and his cohorts, likely he did not work alone, may not look sophisticated, but they were."

If this is the case, information is going to have to come from somewhere else.

Walkie-Talkie or Wi-Fi Jammer?

While Coffindaffer seems to think that the device in the suspect's pocket is a walkie-talkie, there has been some speculation that it might be a Wi-Fi jammer instead. Coffindaffer, however, does not think this is the case.

As Coffindaffer points out, if the device were a Wi-Fi jammer, it would have impacted the connection of the Nest doorbell camera as well as the signal of the 84-year-old's pacemaker. Neither of those devices was impacted.

"This is no WiFi jammer or it was a really bad one…" Coffindaffer wrote in a post on X. " If it was, it would have jammed the Nest signal and Nancy's pacemaker signal. It didn't."

To Coffindaffer, this seemingly confirms that there were at least two people involved in her kidnapping since someone was on the other end of what she believes is a walkie-talkie.

"It's a two-way. At least two people are involved," she added.