‘Not Typical’ Nancy Guthrie Motive Identified as Neighbors Speak Out About the Serial Attacker Who Terrorized Her Neighborhood
It’s been almost four months since Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy, was taken from her house by a masked assailant, and to this day, there are no answers as to what happened to her. Police have yet to identify a suspect or disclose a motive. No body has been found. There have been a lot of conjectures, but little in the way of actual proof of what took place.
And after so long without answers, people have started to focus on the more obscure possibilities. Lisa J. Miller, a retired detective and law enforcement executive at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, has recently suggested that the case should force law enforcement to reevaluate how cybercriminals operate in “wrench attacks,” which is when people are kidnapped to demand ransom.
Related: Who are Savannah Guthrie’s siblings?
The term has its origins in a 2009 web comic about a hacker who, after failing to crack someone’s password, suggested using a $5 wrench to beat them until they gave it up.
“In the beginning of this Nancy Guthrie case, we’re all taking a look at it, and we’re seeing things that just didn’t seem to fit,” Miller told Fox News Digital. “What we’re seeing with Nancy Guthrie is not a typical wrench attack.”
Typically, in these cases, criminals identify potential targets, then recruit local criminals to carry out the actual kidnapping. “The street level thug theory fits with what we’re seeing in the Guthrie case, because when the FBI released the pictures of this porch guy, and I’ve referred to him from the beginning as ‘porch monster,’ I mean, the guy comes across as a bit of a doofus,” Miller said. “Look at his getup, look at how he carries his firearm… yet there’s some very sophisticated elements to this case that again falls in line with what we see in a traditional wrench attack.”
A spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which is in charge of the investigation, said the agency has not dealt with any potential “wrench attacks” before. “The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has not received any reports referencing ‘wrench attacks’ in our community,” they said in an email. “The investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance remains active and ongoing. When there is a significant update, it will be shared publicly.”
Miller also said that she believes at least some of the demands received by the family at the beginning of the case were legitimate. “I don’t think for a minute, and I’ve said before from the early stages, that the FBI would have put Savannah Guthrie [and] her family through the trauma of recording those videos if they did not believe that there was something real behind these videos,” she said.
This all comes as a new report from KVOA News 4 Tucson, looked back on the case of “The Prime Time Rapist,” who was active across Tucson from 1983 to 1986, burglarizing women’s homes and sexually assaulting them. According to the outlet, the suspect was involved in over 30 home invasions and targeted more than 90 victims, with some of those cases happening in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood, where Nancy Guthrie was abducted.
That case was cracked after 5 months, when the police tracked down a man called Brian Larriva, who they say was responsible for the crimes. Larriva died by suicide before he could be arrested.
Many neighbors still don’t like talking about the case. “We’re getting attention for something bad again,” one neighbor said. However, she said the community always bounces back. “We get closer with each tragedy. We are a close-knit community. Nothing or no case will ever change that.”
