Nancy Guthrie’s neighbor believes she may have seen the 84-year-old’s kidnapper.
Aldine Meister told NewsNation’s Brian Entin that she saw a suspicious-looking man on the morning of Jan. 11, nearly three weeks before Today Show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother went missing.
“He wasn’t going terribly quickly like a normal person who’s getting exercise. He was kind of going slowly, and when he walked by this street, he really took a long look at it,” Meister said.
Meister has lived in the area for over 30 years.
According to Meister, he was wearing a baseball hat low on his face while hunched over, adding that “he was kind of looking around, and he just didn’t fit.”
She also told Fox News earlier this month that the person of interest was on the younger side and appeared to have ulterior motives.
“He just didn’t look like he was going out for a walk,” she said.
Meister told her husband about the curious encounter, adding that it “freaked her out,” but didn’t report it to authorities at the time. After Guthrie’s disappearance, Meister reached out to the FBI about her run-in.
The agency has requested that all of Guthrie’s neighbors hand over footage from their doorbell cameras on the date Meister said she spotted the shifty individual.
The FBI hasn’t specified whether the request for footage is related to Meister’s account.
Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31 at her home in Tucson, Arizona. She was reported missing by her family on Feb. 1 after she didn’t show up for church.
Footage from Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera was released to the public in February, where a masked perpetrator can be seen wearing a backpack, gloves, and a holstered gun.
Investigators have questioned multiple persons of interest, but have not yet identified a suspect.
The sheriff in charge of the Guthrie case told reporters that investigators are closer than ever to finding the perpetrator. “We’ve got a lot of intel,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said, while adding that the majority of the investigation will remain off limits to the public.
Nanos, however, did not offer a set timeline on finding Guthrie. He previously told The New York Times that the search may take years.
The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
