With Thousands of Leads, Guthrie Case Is a Huge Investigation: Retired Police Lieutenant

Sheriff Nano is also saying that the case is not cold and urging the captor to just let her go. Joining us to discuss this is retired Las Vegas police lieutenant Randy Sutton. He's also the founder and chairman of the Wounded Blue. Randy, good afternoon to you. So the investigation has been going on for three weeks. Is the speed of this investigation normal relative to how much information has been found? Well, there's a massive amount of information that's coming in as far as leads go. I believe they're up to somewhere around 25,000 tips coming in from either the tip lines or emails. That is a massive investigation. And you have to have incredible amounts of personnel that has to triage this information and then try and pare down what needs to be investigated immediately. So it's a big, burdensome investigation. Now, if you look at the evidence that has been collected here, we have DNA evidence, we have photographic evidence, we have, you know, witnesses that have come forward with the information that needs to be verified. And at the end of the day, it is up to the investigators to pare down what they feel is important and then concentrate on those leads. So this is a long-term investigation. To characterize this as a cold case, that is absolutely not correct. Okay, so you mentioned thousands of leads, camera footage, DNA evidence. What do they really need to really crack this case? Well, they need that one piece of information that will be key to cracking the case, and that is who did this and why. Trying to develop a motive for this is critical. Victimology is critical in this investigation. When I say that, the study of the victim, they need to, and what they are doing is combing through every piece of correspondence, digital, telephone that is connected with the victim. They need to know who she has communicated with because this didn't happen in a vacuum. There is information there that will, once pared down, will bring investigative leads to law enforcement that will lead to the capture of the individuals who were involved in this. So Randy, I just want to ask you of your analysis of this surveillance video that captured a potential male suspect wearing a backpack. We've seen that video a number of times now. It's been out for a while. Can I just ask you, by your analysis, what jumps out to you from watching this footage? Well, as we have heard, there's a ton of theories out there. One of those is that this was a burglary gone wrong. I believe that the image that was portrayed on this video that was released, it negates that. First of all, I looked at the crime statistics and the reports that have been reported in this area, and nighttime burglaries are extremely rare. You don't dress up like this individual did to go hit a house and steal jewelry. This was a targeted attack. I think that what we saw here, what was striking about this, first of all, it's monstrous when you look at this. When I think about the victim, this is Guthrie, laying home in her bed, and then this creature coming into her room and taking her forcefully. If that doesn't send a shiver down your spine about the malevolence and evil that's at play here, nothing will. It really breaks my heart that she had to experience that. This video really shows preparation. Now, I know that it's a little incongruous because we look at how he dealt with the discovery of the doorbell camera picking up those leaves. That's incongruous. You would think that if he had that information to begin with, he would have brought something like a piece of tape or some paint to paint over it. That's a little incongruous on this, but I do believe that this shows the intent to commit a devastating crime like what occurred. I mean, yeah, it's truly terrible what happened to Nancy Guthrie and President Trump. He was threatening the death penalty if the suspect does not return Nancy Guthrie. What are your thoughts on whether local authorities should be leading this case versus maybe potentially having the FBI lead? This has been a talking point. Oh, very much so. And I have some serious questions about the leadership capabilities of Sheriff Nanos. He has shown himself to be having some serious issues regarding leadership. When I say that, his lack of cooperation with the FBI, which was revealed even by an FBI press release regarding the DNA evidence discovered on the glove that was found two miles away for some reason, the sheriff made a determination to send it to a private lab that he has used in the past rather than submitting it directly to the FBI, which is mind-boggling to me. Add to that the mistakes made during the release of the crime scene at such an early stage. That was unforgivable as far as I'm concerned when it comes down to conducting a serious investigation. There has been a lot of discussion internally through my sources regarding the competence of the sheriff and his lack of leadership abilities that has been demonstrated a lot of times during this investigation and prior. Okay, Randy, just one last thing. What role has Savannah Guthrie played, posting videos that have kept the public's interest, public attention on this investigation? Well, I've been around a long time, as you well know, and I don't remember the last time a crime like this has captured the attention that it has, not just in the United States, but around the world. I liken this to the Charles Lindbergh baby kidnapping of the last century when the world was captivated by it. We're in the modern-day era of communication where everyone has access to this type of news. I think that Savannah's role has been that of the grieving daughter. If you don't feel something when you see her videos and the pain etched on her face and that of her family, then there's something radically wrong with you if you don't feel that. Unfortunately, people that are capable of doing this type of crime have no conscience. They have no humanity. They are predators. Unfortunately, the reality is that predators do exist among us, and this is a stark example of just that. Yeah, and our thoughts are with Savannah Guthrie and her family and Nancy Guthrie, and we sincerely hope that she is returned alive and well. But Randy, thank you so much for giving us your insight. So useful. Thank you so much. My pleasure.