The search for Nancy Guthrie is on day seven and her whereabouts are still unknown.
On Saturday, Feb. 7, Parade spoke to retired NYPD sergeant Joe Giacalone who worked for the department for more than 20 years. With reports that the FBI is now taking the lead in the case, Giacalone helped break down some of the most asked questions we’ve been seeing on social media.
For starters, Parade asked Giacalone about the aforementioned shift in the investigation. He explained that if the FBI has in fact taken over the case, it could mean one of two things. It could mean that there is evidence that whoever has Nancy “has crossed state lines,” or it could mean that there’s evidence that Nancy is “no longer with us”—or both.
Authorities believe that Guthrie may have been abducted from her home in Arizona in the middle of the night on Sunday, Feb. 1. Within a couple of days, an unverified ransom note was sent to a variety of media outlets, including TMZ.
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Giacalone says that this set off “red flags from the beginning.” He explained that there’s obviously only one person in the Guthrie family that could pay millions of dollars (in bitcoin or otherwise) and that’s Nancy’s daughter, Today anchor Savannah Guthrie. So, Parade asked Giacalone why someone would go to the media with a ransom request and not directly to the family.
“By not going directly to her and directly to the family is is odd in so many ways. You know, choosing TMZ, they knew exactly what they were going to do with it, right? They knew it was going to get plastered everywhere. So, you know, if somebody who is aware of the power of social media and what TMZ does…,” Giacalone says.
As for whether or not these ransom notes could be a red herring, Giacalone acknowledges that anything is possible at this point in time.
“Investigators are going to take these serious no matter what. And they have the capability of being able to investigate this as a potential, viable situation, or they can also rule it out as a potential hoax. We’ve already got one person found out and arrested,” Giacalone says, referencing the arrest of Derrick Callella, who admitted to sending a phony ransom request to the Guthrie family, unrelated to the note sent to media stations.
Related: Savannah Guthrie’s Mom’s House Sees FBI Activity Minutes After New Message News Breaks
Parade also spoke with Giacalone about the current timeline and just how crucial things get as we head into one week without any proof that Nancy is alive.
“It’s really the first hour, we refer to it as the golden hour,” Giacalone says. “That’s the most important thing that first hour [when someone is reported missing].”
In today’s world, Giacalone points out, many cases are solved by help of “video surveillance, cell phone records, and internet records.” Giacalone believes that’s where the focus is now—seeing what evidence comes by way of cameras in the neighborhood or even at nearby businesses.
Based on what’s transpired over the past 24 hours, Giacalone believes that the case will be solved “in the next 24 to 48 hours” if he had to guess.
When asked if Giacalone thinks Nancy will be found, he was confident in his reply. “They will find her,” he says.
For more updates from Giacalone, you can follow him on X. You can also tune in to his podcast, True Crime With the Sarge.
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