James Hamilton, a personal security expert and former FBI supervisory special agent, said it was no surprise the Bureau never paid the Nancy Guthrie ransom demand because doing so would have violated protocol.
The former agent offered up the explanation on Megyn Kelly’s Tuesday episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” a day after TMZ’s Harvey Levin shared that the FBI allegedly ghosted him after he offered to pay a tipster claiming to know about Savannah Guthrie’s mother’s whereabouts.
“It’s because [of] protocol,” Hamilton defended of the FBI’s apparent unwillingness to pay out in the Guthrie case. “I mean, we got to remember that the reality is we still never had a proof of life ever.”
He continued: “So, the first note, you know, didn’t indicate anything like a picture of her anything. Yeah, we do have some information about the watch, but that would not be specific enough that the Bureau would say, ‘Yeah, just go ahead and launch $4 million.’”
On Monday, new details emerged regarding the ransom notes sent to media, which both the Guthrie family and the authorities believed to be legitimate. Per the reports, the initial note demanded millions in bitcoin and gave highly specifics details about Guthrie’s Tucson, Ariz. home. A second note was sent days later and allegedly indicated that the Guthrie matriarch had died.
While Kelly wondered if authorities were kicking themselves for not paying up, Hamilton explained that the protocol was put in place for a “very good reason,” adding, “It might sound callous, but I agree that, you know, they shouldn’t have paid the $4 million without an actual proof of life of Miss Guthrie.”
He added: “Because if you do, and you know, you don’t get her back because it’s a scammer, then there’s going to be more $4 million requests and you’re going to keep playing that game until you run out of money.”
As Hamilton went on, he explained that negotiators are trained to establish communication and rapport with the culprit, adding that they try to get information that couldn’t be acquired from the news or social media.
“It can’t be that, you know, there’s a flood light out that you could have got from a Google Earth overview or some previous story,” he said. “Megyn, you did a great job playing all the previous stories of interviews that Savannah had done with her mom, where I could have seen that Apple Watch. I could have seen the details of inside of her bedroom. I could have told you the night gown she likes to wear. I could have told you the color of her pillows.”
According to Hamilton, this is why depictions of kidnappings often have the victim holding a newspaper in the ransom message.
As for why an alleged kidnapper might send a follow-up note after Guthrie died, Hamilton speculated it was a ploy to still get money since they seemingly couldn’t provide proof of life anymore.
“Notice it worked, because she went on Instagram the next day on the 7th saying, ‘Hey, we hear you and we’ll pay,’” he said. “So what happened? … Why was there no more contact, right? What what happened then? Because there’s no one reporting on any of that.”
Watch Hamilton’s full conversation with Kelly above.
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