Offering Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapper immunity may be the best bargaining chip to ensure her safe return.
How the negotiation should be handled, if it comes down to that, will be extremely important, Rami Igra — a former Israeli intelligence official and head of the Prisoners, Hostages and Missing Persons Division at the Mossad — exclusively tells Page Six.
“The minute [the kidnapper] understands that they are traceable, the authorities should come forward and say to them, ‘Listen, you are traceable, and we’re willing to negotiate a deal with you where you will get a lot less [money], but you will get away with it,’” he said.
“This is the only thing that will bring them forward,” he added. “And they will have to believe that the authorities will keep their word and will not try to trace them.”
Negotiations have yet to begin in Nancy’s case, as the abductor has not made any contact aside from an alleged ransom note demanding $6 million in bitcoin in exchange for her release.
“First of all, [the kidnapper] has to want to negotiate,” Igra said.
The way to get a kidnapper to engage, Igra said, is for authorities to communicate that they know information about where the suspect can be found.
“The kidnapper will not discuss anything unless they are somehow threatened,” he said. “Until they are threatened, they will have one demand: money or nothing.”
He explained that the criminal can either be tracked through blockchain forensics, or through information gathered by investigators.
As soon as the kidnapper is aware that authorities have an advantage, Igra said they will likely “start talking” and then investigators can begin negotiations.
In his experience, negotiating the release of a hostage is all about figuring out the “dealbreakers” for the kidnapper.
“What will break the deal? What will make the deal? Usually in this situation, the dealbreaker is the money,” he said, adding that they are more than likely seeking “safe passage for less money.”
Igra finds it “worrisome” that Nancy’s kidnapper has yet to show any proof of life, but also noted that the lack of communication might mean the perp is not a “professional.”
“It shows that [the kidnappers] don’t have a safe way of transmitting [images showing proof of life,]” he said, adding, “They need a safe way to transmit pictures [showing] that she is alive and it’s not traceable to them.”
Nancy, 84, was last seen on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next morning when authorities discovered she was taken from her Tucson-area home against her will.
An alleged ransom note demanded that $6 million be sent to a bitcoin address by two separate deadlines — one on Feb. 5 and the other this past Monday.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings released a video statement announcing to the kidnapper that they were willing to pay the ransom but needed to see proof of life.
The bitcoin account had a balance of $0 until Tuesday night, when around $152 worth of bitcoin was deposited into the wallet.
Cryptocurrency expert Bezalel Eithan Raviv told Page Six Wednesday that depositing a small amount of bitcoin into the wallet can ultimately lead to tracking down the kidnapper.
“If this wallet has now received funds, the dynamic shifts,” Raviv explained. “The person demanding ransom may believe they are in control, but once a transaction is made, they become the one being watched.”
On Tuesday, the Pima County Police Department released terrifying security footage of an armed and masked individual outside of Nancy’s home on the night of her disappearance.
Authorities have yet to identify a person of interest in the case, but the FBI released the first physical description of the suspect Thursday.
“The suspect is described as a male, approximately 5’9” – 5’10” tall, with an average build,” they announced. “In the video, he is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack.”
They also upped the reward money to $100,000 for any information that leads to the location of Nancy and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
