Nancy Guthrie Abduction Case Takes a Turn as Retired FBI Agent Exposes Day One Crime Scene 'Mistakes'

Nancy Guthrie has been missing for more than six months with no major breaks in the case, and according to a retired FBI agent, authorities may have bungled the investigation from day one, RadarOnline.com can report.

In a sit-down with News Nation's Brian Entin shared on Monday, August 10, Maureen O'Connell, who worked as a special agent for 25 years before retiring, suggested the "crime scene should have been 15 times bigger than it was" and the "whole area" should have been "locked down."

Guthrie, 84, was dropped off at her house just before 10 p.m. on January 31 after having dinner with her eldest daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law Tommaso Cioni.

It's believed that she was abducted from her Catalina Foothills home by an unknown assailant some time in the middle of the night.

Drops of blood were found on her porch, and there were signs of forced entry. Later, eerie video footage of a masked man captured by Guthrie's doorbell camera was released, but no suspect has been identified or arrested.

"If it was an FBI case initially, and we saw that she was likely removed from the front of that house but intended to go out the back of the house, those pots would have been gone, the door handles would have probably been gone. That mat, 100 percent, would have been gone," O'Connell said of key objects on the missing elderly woman's porch.

"Our crime scene yellow tape would have been – the street would have been blocked off because we would have been looking for tire impressions and shoe impressions," she added, but noted that didn't happen because deputies initially thought Guthrie may have left on her own on foot.

Still, O'Connell said that the crime scene should have still been shut down regardless.

"That circle drive in front should have not been accessible. There should not have been cars on that," she continued. "You’re looking very closely – and I mean very closely – and with oblique lighting and everything else, trying to find any shoe impressions, tire impressions, any evidence that people were walking around, any crushed grass below any window on the entire circumference of the residence."

"You’re looking for any broken glass, which I’m sure the initial deputies did," she noted. "But this all has to be done by the crime scene team."

For nearly seven months, police have searched for clues on what happened but have had little information to give the Guthrie family. Still, they have refused to give up hope that they may one day get answers.

On August 1, Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie shared a photo of her mom in a heartfelt Instagram post.

"This is our beautiful Mom. Six months ago, someone took her out of her bed in the dead of night. We have lived every moment, every breath, and every heartbeat in agony and despair ever since," she penned at the time. "Every day, we wake up and try to be strong and go on because that's what our joyful and resilient Mom taught us to do, but make no mistake – our hearts are in ruins."

"There is a hole inside us that can never be filled," she continued. "There is an ache that cannot be softened, and there is a determination in us that cannot be quenched to find out what happened to her, so that we can give her the dignity of a proper goodbye – a celebration of her remarkable life that she so deserves."