Granting Nancy Guthrie immunity from her kidnappers may be the best bargaining chip to ensure her safe return.
If that happens, how the negotiations are handled will be critical, Rami Igla, a former Israeli intelligence official and head of Mossad’s Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons Division, exclusively told Page Six.
“The moment[kidnappers]realize they can be traced, the authorities should come forward and say to them, ‘Listen, you can be traced. We’re going to negotiate a deal where you get a lot less (money), but you can still get away,'” he said.
“This is the only thing that will move them forward,” he added. “And they’re going to have to trust that the authorities will keep their word and not try to go after them.”
Negotiations have not yet begun in Nancy’s case, as she has not heard from her kidnappers other than a ransom note demanding $6 million in Bitcoin in exchange for her release.
“First of all,[the kidnappers]have to be willing to negotiate,” Igla said.
Igla said the way to get kidnappers involved is to tell them authorities have information about the suspect’s whereabouts.
“Kidnappers don’t talk unless they are threatened in some way,” he said. “Until they are blackmailed, their only demand is money or nothing.”
He explained that criminals can be tracked through blockchain forensics or through information collected by investigators.
Igla said the kidnappers were likely to “start talks” as soon as authorities realized they had an advantage, after which investigators could begin negotiations.
In his experience, hostage release negotiations are all about finding a “breakthrough” for the kidnappers.
“What breaks a deal? What makes a deal? Usually in this situation, the deal breaker is money,” he said, adding that they were likely seeking “safe passage for less money.”
Igla said she found it “alarming” that Nancy’s kidnappers had yet to show any evidence of life, but said the lack of communication could mean they were not “professional.”
“This shows that (the kidnappers) do not have a secure way to transmit (images that show evidence of life),” he said, adding, “There has to be a secure way to transmit images that show her alive but cannot be traced.”
Nancy, 84, was last seen on Jan. 31 and reported missing the next morning after authorities discovered she had been taken against her will from her Tucson-area home.
The ransom demand letter asked for $6 million to be sent to a Bitcoin address by two separate deadlines. One is on February 5th and the other is this Monday.
Savannah Guthrie and her brother released a video statement announcing that they were willing to pay the ransom to the kidnappers, but that they needed to see proof that they were alive.
Until Tuesday night, his Bitcoin account had a balance of $0, after which about $152 worth of Bitcoin was deposited into his wallet.
Cryptocurrency expert Bezalel Ehsan Labib told Page Six on Wednesday that depositing small amounts of Bitcoin into wallets could ultimately lead to tracking down the kidnappers.
“If this wallet receives funds, the situation changes,” Labib explained. “The person demanding the ransom may believe they are in control, but once the transaction is made, they are on the receiving end of surveillance.”
On Tuesday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office released horrifying security footage of an armed and masked person outside Nancy’s home the night she disappeared.
Authorities have not yet identified a person of interest in the case, but the FBI released the first physical description of the suspect on Thursday.
“The suspect is described as a male, approximately 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, with an average build,” they said in a statement. “In the video, he is wearing a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.”
They have also increased the reward to $100,000 for information leading to Nancy’s whereabouts and the arrest and conviction of those involved in her disappearance.
