The FBI has been tracking a specific type of organized crime crew operating across America – and their signature move is making security cameras go dark.
Now the FBI is knocking on doors in a quiet Tucson neighborhood asking one very specific question about the night an 84-year-old woman disappeared.
And what the neighbors told them points to something far darker than anyone has said publicly – a coordinated operation that may have been watching Nancy Guthrie long before February 1.
The Night Nancy Guthries Cameras Went Dark and the FBI Wants to Know Why
It has been over a month since Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her Catalina Foothills home in Tucson.
The last confirmed sighting: her son-in-law Tommaso Cioni dropped her off at 9:50 p.m. on January 31.
Her doorbell camera disconnected at 1:47 a.m. and her pacemaker stopped syncing at 2:28 a.m.
And then she was gone.
This week, FBI agents went door to door through her neighborhood asking every homeowner the same thing: did your internet go dark the night she disappeared?
Several neighbors said yes.
One couple who live directly next to the Guthrie home told NBC News they have four security cameras on their property. Only one lost footage – the camera closest to Nancy's house, during the exact overnight hours she vanished. "That's really weird, isn't it?" the neighbor said.
A retired detective and law enforcement executive at the Colorado Attorney General's Office who spoke to Fox News Digital knows exactly what that sounds like. "We all know the South American theft groups have been using them in burglaries across the country," Lisa Miller said – referring to organized gangs who deploy illegal Wi-Fi jammers to kill home security systems before moving in.
The South American Theft Group Playbook the FBI Has Seen Before
The mainstream media will not connect these dots for you.
South American Theft Groups have been operating across the United States for years – Houston, Phoenix, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago.
Law enforcement has documented their methods in arrest records and court filings. They travel on tourist visas. They case high-value homes in advance. They dress in all black, wear gloves, carry backpacks. And they carry illegal radio frequency jammers to blind cameras before they strike.
Phoenix police arrested suspects from one of these crews who had a Wi-Fi jammer on them when they were caught. The device was designed to prevent homeowners from making calls and cut off access to their own security cameras.
FBI intelligence had specifically linked these groups to break-ins targeting high-net-worth individuals and public figures.
Last month, a South America-linked group was busted in Houston after hitting more than 60 high-end homes. Investigators found a radio frequency jammer on one of the suspects at the time of arrest.
And now federal agents are in a Tucson neighborhood asking whether the internet went dark the night Guthrie was dragged from her home.
Was a WiFi Jammer Used in the Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping
Not every expert agrees a jammer was used.
Morgan Wright, CEO of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, pointed out that jamming an entire neighborhood would require military-grade equipment. Commercial jammers carry a range of roughly 10 to 30 yards – not enough to kill a neighbor's camera from the street.
Wright also noted that the FBI and Google recovered video from Nancy's Nest doorbell camera despite the device being physically missing and having no cloud subscription. "If they were using Wi-Fi jammers, then I would expect that we would not be able to see any video from the front door cameras," he said.
Retired police sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith, spokesperson for the National Police Association, reached the same conclusion. But she added something that matters: if jammers were involved, it means someone targeted Nancy specifically – and knew her house well enough to know what to disable and when.
A former FBI agent who has been analyzing the case publicly reached a different conclusion about that antenna-like device visible in the masked figure's pocket on the doorbell footage.
She concluded it was a walkie-talkie, not a jammer – meaning at minimum two people were involved and coordinating in real time. "It's a two-way. At least two people are involved," she said.
What investigators are looking at is not the profile of a crime gone sideways. A walkie-talkie for real-time coordination. A $6 million ransom demand hitting multiple newsrooms within days. A doorbell camera that someone physically ripped off the wall and took with them. A pacemaker signal that cut out at 2:28 in the morning. Blood on the front door.
Whoever did this came prepared.
The Bigger Picture About Open Borders Nobody in the Media Will Say Out Loud
South American Theft Groups have hit thousands of American homes – NFL players, Michigan families who lost $800,000 in a single night, ordinary homeowners who never knew they were being watched until hidden cameras showed up in their own front yards.
The FBI knew these networks were operating in Arizona. Phoenix police arrested them with jammers in hand.
And yet these crews kept operating. In 2021, Biden issued a sweeping enforcement priority memo that effectively collapsed interior criminal deportations – ICE arrests fell roughly 50 percent to their lowest level since the agency was created.
Visa overstay enforcement became nearly nonexistent. The networks that prey on American homes had four years to expand, recruit, and move deeper into cities like Houston, Phoenix, Detroit – and Tucson.
While the Pima County Sheriff fumbled this case – releasing and re-sealing the crime scene multiple times, issuing contradictory statements, blocking Savannah from offering a reward in the early days – an 84-year-old woman who needs daily medication to survive has been missing for over a month.
Whoever took Nancy Guthrie knew what they were doing. The FBI is now building a case that proves it. The question is whether they find her in time.
Sources:
- Adam Sabes, Michael Ruiz, and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, "Nancy Guthrie disappearance: FBI asks neighbors about tech glitch as search hits day 34," Fox News, March 6, 2026.
- "Nancy Guthrie's neighbors flag camera glitching as experts explain Wi-Fi jamming," Fox News Digital, March 6, 2026.
- "Organized South American crime group burglarizes over 60 high-end Houston-area homes targeting designer goods," Fox News Digital, February 2026.
- "Nancy Guthrie Update: Former FBI Agent Reveals 'Big Find' in Investigation," Men's Journal, March 2026.
- "High-tech Wi-Fi jammers helping international thieves break into Valley homes, police believe," 12News/ABC15 Arizona.
- "South American gangs using U.S. immigration law to create burglary 'industry'," The Washington Times, May 28, 2024.
- "Are international thieves exploiting tourist visas to target pro-athletes' homes?" NBC News, November 25, 2024.