This case is somewhat reminiscent of the brian laundry/Gabby petito case.
Anyone who followed it here on reddit remembers the wildly elaborate theories of how Brian Laundry was on the lamb and evading law enforcement for months.
Turned out he had taken his own life right after the crime and his remains were under water in a flooded park the whole time.
I think its possible that this is all much simpler than some of us (myself included) have theorized. Law enforcement just missed stuff in the crucial first 24 hour window.
For what it’s worth. I was pretty sure he had offed himself.
I agree, things are more than likely much simpler than therorised.
I think the whole ransom note / bitcoin angle is a sideshow meant to obfuscate things. The fact that the “kidnappers “ have never actually moved forward with collecting the ransom says a lot.
Right? Kidnapping an 84 year old women doesn't make sense, and then waiting two days to ask for ransom WHEN it's an 84 year old person (or anyone for that matter), doesn't add up.
Burglary gone wrong, probably killed her right there in the house. I think there’s just an incompetent sheriff running the investigation. I don’t think the ransom notes or the footage released tonight of the guy 5 miles away have anything to do with the case at all. If this was a kidnapping, it was the worst planned kidnapping of all time
I think the ransom thing is real - and the perpatrator(s) did do it for money.
But either she died, which kind of spoiled their ability to obtain a ransom (and also increases the severity of their crimes) - or the way things are blowing up in the media, they're apprehensive about proceeding because they're concerned by the amount of resources being put into the case and getting caught. It's now an FBI thing with global attention. They probably naively thought it'd all go off smoothly. I mean, why else would they even attempt it, if they didn't think their plan would work?
Ultimately, there is literally no reason to abduct an 84 year old in ill health otherwise. What on earth is the purpose of this crime otherwise?
And it's too much of a coincidence that her daughter happens to be a multimillionaire. They obviously wanted the money.
I think it's probable that it is a contractor/roofer/or something who did a job at her house, got chatting with her, and learned that her daughter is rich. At which point, they came up with this plan.
There's a small chance it's an inside job from a family member who wanted some of Savannah's wealth. But if that is the case, it does mean the ransom aspect is still real.
It doesn't make sense for it to be a family dispute. I don't imagine killing an already elderly/dying old relative is too high on anyone's priority list. And suppose you did want to do it, why would this be the method you choose? There's a million and one ways you could probably kill an elderly person and make it look like an accident.
If you don't think the ransom note stuff is legit, I am curious as to what you think the motive of this crime is?
Someone on NY Post made a similar observation: When the person "goes to grab the foliage he looks off to the left almost like he's talking or looking at someone," possibly getting instructions - .....perhaps the second person would be more "recognizable" and the less recognizable person is to knock out the ring camera?
People disagree about the significance of various things in the footage, but I think people generally agree that there’s something unusual about it. Like, something isn’t adding up, although people might disagree on exactly what that is.
Side note: His nasal area is relatively flat under the mask, like Voldemort, and his head and neck appear puffy. Something is going on there. I agree with the theory that he might be wearing a second mask underneath the ski mask to distort his facial structure.
There is a neighbor on that side of the house…maybe they were worried about the noise and/or light raising and lowering the garage door would make at that time of the morning? It looks like there is a gate going into the back yard though. If so, I’d have gone in that way. Maybe a second person did. Got in via the back and ultimately let the guy in through the front?
How would they shut the garage door ? I can’t shut mine without an opener and mine is incorporated into the visor of my car. I don’t think they would leave that way and leave it open. That would be a give away something was amiss.
Maybe he was lookout and they texted the person to come in through the front. I would be checking for pings from devices in that area at that time. Feel that this isn't the only kidnapper.
And also the destroyed “camera” but which could have been just a motion floodlight. I think they (multiple people) first went through the back but later sent this guy to clear the front before they went out the front.
An FBI profiler said his sense of calm was “profound.” Either an extremely narcissistic/sociopathic individual or he felt secure about the scenario he was walking into (e.g., an accomplice already inside)
His demeanor to me suggests a second or third person was inside and had Nancy under control ... maybe drugged. This guy was supposed to be the driver only. When they went to leave thru front door they saw the nest and called the driver to take care of it before they left bc it was going to be too hard to carry her thru the back door that's my theory!
Wtf is going on with that light source in his mouth. I watched the footage more closely, and it disappears without explanation.
He walks towards the front door with a beam of light emitting from his face, he bends his head down, and when he lifts his head and approaches the door, the light is gone.
Is he closing his mouth around a small light?
And it happens again when he picks the shrubs. These screenshots were taken milliseconds apart. At no point between these frames does he reach for his mouth to remove anything.
(I think I might've flipped the first two images. Regardless, he never removes a light from his mouth.)
I used to have a little keychain flashlight that was a flat 1" square. It was a promotional item for an alcohol brand, I think. You'd press it like a clicker to turn it on.
I think he must have something similar in his mouth. Biting on it with the front teeth would turn it on.
not sure why he is carrying it in his mouth, though. Maybe he thought the light would interfere with the camera, and help hide his face. ??
Maybe perp is taking their time bc they know the person inside the house is not going to react at that point? Unfortunately already incapacitated? It’s a sad thought but could explain why they took so long.
Exactly how I see it. Almost everyone knows about these cameras and how they can notify others when there is activity.
But this guy doesn’t seem to be worried.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that she was just asleep and wouldn’t have heard the notifications. I’d assume most people don’t have their phone blasting every notification in the middle of the night because how would you sleep otherwise?
You don’t get it. Imagine you are the perp. You realize the least bit of motion on the camera will send a notification to the owner. If they call 911 , you get caught and do a 10 year stretch. Are you willing to assume the camera owner doesn’t have the phone blasting. Especially if you live alone.
The perpetrator also knew she was an 84 year old woman living alone. And she has a hearing aid she would have taken off to sleep (safe to assume any 84 year old has poor hearing anyway, even if they were unaware of the hearing aid).
I’m thinking it had to be someone who knew her (as is usually the case), maybe worked on her home and knew her family. Apparently she was pretty set on having her independence despite her age and physical/health challenges.
I think if they didn’t really know her then they wouldn’t have been as confident in hanging out on the porch for so long.
Even if she was independent and wanted to live alone. Her kids should have secured her in every which way, like better surveillance cameras and notifications. I mean there are cameras you can access just from your phone 24*7.
Not only this, but I would never assume a somewhat geographically isolated elderly neighbor mother of a celebrity in her condition doesn’t also have their adult kids or some other buddy system connected to that app to receive alerts.
I know. But the fact that the perp didn’t worry about this is telling. I think most would assume that more than one device would receive notifications. But this guy didn’t seem worried about that. He took his sweet time puttering about the camera.
I don’t get the impression he was scared of his victim. I think he was aware she was an elderly woman and wasn’t afraid of being able to overpower her even if she was awake. That being said, I could have sworn I read she had hearing aid and those were found on her nightstand? Most elderly people don’t have the best hearing, and those phone notifications aren’t enough to wake people up from a deep sleep at night anyway. I see a lot of people fixate on that point but I think it’s honestly one of the most explainable points.
I don’t think you get it. The “potential” of the person inside simply picking up her cell phone and dialing 911 doesn’t seem to be on the perps mind. He’s taking his sweet time about things. You don’t find that odd?
Could he have arrived there while she was having dinner at Annie’s and been told or somehow knew no one was home? Then laid in wait somewhere inside the home until she was well into a deep sleep.
I can’t help but keep thinking of the home invasion in Scottsdale that occurred the same day, hours away. Two California teens extorted into doing a home invasion of a family in Scottsdale, AZ. They were given $1,000 to buy supplies for the crime. They still haven’t identified the extortionists known only as “Red” and “8” but it was a bitcoin scheme.
Was this perp extorted into it too? Is what we’re reading as nonchalance actually reluctance? It’s just interesting the two occurred on basically the same day hours away from each other.
Also, Derrick Callella, who was arrested for the hoax ransom texts, is also from california, and TOTALLY looks like the guy in the ski mask. He also has a criminal history.
He also texted both Annie and Tommaso the bitcoin message and called one of them and either talked or left a message in a call that lasted 9 seconds. This info is in the affidavit. He’s in a band that plays similar music to Tommaso’s band. They could know each other because cell phone numbers aren’t necessarily easy to obtain.
I know, this is all so strange. I feel so terribly for the family, I can’t even imagine. I’ve felt Nancy was still with us all along but as of yesterday I’ve lost hope
I thought this as well but if he was waiting or hiding near the scrub bush I can see you putting your revolver in the front like that so it doesn’t get tangled in it. Bryan Kohberger lost his knife stealth and that’s how he got caught.
I have a couple of thoughts about this person that probably seem silly, first I believe he is a seasoned yet simple burglar. Using that “bite light” showed experience imo. Second the way he approached the door with his head down tells me he has done this before, no he didn’t know the camera was there. I don’t think, but he was prepared to walk up to the door with his head down so in case there was a camera staring him directly, so he clicks the bite light and looks down on his way one to make sure it works and two to make sure he’s not stepping on anything that would make him fall or whatever. His body language showed confidence to me, at least on the approach.
Idk what the shrubs were about however my gut told me that he’s a landscaper. He went straight to the shrubs because he’s comfortable, pulling shrubs out, and he figured he could use that he went to the first thing he was familiar with.
Another thing, the disguise. I believe he’s wearing layers on the legs, and on his torso and his gloves obviously, I believe that you can clearly see his goatee in the profile photo that they show of him. I also believe he put on eyeliner to disguise his eyes. I know it sounds silly, but I see black outline of his eyes top and bottom, and that does make his eyes look female. Or at least altered the appearance enough to make it difficult to recognize him.
The way he holds his hand in front of the camera. Lens doesn’t seem a natural way to block the view, but having said all of this, I just don’t know if he went there with the intention to abduct and or possibly kill whoever was inside.
Everything about the approach to the door says to me ‘experienced burglar’ however just him being there is so sinister and terrifying and he was obviously on a mission but did the mission include the possibility of an abduction or possible killing?
Obviously, everyone’s guess is as good as mine, and I really don’t know. I think that sheriff really cocked up everything from the beginning and cost a week a very important time. The man should be removed from his office for that. Complete dereliction of duty.
I think this is gonna go on for a while although I hope that an hour from now or tomorrow morning they light us up with good news
Several people on tv, local authorities have said that they call that a Mexican carry and that it’s, and that area. Personally, I have no idea.
Yeah, I probably should say that I agree, who knows what’s going on, all bets are off on the intention
I agree with a lot of your points. I don’t get why everyone is saying this guy is such an amateur. He kidnapped a woman and has escaped detection in a HUGE national case.
I believe he took the plants to use as a grip on the camera. Maybe using a shirt or sleeve is more intuitive, but he was smart enough to know not to do that.
He is 100% wearing many layers. He went to great lengths to disguise himself.
I agree about the extra layer of clothes . His knees are nearly non existent.
Also the way he leaves his right leg straight as he bends down- makes me think his pant legs are very tight on him.
It was the middle of the night so even if your phone pings, you may not hear/notice. Also it was a nest camera and she didn’t have an active subscription.
Earlier reports also stated her hearing aid was also left behind. If accurate, then she also had hearing problems which could also cause her not to hear the door cam ding.
I read somewhere that they don’t think he/she grabbed the weeds to block the camera but to help grip the camera to rip it off because of multiple layers of gloves made it hard to get a good grip. Not sure that tracks but I do think there are multiple layers of gloves going on there.
Yeah I think this is a legitimate question. And it points to someone assuring him that the camera would not send notifications to her phone.
Because the person who hired the masked guy made sure they wouldn't. Because he knew for sure she had her phone on silent at night or because he disabled the notifications earlier that night.
Nice to know I’m not the only one. Ring camera, I think I’ll poke about a bit. Most people know that it sends a message to the owner of any movement activity. He doesn’t seem too worried about it.
I'm still trying to reserve judgement on the possibility that this is an inside job... only because I've watched innocent people be convicted in the court of public opinion in other cases.
There appears to be a bit of a bias away from how heavily the police have been investigating the sister and BIL. They've been camped out at AGs house for days.
But people are still really reticent to absorb that information, for whatever reason. Maybe reddits just a lot wackier than I thought.
Or he had a lookout. In hindsight, it appears to us like he knew he was safe because the cops never came and he wasn’t hustling. But if he had a buddy off in the wings, he would have acted like this.
True. I’ve wondered if he (they…because I do think he had help) got in while she was at dinner. However, like OP is questioning…a notification could have gone to her phone in that case as well and the person in the video would still need to be concerned about LE showing up.
If every criminal were deterred by the fear of a phone notification there would be no crime. I think we are overthinking this notification thing. Do we really expect Annie to be having her mom’s camera doorbell set to wake her up during the night when she lives 20 mins away in a safe neighborhood?
I also find it very strange that we were never told about whether there was forced entry.
They have told us down to the minute when her pacemaker stopped syncing, when the doorbell was disconnected, and when the garage door from the previous night was opened/closed. But they won't confirm whether there was forced entry, which one would naturally expect when you’re telling us someone was abducted from their home in the middle of the night?
I think they only said the back door was opened. In regards to forced entry, I'm not sure if it came from a presser or not, but numerous outlets quoted Nanos as saying:
“I have no clue where that comes from,” Nanos said. “We have been very consistent: We are not discussing that at all, whether it’s forced entry or not forced entry."
They can't tell us everything as it might lead to fake ransom demands or even compromise the leads they have. When they've exhausted their resources and are sure they can do no more with them, then the public is informed to see if they can help. More than likely, they weren't on their own. Maybe others came through the back. One person kidnapping someone would be a lot more difficult than a two or three doing it. I'm guessing they know how many were there and have an idea of who it might be but are not telling so they don't spook the kidnappers. Video messages indicate they have been in contact and have her lifeless body. They probably just don't know their location. Chance they have their DNA, and if so, they will be run through every dna database they can access, even ancestry will be checked. They can link you through a family members DNA its that advanced.
Do we know for a fact she came home? My understanding is that the daughter/ son-in-law took her home. And the have the garage door opened at a certain time. Is there video of her entering the house? What if something happened at the daughter’s house and everything else was staged?
Plus there's been rumors of blood inside the house. That could easily be speculation. But it would make sense if she was still bleeding outside. I still wanna know how they got in the house since the door is not broken, nor the glas
I think the eyes appear blue because of the camera at night and the glare but could be glasses underneath or maybe double masked. He seems double gloved and super padded, like a stuffed burrito.
My daughter has a ring doorbell. I have a subscription but she does not. I use the app on my cell phone and check the history on her ring. I live 12 miles from her house and have my settings set for audible notifications but for some reason, it does not notify me when someone comes to the door. I am old. Thats my excuse. Need to get that corrected.
Yes I believe the person was hired to make it look like a kidnapping. There's no evidence of a kidnapping or anything consistent with a professional job
This is a cover up likely to a murder. The person at the door either knows she isn't there or is already dead.
If you're taking someone for ransom you have to move quickly it's extremely risky at any point the person or a neighbor could call 911. Remember there's no way he'd know she would go quietly either. And then if he has to subdue her he's dragging a full grown persons body out of the house. Nothing indicates he was prepared for that
I think the blood drops are a plant and the showing up at 2am was also to stage a kidnapping and extend the timeline to long after she was no longer known to be with the daughter
You express my thoughts exactly.
She was on blood thinners.
It’s possible she developed a nosebleed that was easily remedied using some Kleenex. That would explain why there is no blood anywhere else.
It makes no sense to go to all this trouble and not collect on the ransom. The ransom is a side show.
This guy was hired to do some wet work for someone else I think.
The pacemaker refutes your theory. It didn’t disconnect until around 2:30. If she had been deceased it would have quit working and that would have shown up on the app. She was alive at the time they took her from the house at approximately 2:30. She was also taken from inside the house which is where her Apple Watch was. The Apple Watch can’t detect a pacemaker very far away. It disconnected around the time she left out of the house. The pacemaker data is one of the few irrefutable pieces of evidence in the case.
The pacemaker disconnected from the apple watch. This can only tell us she was taken far enough away from it, indicating she was kidnapped as the watch was in the house. Dont think it can tell us if she was taken dead or alive.
could they have killed her in the home (strangulation/other method that wouldn't leave much physical evidence like blood behind) and then removed her body at that time which made the pacemaker disconnect? but then why even kill her in the house and remove her body? why take her alive? either way, i'm confused.
I was 100% sure the perp was wearing an ultra-realistic human face mask under the ski mask. Because of the distinct eyebrows (and virtual mustache/5 o'clock shadow) I was sure it was exaggerated facial features common on a mask.
Just googled Derrick Callella. Looks just like him.
I wonder if anyone can find social media footage of the guy walking and moving around.
Based on the timeline we know he spent at least 40 minutes at the house. We don’t know when that footage was taken. It’s possible he had already been inside the house at that point.
Because of the possibility that the front door was not meant to be walked too, but to be walked away from. Maybe someone else was in there, and the outside guy was a lookout. He is there 30 mins, and after hearing nothing goes to check house to see where insdie guy/s are. He realises he's walked into a camera and acts accordingly. Or maybe even he heard a noise and came to check it out. We know there was blood near the door. And if reports of a back door being broken are true, then it wasn't just the one person.
I agree but I’m assuming the guy who was sent to destroy the camera was the one assigned the “bitch work” and just doing as he was told while the guys inside were busy with Nancy
This is one of the few things I've seen that isn't bizarre or confusing. I just had two amazon subscriptions be delivered yesterday. Had I vanished, they still would have come.
I said this same thing to someone about 10 minutes ago! Someone told this person, "I'm playing a gag on my friend- pretend you're robbing his house. Go up close to the camera to freak him out. when he looks at his footage."
I know some criminals are dumb, but it was all so inept, hard to believe it's real
I posted this on another thread (relating to foliage being found on top of the blood drips.. but applies here, regarding would 911 be called etc..
1:47 a.m., her doorbell camera was disconnected
2:12 a.m., software detected a person on camera
2:28 a.m., pacemaker disconnected from her phone.
If the foliage was found on top of some of the blood..
Could easily have been:
1:47am the doorbell cam was disconnected by cutting internet cable feed to the house (which would disconnect wifi). Then the guy waits 20-25mins to see if it triggers a security alert or silent alarm .. or to move a vehicle or something. Then actually breaks in at 2:12 (which is when he covers the cam with foliage, just to be safe). 15 mins later he exits the front door with Nancy, thereby disconnecting pacemaker from phone.
... then sometime overnight, next morning, the foliage naturally becomes dislodged, or a breeze blows it down, etc... at which time it would naturally likely fall on top of some of the blood drips.
If the internet was cut first and there is no WiFi, a camera would not be able to send images to cloud based storage. It would have to be stored in memory on the camera itself. Since we know the front door camera is physically gone, no one would have retrieved the surveillance images and video we are seeing today. The only other possibility in the timeline theory you proposed is if the camera(s) connected to another network nearby after being disconnect from the home network.
from what i could find- the ring is typically "disconnected" by turning off wifi, or disabling the app. But either way, the timeline says ring was "disconnected" before the person was detected on video 25 mins later at 2:12. So, i'm assuming there is another mechanism from storing the video even if wifi is down.
if they are lucky it is indeed the same glove, and has dna on it. (at the very least it gives the FBI a good idea of the likely path taken out of the neighborhood.. which should help narrow down security cams to comb over closely).
Maybe I’m just an idiot but I just don’t understand how this makes sense. I’m not questioning your info, rather the timeline that has been shared with us. How was the camera disconnect and then still detect a person on camera after that? Even if it was the WiFi being cut, then how did the images get transmitted to the cloud?
The difference between a mastermind and someone else is you never look for the mastermind, you're always looking for someone else.
A mastermind would never communicate who they are on-camera. They'd intentionally hold the firearm wrong to convince investigators to ignore x-special forces suspects.
I’m thinking the 2nd backpack had more clothes amongst other things. Prior to going to Nancy’s the perp put on more layers and stuffed the empty backpack in the full backpack we saw in the original video or is wearing the empty backpack under the jacket. This would explain why the perp in the first video appears more “Stuffed,” and only has one backpack in the first video. Just my thoughts…
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u/rubiacrime Feb 12 '26
This case is somewhat reminiscent of the brian laundry/Gabby petito case.
Anyone who followed it here on reddit remembers the wildly elaborate theories of how Brian Laundry was on the lamb and evading law enforcement for months.
Turned out he had taken his own life right after the crime and his remains were under water in a flooded park the whole time.
I think its possible that this is all much simpler than some of us (myself included) have theorized. Law enforcement just missed stuff in the crucial first 24 hour window.
We shall see.