'Just bizarre!' Ex-FBI agent blows lid on Nancy Guthrie kidnap suspect's 'rookie mistake' as seen on CCTV

And on Tuesday, officials released images of the suspect in her kidnapping for the very first time - with security experts branding the man a "rookie".

Ex-FBI man Michael Harrigan has now told GB News of the inside track on the camera clip from the 84-year-old's front door.

Pressed by Bev Turner on the "bizarre" video, Mr Harrigan agreed he appeared to be "amateurish".

He pointed out how the man - carrying a gun - can be seen looking to find something to obscure the pensioner's camera doorbell.

"When you look at that, you say this person really wasn't that prepared, were they?

"They should have known the camera was there. And likely if a person has planned out a kidnapping, they're going to come with equipment to disable that camera quickly, maybe tape over the camera or spray-paint, or even knock the camera right off and disconnect it quickly.

"But this individual didn't do that."

Investigators discovered Mrs Guthrie's doorbell camera was eventually disconnected at around 1.45am - while drops of her blood were later discovered on the front porch.

The former FBI agent said the "kidnapper's" mistakes would serve as "important signs" that behavioural analysts investigating the case will look at to try to figure out what this person's background was.

The figure captured in the footage is dressed in a ski mask and black latex gloves, with a backpack strapped to his back.

A firearm in a holster appears to be attached to his trousers, and he also looks to be holding a torch in his mouth.

Mr Harrigan later said: "This could be an individual who potentially was hired to do a kidnapping by somebody who may not be well versed in this," he said.

"There are professional kidnappers out there in the United States... You see some of them down in Mexico and other countries where they are professionals because they kidnap, in series, multiple people for monetary gain, to obtain ransom.

"It's a business," he added.

"This individual could have been hired, or the other possibility is he maybe randomly picked a house to go into and was looking to burglarise it.

"But the fact that he didn't knock the camera off the wall immediately... is an indication, anyway, that maybe he didn't want to disturb, Mrs Guthrie in the house. He didn't want to make a lot of noise.

"So as an option, he decided: 'Well, let me just cover the camera and then go from there.' There's a lot of oddities here."

Nancy Guthrie - the mother of Today show host Savannah - was last seen entering her home through the garage on the evening of January 31 after dinner with her other daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni.

At least two purported ransom notes have surfaced since the 84-year-old Guthrie vanished, both of them delivered initially to media outlets.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, UK time, American outlet TMZ revealed it had seen "activity" in the Bitcoin account listed in the first ransom note.

But TMZ said it would not immediately disclose the exact amount of money moving around in the account.

Hours earlier, White House press chief Karoline Leavitt began her Tuesday briefing by confirming Donald Trump had reviewed the newly-released CCTV footage in the case.

"The President encourages any American across the country with any knowledge of the suspect to please call the FBI, who continue to assist state and local authorities who are leading this investigation on the ground," Ms Leavitt said.