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Severe Delays After Apparent Sabotage On Italy's Rail System; FBI Conducts New, Intense Search Of Nancy Guthrie's Home; Body Cam Video Shows Confusion During FBI Raid Of Fulton County Election Office; Judge Orders White House To Unfreeze $16 Billion For Hudson River Tunnel; Law Enforcement Turns To Crowdsourcing In Nancy Guthrie's Search; First Medals Awarded At Olympic Games; Puppy Bowl Returns To Promote Pet Adoptions Across U.S. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired February 07, 2026 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:00]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Very meaningful.
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Very meaningful, very intentional. And I think he --
WHITFIELD: In some of his decision making. Right.
FRANCE: Right. I think he's going out there carrying Puerto Rico on his shoulders, and I didn't pronounce it the way I should have.
WHITFIELD: Puerto Rico.
FRANCE: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: I know. We're all trying. OK. I can't wait to hear. And I love to hear the ay, ay.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: I don't know what that means, but I'm like, it doesn't matter because it sounds so good.
FRANCE: It's a good time. It's a good time. And he is an incredible performer.
WHITFIELD: He is.
FRANCE: His music, even if you don't understand what he's you can feel it.
WHITFIELD: You can feel it. That's right. All right, feel the music.
Bad Bunny and the halftime show, "Rhythms of Resistance," that airs tonight 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
Lisa Respers France, thank you so much. Ay.
FRANCE: Ay. WHITFIELD: Ay.
(LAUGHTER)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
WHITFIELD: All right. Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
This breaking news. Police in Italy say the rail lines to the Winter Olympics were targeted in an apparent sabotage attack. The rail network says an explosive device was found on one rail switch. Electrical lines for a high speed line were cut and a fire was started in an electrical cabin. There was severe -- there were severe delays throughout for passengers following these incidents, and investigators say the attacks are similar to the ones carried out in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games by an anarchist group.
Let's bring in CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. She is also a former assistant secretary at DHS.
And you are there in Milan, Italy. So, Juliette, I mean, your reaction to this? Obviously, this is why security is so tight. There's anticipation usually on every level for something so grand. But this is almost like a repeat of what was seen in the Paris games.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right. It's sort of the price of admission for these cities that are hosting. There were two major incidents in Milan today. The first was what we're describing, which is, of course, the rail lines. Not unusual. It happens here in Italy. Large anarchist groups sometimes sabotage the rail lines, especially in Northern Italy.
They are just essentially anarchists, are not necessarily for anything. But of course, with the world watching, not just in Milan, remember, this is the most distributed Olympics ever. You know, the skiing is hundreds of miles away. I mean, there's -- the geographic scope of this Olympics would make it absolutely impossible to protect everything.
There's also protests on the street in Milan. Some got a little bit unruly today. Those are specific against the Olympics. And some of them are even against ICE and that story line of which ICE was present here in Italy.
WHITFIELD: So how does this undermine what were massive security preparations?
KAYYEM: Yes. So, I mean, look, no Olympics can be perfectly safe because they're all in cities. And until -- unless you literally empty out the city, which undermines the purpose of the Olympics, there are hundreds of thousands of people on the street. You can barely walk in the center of Milan right now. You're going to have vulnerabilities. So in the good news aspect of this, there were no major disruptions to the rail lines. They're back moving. A lot of the stuff was caught or captured before it could wreak more
havoc. But of course the protests are almost part of the Olympic movement now. The anti-Olympic movement, people who think that a nation's resources should be spent on health care or education. And then you add on this sort of anti-DHS, ICE, U.S. even, which we saw at the opening yesterday with boos towards VP Vance. All of that sort of has combined.
I will tell you, I've been on the streets, I've been to -- I was at the opening. 98 percent of this is running smoothly. But the disruption is the story. That's what these people want.
WHITFIELD: So will security planners in any way treat this as a potential prelude to anything else?
KAYYEM: They will. And I think there's going to be just much greater vigilance outside of Milan in many ways. As I said, if you could get a sense of the geographic scope of this Olympics, it's just massive. It is almost like, you know, a bunch of different mountain ranges.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it's spread out so many hundreds of miles.
KAYYEM: Miles and miles away from Milan.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
KAYYEM: It is spread out. It is -- yes, it is. It was described yesterday as the most, you know, is the most distributed Olympics ever. That means transportation is always going to be vulnerable. It's a bit of a headache for some people, as we've seen. They worry about avalanches, road closures, and now they're going to be worried about ways to get people to these sites. And so anyone here, most people here know to add a lot of time if they want to move around either the city or outside the city.
[15:05:02]
But Italian officials have already been public about greater vigilance on these rail lines. And you'll get these potential moments. But the biggest concern, of course, is, you know, anything that causes harm or any violence to individuals.
WHITFIELD: Yes. Even though this is the host country, you know, and you mentioned Italian security, I wonder, is it being reinforced by security personnel from other parts of the world, given that the world is now in Italy and given these venues are all, you know, hundreds of miles separated in a variety of cities?
KAYYEM: Yes. When I was walking over to the rail station, I mean, I'm passing almost every national government is overseeing not only their Olympic athletes who are tend to stay at hotels, or they may be out in the mountains. But of course, also the VIPs that are visiting with them. So we have Secret Service and others here, you know, protecting J.D. Vance. So the streets have lots of rules about who can drive and where they can drive. And you remember, it's not just Italian nationals, it's of course
Interpol, which is the European entity that's helping out with intelligence and the sharing of intelligence. So the apparatus is pretty strong. The problem is, you know, there's lots of rail line and you simply can't protect it all. And these anarchists or the protesters, you know, they only -- they don't need a terribly violent incident. They just need to make things disruptive.
WHITFIELD: Disruption.
KAYYEM: And that's why it takes many years to plan for the security. Yes. And -- but it's never going to be perfectly safe at this stage.
WHITFIELD: All right. Juliette Kayyem, in Milan, thanks so much.
All right. And now back in this country, officials are examining a new cryptic message sent to CNN affiliate KOLD in the desperate search for Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy. She went missing last weekend. A local anchor at the station says the note included sensitive details but no deadline, and it does not appear to have a ransom demand.
The FBI announced a $50,000 reward, as there are still no suspects or persons of interest in connection with the case. The agency is also putting up digital billboards in neighboring states.
CNN's senior national correspondent Ed Lavandera is live for us out of Tucson, Arizona, outside the Guthrie home and neighborhood.
So, Ed, you know, this search, it's now in its seventh day. What are you learning?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's heartbreaking to think that this is almost approaching now a full week since Nancy Guthrie disappeared or was abducted from her home here in Tucson, Arizona. Investigators say they are continuing to put out the call for more evidence.
They've released, you know, some or we've seen them carry out the investigation, especially here last night in this neighborhood where once again a large group of law enforcement investigators descended on this neighborhood, scouring the area not just around Nancy Guthrie's property, but in the surrounding homes as well, re-interviewing neighbors, asking them to look again for videos, asking if they'd seen anybody suspicious. We saw them putting down evidence markers around the property here at Nancy Guthrie's home, as well as looking on the rooftop of her home as well. So clearly a lot of work continuing.
And this comes, Fredricka, as the law enforcement presence has intensified, as more federal resources have arrived here to help out in this investigation. But still, even as a short while ago, the sheriff's department here in Pima County putting out another statement that there are still no suspects or persons of interest in this investigation, and they do say that they do are carrying out more interviews and trying to gather video, not just from here in this area, but from around the city as well. So all of that work continues, but it has still not been enough to
provide the breakthrough that is needed to find Nancy Guthrie. And the sheriff told me a couple of days ago when we interviewed him, Fredricka, that he believes at this point that it is going to be a tip that comes in suddenly to them, that provides them the clue that is going to lead them directly to where Nancy Guthrie is.
WHITFIELD: Yes, we are all praying for her safe return.
Ed Lavandera in Arizona, thank you so much.
All right. I want to bring in now Scott Walker to talk more about these developments. He is a kidnap-for-ransom negotiator and the author of the bestselling book, "Order Out of Chaos: A Kidnaped Negotiator's Guide to Influence and Persuasion."
Scott, glad you could be with us. So investigators, you know, do believe that she was abducted. They've been very consistent about that. But we've also heard some law enforcement analysts say that this is an amateur hour, kind of, you know, operation. Others, however, are arguing that this is very sophisticated. How do you see it?
[15:10:01]
SCOTT WALKER, KIDNAP-FOR-RANSOM NEGOTIATOR: Yes. Well, ordinarily in these type of events, by now, we should have really heard something from the perpetrators, from the kidnapers. But at the moment, the motive behind the kidnaping of Nancy remains unclear at this stage.
WHITFIELD: But I guess that it has communicated, this group or individual has communicated with media outlets and not necessarily directly with the family. I mean, what does that say to you? That seems very unusual. But then obviously there's something methodical about it that they would choose that route?
WALKER: Yes, perhaps. And it's not really for me to comment on the specifics of this case in terms of, I wouldn't want to prejudice any of the law enforcement investigation that's ongoing. But ordinarily there would be some kind of initial contact pretty soon after the abduction with some kind of demand. And then, of course, a proof of life. And usually that could be a video, a photograph, a series of questions to prove that the person who purports to have the hostage actually does, and that they're alive and well.
WHITFIELD: And so correct me if I'm wrong, I mean, kidnappings are usually pretty transactional, right? Like you mentioned, there might be some ransom involved.
WALKER: Yes.
WHITFIELD: There may be a proof of life. There seem to be certain criteria that is met in order for a kidnaper or kidnapers to get what it is that they want, you know, reach a goal. Does it appear as though those things are missing here, or is it just that those items may be part of this equation, it's just not being made public? WALKER: Yes, it's a bit of both. I think there's a lot of things that
probably are being held back from the public domain for obvious reasons. But we've seen the media already that various ransom notes perhaps have been passed to the media to highlight this. But actually, what is going on behind the scenes might be slightly different.
WHITFIELD: CNN spoke with Mary Coleman, the KOLD news anchor whose station received the latest message. And here's part of how she described its contents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY COLEMAN, KOLD 13 NEWS ANCHOR: I will say that this one also has some sensitive information in it that unfortunately I can't share at this moment. Again, we're relying on FBI and PCSD to take that information and figure out the legitimacy of this one as well. But, yes, again, some of that information is just -- it's very sensitive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: When you hear that sensitive information, does that say to you proof of life kind of information? How do you interpret that?
WALKER: Yes, yes. Potentially. And in these kind of events, as you can imagine, there's lots of stuff going on behind the scenes. High emotion and law enforcement personnel involved in this will be trying to assess and analyze and actually want to make sure that any information that is given to them that is purported to be from the kidnapers is genuine. That will be the key thing. So you can imagine there could be lots of fake notifications that perhaps that happened.
WHITFIELD: It's been about a week now since, according to officials, the last time that Nancy Guthrie was seen. How unusual is this to you in terms of the lapse of time and what has or hasn't happened in that space?
WALKER: Yes, it normally depends where in the world kidnappings are taking place. You know, in Western Europe and the United States, usually there's been some contact and usually there's been some back and forth in the negotiation about the demand with law enforcement trying to actually locate where the hostages being held. Whereas in other countries it could be weeks or months in between the negotiations and the communications between the family or the company and the kidnapers. But this is quite an unusual case. And I'm surprised, actually, not more contact has been made.
WHITFIELD: All right. Scott Walker, I really appreciate your insight. Thanks so much.
All right. Still ahead, a new body cam video takes us inside the FBI's raid of the elections office in Fulton County, Georgia. I'll speak to the county's election chairman about the seizure of 2020 ballots and the legal battle to get it all back. Plus, Lindsey Vonn going for gold with a torn ACL? Her impressive training session down the slopes that has everyone talking.
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[15:19:24]
WHITFIELD: All right. Today there's brand new body cam video of last month's FBI raid of an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, showing confusion as federal agents seized hundreds of boxes of ballots from the 2020 election.
Listen to this exchange as the agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta office tries to restrict a local sheriff's access during the search.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. So we were given very limited information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we have a search warrant like totally for the entire location.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But now we're getting another search warrant for another location as well. So OK? So we'll have that pretty soon. So.
[15:20:05]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all in regards to election stuff?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It is. Yes. So it's -- I think it would be like a detail, but yes. You know why we're here, right? So we can't discuss more than that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. There was a lot happening at that moment. A lot of confusion, too. Let's discuss more now with Rob Pitts. He is the chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and he was there while that raid was taking place.
Chairman Pitts, great to see you.
ROBB PITTS, CHAIRMAN, FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: So, have you received any follow-up from your initial inquiries on the whereabouts of the 2020 Fulton County ballots and these documents?
PITTS: I was not contacted before the raid and have not heard one word from the FBI since the raid.
WHITFIELD: And how concerned are you at this juncture that you still are in the dark about it?
PITTS: Well, we are, there's no doubt about that. As I said before, once they left our warehouse with those ballots, I have no idea where the ballots are. I have no idea who has the ballots. I have no idea what they're doing with the ballots. So that is a serious concern to me, but more importantly, to the voters of Fulton County.
WHITFIELD: We see in some of the video, excuse me, and we're going to play some of the video, you may not necessarily hear all of it. But, you know, we see that the Fulton County, you know, police body cam video, the FBI says it has a criminal search warrant. You and your county attorney, who we see right here in these images, Soo Jo, are seen there having dialogue with them. Joe says, you know, I'm quoting her, "We're here to observe and support our people. We are not here to interfere," end quote.
The FBI agent there says with respect, there is no observing. So what was going on through your mind at this point when you're hearing this exchange, when you're seeing the activity? And this is before they actually seized the material. What were your thoughts at that moment?
PITTS: At that time, at that moment, I was standing right next to our county attorney, Soo Jo, and I thought that we were going to be allowed to go in the area where they were enclosed and where the ballots and other paraphernalia were held. And the FBI agent said, no, no one is going to be allowed inside. So that's when Soo Jo said, well, I think we have a right. But the agent was pretty firm. But he did allow our clerk of the Superior Court to go in because she is, in fact, the one who was in custody of all this paraphernalia, ballots and so forth during this whole period of time.
WHITFIELD: And that is what is beyond that chain link fence when we see in this imagery, you know, boxes, et cetera? That's --
PITTS: All of that was behind the chain link fence. That's correct.
WHITFIELD: And so now you are suing. What are your expectations about the road ahead, especially after the Georgia election interference case against the president of the United States was dropped? So what are you feeling about your legal, you know, chances of trying to retain, recover this material?
PITTS: Well, I mean, I filed the lawsuit. It's Rob Pitts versus the United States of America, but I filed it on behalf, really on behalf of the taxpayers and the citizens of Fulton County and the voters of Fulton County asking for two things. Number one, that everything that was confiscated at that night be returned to us because, once again, I have no idea where it is, no idea what they're doing with it, whether they're tampering with it or not. I can use my imagination and imagine what they're doing with it.
And number two, I want all that returned, first of all. But number two, we want the affidavit unsealed. And the reason that's important because the affidavit was used by the FBI to get the search warrant. And we believe that there must be certain falsehoods in that affidavit, but we won't know that. We won't know that until we can see it because now it's a -- they say a criminal investigation.
WHITFIELD: So you're looking for that transparency. PITTS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: And then what are your concerns about how these boxes of documents are being handled, how they're being stored, transported and their whereabouts?
PITTS: It is of serious concern, first and foremost for us here in Georgia and Fulton County. But this is bigger than that.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
PITTS: Because when I heard that night that Tulsi Gabbard was coming, I said, well, that makes no sense. And when I found out she was in fact there, I said, this is really serious here. Something is going on that's much bigger than just confiscating 2020 election ballots from our warehouse here in Fulton County.
WHITFIELD: It's not just looking back. You're concerned about the looking forward.
PITTS: Going forward. Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: Midterm elections, upcoming governor's race. Will the --
PITTS: More importantly that U.S. Senate race.
WHITFIELD: Right. Where right now Jon Ossoff is the sitting senator.
PITTS: That's correct.
WHITFIELD: But that is, you know, perhaps, going to be challenged. And so your concern is, is the collection of all of this material going to have an impact on these upcoming races?
PITTS: And it certainly could.
WHITFIELD: How could it?
PITTS: Well, because, look, we don't know -- well, first of all, everything that they're doing, he's also now talking about nationalizing elections. And I think that's the bigger picture here.
[15:25:03]
What does that really mean? Does that mean that he wants the federal government to take over elections? He's identified some 15 plus states. I'm sure that Georgia is at the top of that list. And within the state of Georgia is Fulton County, Georgia. So that's when I say this is much bigger than Fulton County and the state of Georgia when you talk about nationalizing elections.
I'm not a constitutional scholar, but I do know that elections are run by states, not the Congress, and certainly not the White House. He's using this as a, you know, a power play. It's not policy. It's about power. And he's looking at the Constitution as if it were a suggestion and not the law. The Constitution is the law of the land. WHITFIELD: And earlier you said you're not doing this for you, Rob
Pitts. You're doing this on behalf of the voters because it's the voters whose information is in here. So if you could help people understand what's the kind of information about voters that would be in all of this documentation that was seized?
PITTS: Well, the personal information, you know, name, I.D., Social Security, all of those kinds of things. And that's what's so frightening about this. If they can do that to us, it can spread. That's why he's also, I'm told, mentioned three other cities, Philadelphia and Detroit. Obvious similarities with Atlanta. And I'm in contact with the chairs of their counties as well to talk about them and let them know what we're doing here and so that we can all sort of be together on a defense going forward.
I mean, this is very, very serious. I can't remember a time when there was something more serious in this country than what's happening now.
WHITFIELD: Fulton County's chairman, Rob Pitts, thank you so much.
PITTS: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Really important.
All right. Up next, a federal judge blocking the Trump administration from freezing billions of dollars in funding for a New York infrastructure project. What President Trump wanted as a condition for the construction to continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:31:18]
WHITFIELD: Another round of record-breaking bitter cold is putting parts of the U.S. in a deep freeze this weekend. High wind warnings blanket much of the northeast, where millions can expect single-digit high temperatures. Dangerous wind chills well below zero and potentially widespread power outages.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar shows us who is expected to get the worst of it.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Tens of millions of people are under cold alerts stretching from North Carolina all the way up through Maine. Even as we go into Sunday morning, just because of all that incredibly cold air that is in place. And it's not just a few degrees below average. We are looking at record-breaking temperatures Saturday afternoon. Every single one of these dots represented a record low for the afternoon high temperature.
However, out to the west we also have some dots, but that's because were expecting record warm high temperatures out in the west where some of these areas are looking at temperatures 20 to even 30 degrees above where they normally would be. Take Denver, for example. Highs the next few days, in the mid to upper 60s. They would normally only be 44 degrees this time of year. Even L.A., looking at temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above where they should be for this time of year.
But a lot of that warmth out to the west is finally going to start to spread eastward, allowing areas of the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, even the southeast to finally get some warmer temperatures here. You just got to wait a couple more days. Take, for example, Atlanta. Still pretty cold on Saturday, but once we head into early next week, we could be looking at highs in the 70s by the middle portion of the upcoming week.
Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, a lot of these areas looking at those temperatures to rise again once we get into next week. Take Pittsburgh here. Again, it's still going to be very cold for this weekend, but we actually get above average on Tuesday before dipping back down once we get to the back end of next week.
WHITFIELD: Brr. That is cold. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.
All right. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to release more than $16 billion in funding for New York. The money is meant for a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey. The judge said keeping the funds locked up would harm the public. The ruling follows reports that President Trump told Senator Chuck Schumer that he'd restore the money if Schumer backed renaming Penn Station and Virginia's Dulles Airport after this president.
Trump says it was Schumer's idea. Schumer called that, quote, "an absolute lie."
CNN's Camila DeChalus is joining us now with more on all this.
Camila, what more can you tell us about this? Shall we call it a dispute?
CAMILE DECHALUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Fred, tensions are very high right now between the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, and President Donald Trump. Now, CNN, as you mentioned, just reported this earlier this week that Trump told Schumer that he was prepared to unfreeze the federal funding for this tunnel project only if, reportedly, if this Penn Station and the Dulles Airport were named after him.
Now, after this report was released, President Trump adamantly denied it, saying that it was actually Schumer's idea to rename Penn Station after him. And there was a bit of a back and forth then. Schumer immediately dismissed that claim, calling it a lie.
Take a listen to what President Trump had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are reports circulating that you told Chuck Schumer that in order to restore funding for the Gateway Train Tunnel in New York-New Jersey, you would want Penn Station and Dulles Airport to be named after you. Is that true?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He suggested that to me. Chuck Schumer suggested that to me about changing the name of Penn Station to Trump Station. Dulles Airport is really separate. Dulles Airport is really not too involved with Congress. It's a separate kind of a deal, as you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[15:35:07]
DECHALUS: Now, Fred, at the core of this issue, this dispute is really about whether federal infrastructure funding can be frozen by the administration. And the courts ultimately ruled that these funds now have to be released in order to prevent any negative impact on the workers and commuters themselves. But this is just another example of just a long standing tension between Schumer and Trump, especially when it comes to funding.
We've seen this play out before, especially during the last government shutdown, and even this one that just happened with the partial government shutdown, where each side really tried to use leverage in order to negotiate. And both kind of were very adamant about the positions now they stand. And it really does set the tone of going into this next week where lawmakers on Capitol Hill are going to have to debate a funding around the Department of Homeland Security, and this does require a lot of negotiations between the White House and Democratic leaders in Congress.
And so this is something that we're just going to see. But it really does set the tone of what we're going to see in the weeks ahead.
WHITFIELD: Indeed. All right, Camila DeChalus, thanks so much.
All right. Still ahead, billboards are going up in seven cities to aid in the search for Nancy Guthrie. How crowdsourcing help from the public could be crucial to bringing her home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:40:56]
WHITFIELD: New today, police say the body found in a pond north of Atlanta is believed to be Nathan Smith, the son of rapper Lil Jon. Smith, known as D.J. Young Slade, left his home early Tuesday under what police called unusual circumstances. He left without a phone and may have been disoriented. In a statement, his mother, Nicole Smith, described him as the kindest human being you would ever meet.
Search teams found a body yesterday after expanding their search to a pond near his home. Police said even though this is an active investigation, there's no indication of foul play.
And new today a cryptic message is the focus for investigators in their intensive race against time to find Savannah Guthrie's mother Nancy.
As CNN's Brian Todd explains the role of crowdsourcing is also now taking on a more vital role in the desperate search for answers. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new message regarding the search for Nancy Guthrie, a message sent via e-mail to CNN Affiliate KOLD. According to a reporter there, a message that the station is not sharing the specifics of, but which adds new urgency to the case.
STEVE MOORE, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: The biggest concern going forward now is time. We have a person out there who's missing, who needs her medications, who is a person very much at risk and time is not on our side on that.
TODD (voice-over): Criminologist Dawn Cecil believes the Nancy Guthrie case has crossed into the crowdsourcing realm where law enforcement not only asks the public for tips, but also solicits the public for things like surveillance video.
SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: We take the leads from everywhere and where those leads take us, we'll get there.
TODD (voice-over): Crowdsourcing for leads, Cecil says, can backfire with an avalanche of information that can distract investigators.
DAWN CECIL, PROFESSOR OF CRIMINOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA: There's going to be a lot more of the junk, for lack of a better term, than there's going to be those actionable pieces of information.
TODD (voice-over): Cecil says that was the case in the investigation of the 2022 Idaho University student murders when police cast a wide net for help and amateur internet sleuths got out of control.
CECIL: You had especially the true crime TikTokers inundate that area and they tried to make content in the guise of trying to solve this case. And what you ended up seeing were false accusations, false leads.
TODD (voice-over): The Guthrie case has already drawn its share of TikTok detectives weighing in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a forensic scientist and a former CSI. Let's talk about the evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's a high-profile case, the name of this game is CYA.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I just have questions as to who ordered the Uber? Why did she Uber?
TODD (voice-over): But Cecil says crowdsourcing can also help investigators as it did in the 2021 Gabby Petito murder case when bloggers helped authorities locate Petito's van.
CECIL: A family who had seen information about where Gabby had been, they looked at their own dash cam video and they were able to locate the van. They were able to work and find where Gabby's body was. TODD (voice-over): Former FBI Special Agent Steve Moore says all that
information has to be cross-referenced.
MOORE: What they're going to be looking for in all these tips are parallels between different tips, similar names, similar locations, people with similar backgrounds as possible suspects.
TODD: Steve Moore says when investigators request that kind of data and information from the public, about 90 percent of what they get is not useful. He says the crazy information from people on the fringe is easy to handle because you can toss that out quickly. It's the information that seems plausible, he says, that's difficult because often investigators spend a lot of time chasing that down before determining it's a dead end.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:49:38]
WHITFIELD: Oh, it's all so exciting. The Winter Olympic Games are underway in Italy. Medals already being awarded with Switzerland securing the first gold medal in the men's downhill skiing. But all eyes will be on this American right here, Lindsey Vonn. as she competes for the women's downhill tomorrow despite suffering from a serious knee injury.
CNN's Patrick Snell is joining us now.
I mean, she is like Superwoman, Wonder Woman, all of it wrapped up.
[15:50:02]
How does somebody have a ruptured ACL and one week later they're going to be competing on this level?
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes. When you have a name like Lindsey Vonn, I guess. She's quite remarkable.
WHITFIELD: I think so. Amazing.
SNELL: 41 years of age as well, Fred. It's quite extraordinary.
WHITFIELD: Yes, go, girl.
SNELL: They always say we should absolutely expect the unexpected when it comes to Lindsey Vonn. Earlier today, she successfully completed that second training run. She had one yesterday as well. And all being well, America's superstar skier who will be 41 years of age. Incredible. She'll be ready to go tomorrow in the downhill. As she continues, she's trying to add to that 2010 Olympic gold medal that she won in Canada.
WHITFIELD: Crazy.
SNELL: Vancouver Games of 16 years ago now. Vonn is doing all this with a ruptured ACL after that injury she sustained a week ago Friday in Switzerland. Now, on Saturday, we saw the first gold medal of these games and a really exciting moment for one Swiss competitor, the reigning world champion, Franjo von Allmen, on his Olympic debut, too.
Fred, this is an amazing story. He's just --
WHITFIELD: Wow. Debut?
SNELL: Yes. His first ever Olympics. 24 years of age skiing his way to gold on a really tough, demanding downhill circuit as well. He clocked a time of 1:51.61 second Saturday in Bormio. I'll say it again. This was his very first Olympic race. No wonder he's smiling big there. And get this, his story is even more remarkable because tragically, really sadly for the family, his father died when von Allmen was just a teenager, 17, 18 years of age.
At that point, his future in the sport far from certain due to financial worries and concerns and the constraints that come with this sport. They launched a crowdfunding project and that was massive. It was instrumental in helping it out hugely. And now he's king of the downhill.
Some really good news as well. Some record-breaking exploits from Saturday. The home nation will love this story. Italy's four-time Olympian Francesca Lollobrigida has broken the women's 3000-meter speed skating Olympic record a time of 3:54.28, and happy birthday to her if she's watching her 35th birthday as well today.
WHITFIELD: What?
SNELL: In front of a home crowd, she also became a mom since the last Winter Olympics. Francesca speeding past the previous mark of 3:56.93 with ease. Such a wonderful moment for her and I'm sure all her family and friends who will have been watching. Let's hear from her.
WHITFIELD: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCESCA LOLLOBRIGIDA, GOLD MEDALIST: Milano Cortina for me was to show the people that you can be a mom and come back to be, much stronger, you know, because I won a world title. I won a gold medal after being a mom. My goal was to show being a mom and a top athlete is possible. You know, it's not like, OK, it's not easy. I mean, it's not like, wow, like this. And you need to have a really team work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: She really is quite the story. Remarkable.
WHITFIELD: Really?
SNELL: Yes. WHITFIELD: OK. Parents knew what they were doing with that name.
Lollobrigida.
SNELL: Fantastic.
WHITFIELD: All right. Fantastico.
SNELL: It's just the first weekend of the games but, wow, they've already -- they've set the bar pretty high already.
WHITFIELD: I'm so excited. Patrick Snell, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right. Up next, it might be the cutest competition of the year. Puppy Bowl, it's back and it's bigger than ever. What you can expect from team ruff and team fluff in tomorrow's furry face-off. So cute.
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[15:58:05]
WHITFIELD: All right. California Senator Adam Schiff and award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj joined the fun on "HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU?" That's tonight, 9:00 Eastern on CNN and next day on the CNN app.
All right, football fans may be divided over which team will win tomorrow's big game. But one thing we can all agree on, that the Puppy Bowl is the most adorable showdown on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he leaps into the stands to celebrate another touchdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's football. Only better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Come sail away. That's right. The original and longest running call-to-adoption TV event is back for a three-hour spectacular, and it will simulcast across our sister networks, including Animal Planet and Discovery Plus. And this year's fluffy lineup features a record-breaking 150 dogs from 72 shelters nationwide.
And joining me right now is the ref, not the ruff, the ref, Dan Schachner, back for his 15th straight year as Puppy Bowl referee.
And you've got your pooch, Poppy, which you adopted and rescued, right?
DAN SCHACHNER, REFEREE, PUPPY BOWL XXII: That's right.
WHITFIELD: Two years ago?
SCHACHNER: Yes. Correct. She's officially retired from the game, folks. But every, you know, around this time of year, she tends to put on the right and get a flag and relive old times. We're so excited for tomorrow.
WHITFIELD: Oh. So cute. She's the best mascot ever. So besides this maximum cuteness, you know, what can fans expect tomorrow?
SCHACHNER: You can expect the biggest, the original, the longest running call-to-adoption event in the world, 150 rescue dogs, 72 shelters. We have the most amount of special needs dogs you'll ever see. That's 15 playing. They are blended into their team.
WHITFIELD: Wow.
