Latest / Chuck Douglas / Retired FBI Agent Harry Trombitas

Transcript

Retired FBI Agent Harry Trombitas · Chuck Douglas

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: My guest, retired FBI agent Harry Trumbitis, a local legend.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: He's known for his law enforcement information. He's known for
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: now it's an all third. He's got books out there
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and with the information today release the photographs from the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: kidnapping the abduction of Savannah Guthrie's mother. I wanted to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: get Harry on the line just to ask him, because
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: you all know, my gut has been telling me something
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: is a skew. Things don't feel right. I feel just
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: nothing but feelings. But I feel almost like the family
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: has an inkling of who might have taken her. I'm
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: curious about the fifty thousand dollars reward leading to the information,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: because the resources at their disposal, that reward could be bigger.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Why only fifty thousand? Just too many things seem off.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: And now we've got photographs, security video, photographs that we've
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: been told to this point didn't exist. So you go
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to somebody who knows when stuff like this happens. Harry,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: thanks for giving me some time. I appreciate you.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Oh you're welcome. Thank you, Thank for for having me.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: These pictures that were released today. I mean, I know
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: you think that's that's a pretty big deal that although
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the scheme mask it makes it a little difficult, there
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: there may be an opportunity here for somebody to recognize
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: just the inkling somebody's stature, the way they walk, the
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: way they hold themselves, something like that.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, this is a major break in the case.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm assuming that that they've been working
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: on trying to retrieve these images for quite a while.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: You know, sometimes they really have to dig for him.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: And I can't imagine that they've had them for a
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: period of time because when you think about it, you know,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: you want to get this person identified as soon as
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: possible because someone's life is hanging in the balance. So
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: I think once they were able to obtain these images,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: they probably showed them immediately to the family to see
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: if they recognized anybody in the images, anybody that stood
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: out that maybe they've seen the clothing in that before,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: or they've recognized the gate, the general build. And then
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: once they did that, then they release it to the
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: public and you know, again time is of the essence,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and hopefully somebody in the public out there kind of
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: recognizes the build, recognizes maybe the clothing. You know, this
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: individual appears to have a semi automatic weapon on his
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I guess his beltline, indicating maybe he's right handed. Uh so,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: there's lots of lots of clues here, maybe a mustache.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: You know. Again, somebody, somebody out there knows this individual,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: and this is, in my opinion, a major break in
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the case, and hopefully we're going to get somebody out
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: there that can call in and identify this person.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: As you said, time is of the essence too. I
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: mean generally, I guess seventy two hours is kind of
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: like the Okay, we got to find them in seventy
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: two hours. It's been substantially longer than that. The sheriff
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: has seemed to be the one consistent voice of confidence
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that she's okay, that she's going to come back safe
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: and alive. Is that seventy two hour thing? Is that
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: based on just statistics from past cases or where do
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: they come up with that?
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Well, based on our experience with kidnapping cases in general,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: you know, certainly the first twenty four hours is the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: most critical, and then then as we go on, seventy
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: two hours would be your next march point. And now
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: that we're what ten eleven days into the investigation, here
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you know, that's a long time to keep an eighty
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: four year old woman who's got kind of poor health.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: So hopefully, if she's still alive, releasing these images here,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: you know, will help get this person identified and law
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: enforcement can move in quickly and get him any other
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: individuals involved, and hopefully recover Nancy Guthrie as well. So,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: you know, again, the longer these things go, the more
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: skeptical we are that we're going to get somebody back alive.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: But then we have you know, you're Elizabeth Smarts, you know,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: being held for you know, nine months in that other
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: individuals that have been you know, held for years and
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: eventually they're recovered alive in that so you never give up.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: You always assume that the person's alive, and you're just
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: moving as fast as you can because time is of
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: the essence. And I hope this gives the gut Three
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: family some renewed hope that they may see their mama
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: alive again.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: The lack of direct communication again, you know, all I'm
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: operating on is just gut instinct observation. Is it possible,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Is it feasible in your thinking that whoever did this?
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Because honestly, the uber driver was on my list of
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: top three suspects. Whoever did this saw an old lady
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: who looks like she has some money, living in a
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: nice house with some nice stuff inside, took advantage of it.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Found out they kidnapped someone who is famous adjacent and
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: has been going, oh my gosh, what did I do?
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I didn't know it was this big. Would that make
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: sense that they're not communicating directly because they had no
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: idea who they were taking?
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: You know, that's very possible. You know, it's one of
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the many theories out there that we're I'm sure law
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: enforcement is looking at. Uh, you know, I have to believe,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you know, in my mind that it was a targeted
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: kidnapping here, that they knew who exactly they were they
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: were going after. But again, without being on the inside
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: of the investigation, it's uh, you know, speculation on my part,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: just like everybody else's. And you know that the fact
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: that the FBI and Pete mccounty Sheriff's Office were being
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: tight lipped, it really was for a purpose, and that
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: is that, you know, there's no reason to continue to
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: have press conferences if you don't have anything that you're
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: willing to release it at that point. You know, all
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: it does is is, you know, you get criticized from
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the media and from the public saying, you know, with gee,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the sheriff was, you know, had a press conference, but
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: he didn't say anything. You know, that guy doesn't know
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: what he's doing. And you know, it's, uh, it's unfortunate
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: that that happens. So what we do is, and I
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: think it's a wise move. You don't have a press
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: conference until you really have something significant to release. And
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: clearly releasing this video here with these images and that
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: is a major break in the case. And you know,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: I'm praying it and I'm sure others are that this
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: leads to the successful resolution of the case and the
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: recovery of Nancy Guthrie.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: You and I had talked off the air a bit
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: about the fact that, you know, I questioned the sudden
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: appearance of this footage, these photographs and so forth. If
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: this was a matter of strategy, law enforcement strategy to
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: not release this, I can't argue with that. They know
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: better their jobs. But if this was if this was
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: a security company trying to be proprietary not releasing whatever,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I'd be suing left and right.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: As much publicity as this thing has gotten, whoever had
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: those immag is if they were not made available to
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: the family to law enforcement as quickly as possible, that
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: is up not only inconsiderate and hateful as far as
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: I'm concerned, but that's obstruction. These people are in pursuit.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Of justice here, Absolutely, you would be right. You know,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: I have a different opinion. I think they they were
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: working as hard as they could and trying every means
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: that they could to try to find some way to
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: recover these images, and they finally were able to come
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: up with a way to do that. And I cannot,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: you know, in good faith, believe that the company held
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: onto these images because they knew somebody's life was in
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: was in jeopardy. And I just think that it just
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: took a period of time for them to come up
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: and with these images and you know, pull them out,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and like I said, once they had the images and
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: that I believe they probably went immediately to the family,
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: showed them the images and now they're they're putting them
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: out to the public in that to hopefully get somebody
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: to respond and identify who they believe this individual is.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: So I don't know we may find out I'm wrong
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: and you're right, But I just have a hard time
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: believing that that anybody would would do that and hold
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: the images when when they could have released.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Them earlier before we run out of time. I have
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to ask you too, because you work so many cases
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: over the years. Isn't it unusual for an older person
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: like this to be the victim of a kidnapping? Isn't
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: it more more usual a young person, a child or
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: a teen that you know, people are going to react
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: more quickly and more more actively give up whatever ransom
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: is demanded or whatever for a young person, more so
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: than someone in their eighties.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah. That the fact that this person, Nancy, is eighty
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: four years old, that's a rarity. We usually do not
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: have people of that age kidnapped. However, again, when you
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: consider the vulnerability, you know where she lives, and the
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: fact that she's connected to Savannah, and they know that,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: you know, Savannah's worth some money. You know, they put
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: two and two together here and they go, well, you know,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: this will be a fairly easy target for us, and
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: so they made the exception of going after an older
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: person like that. So you know, when you think about it,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: you know, you go after a younger person, they're they're
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: more willing to fight and be able to defend themselves.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Maybe a little bit give you a harder time, be
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: harder to control, whereas an older and who's you know,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: eighty four years old with some health issues, may not
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: be able to put up much of a fight. So
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of factors to consider in
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: this situation. But you know the bottom line is it's
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: rare that an eighty four year old person will be
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: the subject of a kidnapping.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Well, you and I will be talking, I'm quite sure
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: as this thing continues to develop before I say goodbye
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to you. You're up to four books now, right. I
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: talked about all those cases you've covered. You've got four
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: books out now for you know, the murder mystery stuff
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: and all that. People love that real life crime stuff.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: The podcaster going through the roof. My wife watches it
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: on TV all the time. This will be a good
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Valentine's Day. President. Tell me about the books, Where do
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: you get them? And all that.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Well, I had a manuscript of two hundred and sixty
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: nine thousand words, and I was told I had to
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: break them in the flour books, so I broke them up.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: There are cases that I think most people around Central
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Ohio would remember. And what I tried to do is
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: talk about what what it was like to work the investigations,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: the cooperation and the hard work put in by the investigators,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the interaction with the victims and their families, and and
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: you know, again with the goal of holding the bad
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: guy accountable and bringing justice to the victims. So they're
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: available on Amazon, Barnes, and Noble again just search my name.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: It's the Dark Places series. And like I said, there's
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: four of them out there. Never intended to write a book,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: but I some of these cases have been on Discovery
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Channel and FBI Files and that, and people just said
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: you need to write about them, so I did. So
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: they're out there. If anybody's interested.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I like you so much. I will put a link
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: up on my Facebook and Twitter page when the show
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: is over tonight too.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And you know,
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: the goal was never you know, I just wanted to
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: tell the stories and give the insight to people. You know,
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: what it is like to work these cases
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: And you do a very very good job of it.