A masked man resembling the suspect believed to have abducted 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was seen on her front steps roughly three weeks before she vanished from her Tucson, Arizona, home, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

The revelation deepens the mystery surrounding one of the most troubling missing-persons cases in recent memory. Guthrie, the mother of "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie, is believed to have been taken against her will in the early hours of Feb. 1 from her home in the Catalina Foothills area. Despite a combined reward exceeding $1.2 million, police have not publicly named any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to the case.

What investigators do have is a timeline that now stretches back well before the night Guthrie disappeared. And it raises an uncomfortable question: was this abduction scouted?

A trail of dates and doorbell footage

On Feb. 10, the FBI released surveillance images recovered from Guthrie's Nest doorbell camera. Those images captured the masked figure. But law enforcement sources say one of the surveillance pictures was taken on a different date, prior to the abduction itself, and that in that earlier image the masked man appeared without the holster or backpack seen in other footage.

That earlier date appears to be Jan. 11. Authorities have, at different times, asked neighbors to check their home security systems for the entire month of January, the night of Jan. 11 specifically, and the hours surrounding the disappearance between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2. A post on the Ring Neighbors app, which the Pima County Sheriff's Department clarified was not an official post from their department, asked residents to check footage from 9 p.m. to midnight on Jan. 11. A separate post sought information about a "suspicious vehicle" spotted around 10 a.m. on Jan. 31 on Via Entrada, a street near Guthrie's home.

Jan. 24 has also emerged as a date of interest, according to a News Nation report. The Pima County Sheriff's Department has declined to discuss that date specifically, instead publicly asking residents to submit video of any suspicious activity, people, or vehicles recorded between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2.

That is a 33-day window. Whatever investigators are piecing together, the scope of their search suggests this was not a random act committed in a single night.

Neighbors saw something

The official record is not the only source of alarm. Residents of the quiet Catalina Foothills neighborhood noticed things that, in hindsight, carry weight.

Aldine Meister, a local homeowner, told Fox News Digital in February that she saw a strange man walking in the neighborhood in mid-January, at least three weeks before the abduction. Her description is striking:

He didn't have your typical walking gear on, and he had his hat pulled really far over his eyes.

Meister said the sighting occurred after Jan. 8 and suggested it could have been the 11th, aligning with the date investigators have repeatedly flagged.

Michele Young, another longtime resident of the Catalina Foothills area, said investigators came to her house a total of five times. On the final visit, Young said, both the FBI and the sheriff's department mentioned Jan. 11 specifically:

On that last visit, when I was talking to the FBI and the sheriff together, they did mention the 11th.

Young also noted that the sheriff's department returned for additional footage and referenced yet another date, the details of which remain unclear.

Five visits to a single neighbor's home. Requests spanning an entire month of footage. Multiple dates of interest. The picture forming here is one of meticulous investigative effort tracking what appears to have been meticulous criminal preparation.

No suspects, no charges, no answers

At least two men have been detained and released without charges in the investigation. The masked suspect remains unidentified. A department spokesperson offered what amounts to the most telling official statement so far:

The sheriff has said all along that while investigators are working to identify the person seen on doorbell video, they are not ruling out that that was the only person involved.

Read that carefully. Investigators are not ruling out multiple suspects. The doorbell footage may show one masked figure, but the scope of the investigation, the sprawling date range, the repeated canvassing of neighbors, suggests law enforcement is preparing for something more complex than a lone actor.

A retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor assessed the situation on "Fox & Friends," offering two readings of the investigative posture:

We don't know what that indicates, obviously, but the most hopeful read on it is that they're looking at somebody and that they're trying to place that person or persons in the vicinity at that hour on those dates to see if in fact, they can begin to work backwards.

The less hopeful interpretation, the inspector noted, is that forensic evidence has revealed "some kind of unusual activity" that investigators are still trying to understand.

What silence tells us

Nearly two months after Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, the public knows remarkably little. No named suspects. No identified vehicles. No confirmed motive. The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department are running a tightly controlled investigation, which can signal either disciplined progress or the absence of a clear lead.

What is clear is the pattern embedded in the timeline itself. A masked figure on the doorstep weeks before the abduction. A neighborhood walker who didn't look like he belonged. Multiple dates drawing investigative scrutiny across an entire month. A suspicious vehicle the morning before Guthrie vanished. Then, in the early hours of Feb. 1, an 84-year-old woman taken from her home.

This was not impulsive. Someone watched. Someone planned. Someone returned.

An elderly woman's home should be the last place in America where she is not safe. The reward sits above $1.2 million. The masked man on the doorbell camera still has no name. And Nancy Guthrie is still missing.