“Those dogs of his were acting strange… they woke up and howled all night the night she disappeared.” Then police finished pulling the CCTV footage and announced they’d found a major new piece of evidence.

Jeff Lamie, Nancy Guthrie’s neighbor
Credit: Nancy Grace/YouTube

Nancy Guthrie’s neighbor thinks his dogs may have sensed suspicious activity on key nights of the investigation into her disappearance.

During an appearance on Crime Stories With Nancy Grace on Monday, Guthrie’s neighbor, Jeff Lamie — who lives four doors down from the 84-year-old woman’s home in the quiet Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Ariz. — claimed his dogs acted uncharacteristically on the nights of Jan. 31 into Feb. 1, as well as Jan. 11.

Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31 at her residence. On Feb. 2, it was announced that she was officially a missing person and her home was declared a crime scene amid an investigation, which is still ongoing.

Lamie said it was “atypical” of his dogs to wake him up late at night, but they did so on both of the aforementioned dates. And, “actually, it hasn’t happened since.”

“Well, preceding the event, there were some evenings where our dogs woke up, which was highly unusual,” Lamie told host Nancy Grace. “We don’t know if there’s a correlation. I know the FBI and the investigators have asked for cameras and camera footage. All the neighbors have shared camera footage and any recollection they have.

Lamie explained that one of his dogs, in particular, is a deep sleeper but woke up at around 1 a.m on the night of Guthrie’s disappearance. “The dogs did rouse, and I took them out — there’s a image of me on camera,” Lamie explained. “I heard nothing or saw nothing. But, you know, animals can be, especially dogs can be hypersensitive.”

Grace then mentioned that she’s personally investigated cases where dogs were “the initial trigger that raised the first alarm” and questioned Lamie further about his pets’ behavior.

“Our dogs are usually sound sleepers. Full confession, when the dog woke me up to say, ‘I’ve got to go outside,’ I was grudgingly accommodating and took the dog out to our little courtyard in the back of our house. And it was unusual, and it seldom happens,” Lamie claimed.

He said there was “no barking” once they were outside, but that one of the dogs was “sort of looking off to the distance and sort of very focused for a moment.”

“It was fascinating, actually,” he told Grace. “Now, once again, in my fugue state past one 1 a.m. I did not take note of any of this at the time, and took the dog back in and went back to bed, you know? And once again, we don’t know what was occurring.”

Grace, who was a prosecutor for 14 years, said she fully trusts his dogs’ activity as “the best witness [she] ever put on the stand was a dog.” She added that his statements are “significant” considering the wake-up on Jan. 11, which has also become a key date to investigators.

On March 22, the Guthrie family released a new statement, specifically asking for footage from that night. A day later, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told 13 News that there’s been a lot of speculation that one of the images released of the suspect was from a night other than Jan. 31, but without timestamps on the footage, there’s no way to know that for sure.

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“There’s nothing there, critical that we can say positively say that this individual, with or without the backpack, was at that house, on Jan. 11,” Nanos said.

He added that footage of the suspect removing the doorbell camera from Nancy’s home is the only way that authorities know that the recording is from the evening she was abducted.

However, they “do believe that something occurred on Jan. 11, and that’s with the FBI’s analysis of the equipment and digital stuff they’ve done,” he added. Nanos noted that this information remains speculative and that they couldn’t share any evidence that made law enforcement focus on this date.

Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie
Credit: Savannah Guthrie/Instagram

Nanos also told the outlet that the investigation into Nancy’s disappearance remains ongoing. “We have so much in front of us. And we believe we have good evidence in front of us,” Nanos said. “Will that dry up? Could I be wrong? Absolutely. Anything is possible, but we’re not giving up.”

Nancy’s daughter, Savannah Guthrie, will make her first TV appearance on her mom’s disappearance on Today in an emotional interview with Hoda Kotb that will air in two parts on Thursday and Friday.

“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony,” Savannah said through tears in a preview of the interview. “It’s unbearable. And to think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night, and in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought. And I will not hide my face. She needs to come home now.”

The Guthrie family has increased the reward for Nancy’s return to $1 million. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI continue to urge anyone with tips to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.