Terrified Arizona residents are rushing to build panic rooms after the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, who is still not found nearly 1 month after she was snatched from her Tucson home.
Kevin Hand, who specialises in break-in-resistant “safe rooms” at Sportsman Steel Safes in the Grand Canyon State, told the Daily Mail his business is flooded with calls to quickly install thick steel doors and secret hiding rooms in people’s homes.
“There has been a huge spike in calls and business since the Guthrie case,” Hand told the paper, noting that many people are scared they could be ripped from their beds, never to be seen again, New York Post reported.
“There has been a huge spike in calls and business since the Guthrie case,” Kevin Hand, who specialises in break-in-resistant “safe rooms” at Sportsman Steel Safes, said.
Sportsman Steel Safes installed heavy-duty doors and safe rooms for wealthy clients in Texas and California for decades, but now middle-class families in Arizona emerged as his newest customers, with consultations already booked for weeks, he said.
The abduction of Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show star Savannah Guthrie, has “people thinking, ‘What would we do if someone broke in tonight?’” Hand said.
“People don’t want this to happen to them or their families, and they’re realising maybe it can,” he added.
Hand, whose clients include govt officials, said Arizonans are opting to rip up their homes and retrofit the rooms with 800-1,000 pound steel doors, often hidden in plain sight, like inside a walk-in closet.
“We make them look just like a regular door. It just looks ordinary; someone wouldn’t know it’s a panic room from the outside,” he said.
But behind the doors, locked by a keypad, is a room lined with thick concrete walls, reinforced with anti-fire and bulletproof material, making it “impossible” for intruders to get in. The rooms can also be used to lock away valuables and firearms.
“If you’re a relatively high-profile person, there are simple precautions you can take to make your home kidnap-proof, and now everyone is wanting the same,” Hand said.
Panic room builder Steve Humble, who owns Creative Home Engineering in Arizona, told the Mail his secret doors cost $1,000, with costs running up to $8,500 for reinforced panels.
The process, from measurements to final installation, takes about 90 days, Humble said.
“It’s a small price to pay to save your family’s life during an armed attack,” he said.
Nancy Guthrie is believed to have been kidnapped from her home during the early morning hours of February 1. Despite a massive investigation assisted by the FBI, Guthrie remains missing, and no suspects are identified nearly 1 month after her abduction.
