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Authorities are investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie outside Tucson, and on Thursday they said DNA testing of blood found on the home’s front porch showed it came from Guthrie. The FBI also announced a reward as investigators continued building leads from surveillance, forensic work and public tips in a case that has drawn national attention.
Guthrie was last seen Jan. 31, when she took an Uber to her family’s home for dinner, and a family member later dropped her off at the Tucson home just before the garage door opened and closed minutes later. Investigators and the family said Guthrie was reported missing the next day after the family checked on her when she did not attend church and called 911.
The early phase of the investigation included efforts to understand what happened around the home on the night she disappeared. A timeline provided through the week describes how the doorbell camera was disconnected in the early hours of Feb. 1, and how the camera’s software later detected movement; investigators initially said no video was available because Guthrie did not have an active subscription, but digital forensics experts continued work to recover images from backend software. Investigators also said Guthrie’s pacemaker app disconnected from her phone during that period.
As investigators broadened the search, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department posted about Guthrie’s disappearance to social media, and on Feb. 1 investigators arrived and launched a search operation that included drones and search dogs. By Monday, Feb. 2, authorities said they believed Guthrie was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will.
The sequence also included attempts to locate evidence that might confirm an abduction route or suspects connected to the home. According to the timeline, a local station said it received an email that appeared to contain a ransom note with money demands and deadlines, and investigators later said they found signs of forced entry at Guthrie’s home. The case then moved into a phase where investigators returned to the property for follow-up work after earlier actions that had turned Guthrie’s land back to her family.
On Thursday, investigators disclosed the DNA result tying blood from the front porch to Guthrie, and on the same day the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information about her whereabouts. Later in the week’s sequence, the FBI also increased the reward to $100,000 and described a man seen on Guthrie’s surveillance video on the night she disappeared, including that he was wearing a black “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.
Throughout the week, officials also sought community assistance as they tried to capture what may have been missed during the first days. Investigators asked residents within a 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) radius of Guthrie’s home to share camera footage and report suspicious activity they noticed in the month before she disappeared, and they later increased the reward tied to tips that could lead to Guthrie or to an arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible. The timeline also includes additional investigative activity in nearby areas and further follow-up at multiple locations as the FBI and local authorities continued working the case.