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Federal agents and dozens of detectives searched the Tucson area near Nancy Guthrie’s home as the investigation into her Feb. 1 disappearance continued, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI. Wednesday’s activity included searches through desert terrain around Guthrie’s property and knocks on doors in a nearby neighborhood, as authorities looked for information that could connect what happened at her home to whoever investigators believe took her.
The renewed searching followed an earlier surge in hope after authorities detained a man near the U.S.-Mexico border and then released him after questioning, leaving investigators with uncertainty about where the case stood. The AP reported that investigators confirmed the man was released, and the sheriff’s department said its deputies and FBI agents also searched a location in Rio Rico, a city south of Tucson where the man lives.
At the scene near Guthrie’s Tucson-area home, FBI agents moved through rocks and desert vegetation carrying water bottles to cope with temperatures in the 80-degree F range (about 26.7 degrees C), the AP reported. Investigators also fanned out about a mile (1.6 kilometers) away, searching the surrounding neighborhood and knocking on doors as part of the expanding effort, the sheriff’s department said.
In a nearby neighborhood, two investigators left daughter Annie Guthrie’s home carrying evidence, including mail taken from a roadside mailbox, the AP reported. The investigators drove away without speaking to reporters. Investigators’ work also included outreach beyond Guthrie’s immediate property, reflecting a broader sweep rather than a single-site search.
A day earlier, authorities said they stopped a man near the border hours after the FBI released videos and described a person wearing a gun holster, ski mask and backpack approaching Guthrie’s home in Tucson. The man told media outlets early Wednesday that he was released after several hours and said he had nothing to do with Guthrie’s disappearance, even as investigators confirmed the stop and release without saying publicly what led them to question him.
Investigators have said they believe Guthrie was taken against her will. She was last seen at home Jan. 31 and reported missing the next day, and authorities said DNA tests showed blood on her porch was hers. According to the AP report, the FBI’s earlier release of black-and-white surveillance images of a masked person attempting to cover a doorbell camera on Guthrie’s porch was the first significant break in the case, but those images did not show what happened to her or whether she was still alive.
FBI Director Kash Patel said investigators spent days trying to find lost, corrupted or inaccessible images. Even without a visible face, investigators said they remained hopeful someone would recognize who was on the porch. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday afternoon that more than 4,000 calls came into its tip line within the past 24 hours.
As investigators work through the calls and leads, the AP reported that Savannah Guthrie posted the new surveillance images on social media and said the family believes Nancy Guthrie is still alive. The longtime NBC host and her siblings have also indicated a willingness to pay a ransom, though authorities have not said whether any ransom notes with deadlines that have already passed were authentic or whether the family has had contact with whoever took Guthrie.
The investigation has also drawn outside attention online: the AP reported that TMZ said it received a message Wednesday from someone claiming to know the kidnapper’s identity and that it tried without success to reach Savannah Guthrie’s brother and sister. TMZ reported the person asked for bitcoin in exchange for the information, and the AP said the FBI did not immediately respond to a message.
Authorities have said Nancy Guthrie takes several medications, and there was concern from the start that she could die without them.