What to know about the investigation
Law enforcement officers in Tucson, Arizona, are continuing to investigate the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, 84, whose last known sighting was at her Arizona home on Jan. 31. She was reported missing the following day, and authorities said her blood was later found on the front porch.
Authorities have said they are concerned about Guthrie’s health because she needs daily medication, including, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com, a pacemaker and treatment related to high blood pressure and heart issues. Investigators also received purported ransom notes sent to news outlets, but authorities said two deadlines for paying have passed.
The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department have focused on surveillance evidence, forensics, and public leads as the search has moved into its third week. The sheriff’s department said it is working closely with the FBI while investigators gather and analyze evidence.
Surveillance video and a suspect identification
Investigators said the FBI released surveillance videos showing a masked person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson the night she disappeared. A porch camera recorded video of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, a jacket and gloves, according to the Associated Press.
The FBI called the person a suspect on Thursday, describing him as about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. The FBI also said the suspect was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.
Investigators had previously said there was no surveillance video available because Guthrie did not have an active subscription to the doorbell camera company. Digital forensics experts continued working to try to locate images in back-end software that might have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible.
DNA collection and lab work
Investigators collected DNA from Guthrie’s property that does not belong to Guthrie or people in close contact with her, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said. Investigators said they are working to identify who the DNA belongs to, and evidence requiring forensic analysis is being sent to the same out-of-state lab that has been used since the beginning of the case.
The sheriff’s department also said investigators found several gloves, with the nearest glove located about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home. The department said the gloves were submitted for lab analysis but did not specify the type of gloves.
Tips and the public information effort
The Pima County sheriff and the FBI announced phone numbers and a website for the public to offer tips. The sheriff’s department said several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the case.
The FBI said it has collected more than 13,000 tips since Feb. 1, the day Guthrie was reported missing. The sheriff’s department said it has taken at least 18,000 calls, and it has not said whether any tips have advanced the investigation.
Additional searches and evidence activity
In late Friday night activity described by investigators, law enforcement sealed off a road about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home as part of the investigation, with a parade of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, moving through the roadblock. Investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby Culver’s restaurant parking lot late Friday.
The sheriff’s department said Saturday that the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation and that no arrests were made. On Tuesday, deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson; authorities said the person was released and did not describe what led to the stop.
On Tuesday, deputies and FBI agents also conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of Tucson, according to the Associated Press reporting.
Family pleas and neighborhood details
Savannah Guthrie, her sister and her brother have shared video messages on social media addressed to whoever they say may have their mother. The family’s Instagram videos have moved from impassioned pleas asking for her return and saying they are willing to pay a ransom to requests that have become bleaker and more desperate, according to the Associated Press.
The latest video on Thursday was described as a home video of their mother and a promise to “never give up on her.” In the reporting, Guthrie’s home life is described as solitary, with Nancy Guthrie living alone in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills neighborhood, where houses are spaced far apart and set back behind long driveways, gates and dense desert vegetation.
Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona, and previously worked at a television station in the city, where her parents settled in the 1970s. She joined the “Today” show in 2011, and in a video she described her mother as a “loving woman of goodness and light.”