No breakthrough reported with glove DNA in Nancy Guthrie disappearance

No breakthrough reported with glove DNA in Nancy Guthrie disappearance

Investigators leading the search for Nancy Guthrie said Tuesday that DNA from gloves found a few miles from her Tucson-area home did not yield any confirmed matches in the national Combined DNA Index System, as the investigation reached its 17th day.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said there were “no DNA hits in CODIS,” referring to the FBI-managed national DNA database. The department also said, “At this point, there have been no confirmed CODIS matches in this investigation,” suggesting investigators’ next DNA steps would not rely solely on national database matches.

The department said the gloves were found about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home. The FBI previously said the gloves appeared to match those worn by a man captured in a porch-camera video, with the man described as about 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall with a medium build.

Investigators said other forensic work at the residence remained underway. The sheriff’s department said, “There is additional DNA evidence that was found at the residence, and that is also being analyzed,” and it said police were continuing to review the scene and associated evidence as the search expands.

Investigators also said they are looking beyond CODIS by feeding DNA evidence into other “genetic genealogy” databases, though they did not elaborate on how that effort would work. The department’s update came as vehicles continued to arrive and depart from Guthrie’s home while a line of news media watched from the street.

Law enforcement was also seen inspecting exterior cameras at a neighbor’s house Tuesday, as investigators pursued leads linked to the time period around Guthrie’s disappearance. The sheriff’s department said Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her home on Feb. 1 after spending the previous night with family, and that her blood was detected on the porch.

Officials said they were also working with experts to try to locate Guthrie by detecting her heart pacemaker. Parsons Corp. told investigators that its BlueFly device, which the company said weighs less than a pound (.45 kilograms) and has a range of up to 218 yards (200 meters), can detect signals from wearable electronics and medical devices.

Parsons Corp. said the technology has been used from the air and on the ground in Arizona, but it declined further comment about how it would be used in the Guthrie search. As authorities continued collecting forensic and surveillance leads, they also released figures about public response to appeals for information about Guthrie’s disappearance.

The sheriff’s department said there were 28,000 phone calls from Feb. 1 to Feb. 16, a 54% increase over the same period a year ago. The department said not all of the calls were tips.

Savannah Guthrie, NBC’s “Today” co-anchor and Guthrie’s daughter, posted an Instagram video Sunday in which she appealed for information and urged people to come forward. She said, “It is never too late to do the right thing,” adding, “And we are here. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, that it’s never too late.”