As the search for Nancy Guthrie stretches into its third week, there is growing concern that the trail to find the missing 84-year-old is rapidly growing cold.
Investigators have detained two people since Guthrie was abducted from her Tucson home in the early hours of Feb. 1. But both were released after questioning and no suspects have been publicly identified.
Authorities insist the case is still very much active, with the FBI receiving more than 19,000 tips. But the case is branching off into some new directions.
Look at Mexico
Law enforcement sources told The Times that investigators have been in touch with Mexican authorities in the case given Tucson’s close proximity to the border, but there is no evidence that the abductors crossed with Guthrie.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case candidly.
The Guthrie home in Tucson is only about an hour’s drive from the border. Source stressed the request for help from Mexico was to exhaust all options but there is not any clear evidence suggesting either Guthrie or the kidnappers are there.
State of the investigation
DNA on a glove discovered 2 miles away from Guthrie’s home that matched those worn by a masked man seen on Nest camera footage didn’t return any matches in the national DNA database used by law enforcement, CODIS. Biological evidence that was found at Guthrie’s home is still being tested, but did not produce a match in CODIS, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News this week.
An anonymous donor this week gifted $100,000 to 88-CRIME for information that would lead investigators to arrest the individual involved in Guthrie’s disappearance. This is in addition to the $100,000 reward for information being offered by the FBI.
Nanos has tried to dispel concerns that investigators are hitting nothing but dead ends, telling NBC News that “as long as we have the ability to chase a lead, it’s not cold.”
“We have thousands of leads we’re looking at,” he said. “We’re going to find Nancy, and we’re going to find who did this.”
So far, experts say investigators’ best bet to solving the case quickly would be if someone recognizes the suspect in Nest video footage of a masked man seen on Guthrie’s porch the morning she was abducted.
At 1:47 a.m. Feb. 1, the individual appears at the door of Guthrie’s home. The man is wearing a balaclava, gloves and a backpack. A gun is holstered by the man’s waist, positioned at the front of his body and easily visible.
At one point, the man, who authorities describe as approximately between 5’9” and 5’10” with an average build, notices the camera on the front porch and tries to cover the lens with his hand. The man scouts around the patio and yard area apparently for something to obstruct the camera before settling on some greenery found in the yard.
In the video, the man is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack that can be purchased at Walmart, according to the FBI. Investigators have been working with Walmart leadership to see if they can identify who purchased the backpack.
Authorities are also canvassing gun shops showing the video released by the FBI to see if anyone recognizes him, according to the sheriff’s department.
Investigators employ genetic genealogy
DNA found inside the Guthrie home could also prove fruitful in the case, experts say.
While law enforcement did not get any hits in the federal database, they are also employing genetic genealogy in an effort to identify a suspect in the case.
“If they actually have the suspect’s DNA—Nancy’s kidnapper’s DNA—he will be identified through genetic genealogy,” said CeCe Moore, a genetic genealogist and co-founder of DNA Justice. “It’s just a matter of time.”
Authorities can compare DNA collected from Guthrie’s home to publicly accessible databases containing the genetic profiles of millions of people who have given them over for family history research and other reasons. From there, investigators can sometimes find distant relatives to help piece together a family tree that can point to a suspect.
The technology has helped solve some of the nation’s most high-profile cases in recent years. Investigators used genetic genealogy to identify Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. as the Golden State Killer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 80s. It was also used to secure the conviction of Bryan Kohberger, who was sentenced to life in prison for murdering four college students in Idaho in 2022.
There’s limitation to the technology, but law enforcement sources told The Times it’s likely the best way forward.
Law enforcement does not have easy access to the roughly 50 million genetic profiles contained in Ancestry.com, 23andMe and MyHeritage databases. The companies have barred authorities from accessing such information and said they would release it only if compelled by a court order or warrant.
Databases GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA and DNA Justice are open to law enforcement use, but contain less than 2 million genetic profiles, Moore said.
With fewer genetic profiles to work with there is more legwork involved, but Moore said it will likely be key to identifying a suspect.
“It could happen in minutes, hours, days, weeks, but I don’t think it’ll stretch much longer than that because of all the resources available for this case,” she said.
Searching for her pacemaker
Law enforcement has also deployed “signal sniffer” technology in the search for Guthrie.
Parsons Corp confirmed this week that the Pima County Sheriff’s Department requested its help early this month deploying BlueFly units to search for Guthrie. BlueFly is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sensor that can be used on air and ground vehicles for search and rescue operations in challenging environments, providing authorities with a heat map to identify signals within a specific area, according to the company.
BlueFly can detect medical devices like Guthrie’s pacemaker.
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