As the investigation into the abduction of Nancy Guthrie entered its third week, officials said Monday they cleared direct members of her family as possible suspects.
“The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” Chris Nanos, the sheriff of Pima County (Ariz.), said in a statement. “To be clear … the Guthrie family — to include all siblings and spouses — has been cleared as possible suspects in this case.”
The statement comes as authorities await key DNA evidence, President Trump threatened the abductors, and daughter Savannah Guthrie urged her mother’s kidnappers to “do the right thing.”
But with no sign of the 84-year-old, there are growing concerns about her welfare and questions about how long the investigation will drag on.
On Sunday, the FBI said DNA was found on a glove discovered miles away from Guthrie’s home that matched those worn by a masked person seen outside the home.
This could prove a key development in an investigation beset by false starts and stops. No suspects have been named, and local authorities have come under scrutiny over the lack of progress and certain tactical decisions. Nanos told CBS News that investigators believe the clothing and face mask worn by the suspect were purchased at a Walmart.
Savannah Guthrie issued a statement Sunday on Instagram pleading with the kidnappers.
“And I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it’s never too late, and you’re not lost or alone, and it is never too late to do the right thing,” she said. “We are here and we believe, and we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, and it’s never too late.”
Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her Tuscon-area home Feb. 1. The kidnapping drama has captivated the nation, but there have been relatively few leads.
Investigators got their first major break in the case last week with the release of footage showing an armed man wearing a balaclava, gloves and a backpack. The man was seen approaching the front door of Guthrie’s home and tampering with a Nest camera at 1:47 a.m. the night she was abducted.
Then authorities detained a man at a traffic stop in Rio Rico, a semirural community about 12 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, in connection with the investigation. Deputies and FBI forensics experts and agents searched his family’s home overnight but did not locate Guthrie. The man was released hours later and has denied any involvement in her disappearance. The Times is not naming him because he has not been arrested or accused of a crime.
Authorities served a search warrant at a home in Tucson on Friday night in connection with the disappearance but made no arrests.
President Trump on Monday told the New York Post that the kidnappers would face “the most severe” punishment. When asked whether he was referring to the death penalty, the president said: “The most, yeah — that’s true.”
Guthrie was discovered missing after she didn’t show up to a friend’s house to watch a church service. She was taken from her home without her heart medication, and it’s unclear how long she can survive without it.
A day after Guthrie disappeared, news outlets received identical ransom notes that investigators treated as legitimate.
Sources told The Times that authorities have no proof the person who authored the ransom note has Guthrie. But they also said that note felt credible because it included details about a specific damaged piece of property and the placement of an accessory in the home that had not been made public.
The ransom note demanded $6 million in bitcoin. The family publicly stated it would pay, however the deadline passed and no money was sent.
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