AN update has been issued by officials investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing for three months.
Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing on February 1 after she was abducted from her home in Arizona.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the investigation, told The U.S. Sun that the search for the missing woman remains “active and ongoing.”
“Anyone with information related to the Nancy Guthrie case is encouraged to come forward,” a department spokesperson said in a statement to The U.S. Sun on Friday.
“Please contact 88-CRIME or the FBI tip line at 1-800-225-5324.”
The request for information comes days after a private lab in Florida shipped off DNA samples from the crime scene to the FBI after a retired agent said he believed the blood pattern on Guthrie’s front porch suggested there was a single abductor.
Officials discovered a trail of blood outside her Arizona home and the back door propped open.
A glove with a DNA profile was later found at the scene.
The FBI also received a hair sample from the crime scene 11 weeks into the investigation, but experts have said it could take weeks or months to get any information from it with more advanced testing.
“The Pima County Sheriff’s Department continues to work closely with the FBI as investigators follow up on leads, review information, and pursue the facts surrounding this case,” a department spokesperson told The U.S. Sun.
Officials are still not sure who was behind Guthrie’s abduction, but they had a slight breakthrough in the case with footage showing a man outside Guthrie’s door shortly after 2am on February 1.
The man was armed, wearing a backpack and gloves and disguised himself in a ski mask. He was also seen tearing plants from the property and attempting to cover the camera.
Guthrie was last seen by her daughter Annie Guthrie and Annie’s husband Tommaso Cioni, who have been ruled out as suspects, after they dropped her off at her home just before 10pm on January 31.
Guthrie’s doorbell camera was disconnected around 1:47am and her pacemaker app disconnected from her phone, which was found at her home, at 2:28am.
Multiple ransom letters have been sent out to media outlets, but after deadlines passed, it remained unclear whether or not the letters’ author(s) were part of Guthrie’s abduction.
Two ransom notes were sent to TMZ in early April, with one saying Guthrie was dead and another claiming to know the location of Guthrie’s body as well as who her kidnapper was.
Harvey Levin, TMZ’s founder, said the letter requested half a bitcoin in exchange for the information.
Guthrie’s three children have issued several pleas on social media, asking for the alleged abductor to provide proof that they have their mother.
We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first, we have to know that you have our mom,” Camron Guthrie, Nancy’s son, said in a video on February 6.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has looked into several leads, including looking into possible incidents in the days leading up to Guthrie’s disappearance.
Investigators said in March they were looking into January 11, 21 days before Guthrie was reported missing, for a possible connection.
“We do believe that something occurred on Jan. 11, and that’s with the FBI’s analysis of the equipment and digital stuff they’ve done,” Sheriff Chris Nanos said, according to Arizona CBS affiliate KOLD.
The Guthrie family also made reference to January 11, asking for locals to come forward with any camera footage, observations or notes from that day that could pertain to the case.
Nanos and the department have come under fire for allegedly botching the investigation, with one whistleblower telling NewsNation, “From what I understand, that the people that were there on the scene were not tenured homicide detectives.”
“They didn’t have a lot of experience in homicide at that point, to include the supervisor who, from my understanding, never investigated a homicide before being installed as the supervisor for the homicide unit,” the source said.
Officials were also looking into January 24, a weekend date like January 11.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16303322/nancy-guthrie-missing-update-sheriff-fbi-information-plea/
