Nancy Guthrie investigators turn to Mexico, genealogy, pacemaker amid fears trail going cold
As the search for Nancy Guthrie enters its third week, concerns are growing that the path to finding the missing 84-year-old is quickly getting colder.
Investigators have taken two people into custody since Guthrie was abducted from his Tucson home in the early hours of Feb. 1. However, both were released after questioning and neither suspect was identified publicly.
Authorities insist the case is still very active, with the FBI receiving more than 19,000 tips. But the case is shifting in some new directions.
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Law enforcement sources told The Times that investigators were in contact with Mexican authorities, given Tucson’s proximity to the border, but there was no evidence the kidnappers crossed with Guthrie.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the incident candidly.
Guthrie’s home in Tucson is just an hour’s drive from the border. The source emphasized that the request for help from Mexico was to exhaust all options, but there is no clear evidence that either Guthrie or his kidnappers were there.
Status of the investigation
DNA on a glove found 2 miles from Guthrie’s home that matched those worn by a masked man seen in Nest camera footage did not return any matches in CODIS, the national DNA database used by law enforcement. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News this week that biological evidence found at Guthrie’s home was still being tested, but CODIS did not turn up a match.
This week, an anonymous donor donated $100,000 to 88-CRIME for information that would lead investigators to arrest the person involved in Guthrie’s disappearance. This is in addition to a $100,000 reward for information offered by the FBI.
Nanos tried to allay concerns that investigators had found nothing but dead ends, telling NBC News that “it’s not cold as long as we have the ability to follow a lead.”
“There are thousands of leads we are looking into,” he said. “We’re going to find Nancy and we’re going to find out who did this.”
So far, experts say, investigators’ best bet for quickly solving the case would be for someone to recognize the suspect in Nest video footage of a masked man seen on Guthrie’s porch the morning he was abducted.
At 1:47 a.m. on February 1, the person appears at the door of Guthrie’s home. Man wearing ski mask, gloves and backpack. There is a gun placed near the man’s waist, in the front of his body, and is easily visible.
At one point, the man, whom authorities describe as having an average build of approximately 5’9″ to 5’10”, notices the camera on the front porch and tries to cover the lens with his hand. The man explores the patio and garden area, apparently looking for something to block the camera, before settling on some greenery found in the garden.
In the video, the man is wearing a black 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack, which can be purchased at Walmart, according to the FBI. Investigators are working with Walmart management to see if they can identify who purchased the backpack.
Authorities are also searching gun stores that showed the video released by the FBI to see if anyone recognizes him, according to the sheriff’s department.
Researchers use genetic genealogy
Experts say DNA found in Guthrie’s home could also be useful in the case.
While law enforcement has not found any results in the federal database, they are also using genetic genealogy to identify a suspect in the case.
“If they actually have the suspect’s DNA (the DNA of Nancy’s kidnapper), 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 the DNA collected from Guthrie’s home to publicly available databases that contain the genetic profiles of millions of people who gave DNA for family history research and other reasons. From there, investigators can sometimes find distant relatives to help piece together a family tree that could point to a suspect.
Technology has helped solve some of the country’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 the 2022 murders of four college students in Idaho.
There are limitations to the technology, but law enforcement sources told The Times it is probably the best way forward.
Law enforcement does not have easy access to the nearly 50 million genetic profiles available in Ancestry.com, 23andMe, and MyHeritage databases. The companies have denied authorities access to such information and said they would only disclose it if required by a court order or arrest warrant.
The GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA and DNA Justice databases are available to law enforcement but contain fewer than 2 million genetic profiles, Moore said.
There is more legwork involved because there is less genetic profile to work with, but Moore said that will likely be key to identifying a suspect.
“This could happen in minutes, hours, days, weeks, but I don’t think it will take much longer because of all the resources available for this case,” he said.
Searching for the pacemaker
Law enforcement also used “signal detector” technology while searching for Guthrie.
Parsons Corp confirmed this week that the Pima County Sheriff’s Department requested assistance in deploying BlueFly units to search for Guthrie earlier this month. According to the company, BlueFly is a Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sensor that can be used in air and ground vehicles for search and rescue operations in harsh environments, providing authorities with a heat map to identify signals in a specific area.
BlueFly can detect medical devices such as Guthrie’s pacemaker.
