Is Nancy Guthrie case close to being solved? These questions linger
Is Nancy Guthrie case close to being solved? These questions linger
Edward Segarra, USA TODAYSat, February 28, 2026 at 12:01 PM UTC
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Law enforcement asks anyone with information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov, the Pima County Sheriff's Department (520-351-4900) or 88-CRIME.
Despite no major breakthroughs in the search for Nancy Guthrie, the missing person's investigation surrounding "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother is far from a closed case.
Guthrie's daughter urged fans and the public to reach out to authorities with any relevant information in an Instagram video Friday, Feb. 27.
Sharing a "Today" show segment explaining the process for submitting FBI tips, Savannah Guthrie wrote, "Please - be the one that brings her home. Tips can be anonymous, reward can be paid in cash, as explained here."
Law enforcement officials emphasized that the search for the 84-year-old remained an active investigation, although public announcements about new developments have dried up as of this week.
Nancy Guthrie, right, and "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie are pictured in an undated photograph.
Nancy Guthrie, who has been described by her family as in fragile health, was last seen Jan. 31 after being dropped off at her Arizona home following a dinner with family. She was reported missing the following day when a friend alerted her family. Authorities have said they believe she was taken against her will.
In a Tuesday news release, Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Angelica Carrillo shared that detectives and FBI agents were working "around the clock" and pursuing all viable leads. But instead of providing daily updates on the investigation, police will limit updates to "instances when new information warrants release."
As the search for Nancy Guthrie reaches the one-month mark, here's a look at outstanding details from the case.
1 / 0Search for Nancy Guthrie and person suspected of taking her continues
“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, was seemingly abducted from her home outside Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of Feb. 1, 2026. Authorities released photos and videos on Feb. 10, of a potential suspect who was caught tampering with a camera on her front door on the morning of her disappearance.
Has anyone been arrested in Nancy Guthrie case?
Police have not yet arrested a suspect, although several people have gotten caught in the crosshairs of the investigation, including a man who allegedly sent a false ransom note to Guthrie's family, a man detained during a traffic stop and later released, and a 34-year-old man arrested in front of Guthrie's home on misdemeanor DUI charges in an unrelated case.
Despite this, authorities continue to search for clues around a male suspect seen on security footage at Guthrie's home.
What does video from Nancy Guthrie search show?
On Feb. 10, FBI Director Kash Patel released several surveillance photos and videos on X of a masked man standing at Nancy Guthrie's front door prior to her disappearance, offering the first major glimpse at a suspect in the case.
The photos showed an "armed" man, later described as "approximately 5'9"-5'10" tall, with an average build," approaching Guthrie's front door camera the morning of Feb. 1. The images were pulled from video that was "recovered from residual data located in backend systems," according to the FBI director.
1 / 0Search for Nancy Guthrie and person suspected of taking her continues
New images released by authorities on Feb. 10, 2026, from a Nest camera outside Nancy Guthrie's home show an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at the front door on the morning of her disappearance on Feb. 1.
Patel also shared videos showing the unidentified man appearing to tamper with the door camera.
In two videos, the suspect wears a mask and gloves and looks to hold a flashlight in his mouth as he attempts to cover the camera with foliage. In another clip, the man walks up to the home, head down, wearing a dark zip-up jacket, light pants, a backpack and what appears to be a weapon in a holster hanging around his waist.
Media reports later emerged that the images of the masked man standing on Guthrie's porch were seemingly take on two different days. In some of the surveillance footage, there appeared to be differences in what the suspect was wearing. In some shots, the suspect wore a backpack that seemed to be full and had reflective tape on the shoulder straps. In another image, the person had no backpack, and the holstered gun was not visible.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a Feb. 23 statement that the images from the camera had no date or time stamp associated with them. "Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative," spokesperson Angelica Carrillo said.
How did Nancy Guthrie suspect enter home?
While a precise timeline of how Nancy Guthrie's alleged abductor carried out the kidnapping has yet to emerge, current investigation details suggest the suspect entered her home through the front door.
On Feb. 1 at 1:47 a.m., approximately four hours after Guthrie was dropped off at home following a family game night, the doorbell camera in front of Guthrie's home was disconnected, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos shared during a Feb. 5 press conference.
1 / 0Search for Nancy Guthrie and person suspected of taking her continues
"Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie's 84-year-old mother Nancy Guthrie was reported missing in February 2026. See photos of the mother-daughter duo together through the years on NBC and beyond. Here, they're pictured in an undated photograph. Arizona officials say they are investigating Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as a "crime."
Nearly half an hour later, software for Guthrie's smart home detected a person on the camera, but no video was initially available. About 15 minutes after that, Guthrie's pacemaker app showed it was disconnected from her phone.
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Authorities have maintained a presence at Guthrie's home as recently as Wednesday, Feb. 25, according to aerial photos reviewed by USA TODAY. One photo appears to show law enforcement officials walking through the backyard area of Guthrie's home.
Despite previous reports that law enforcement was planning on returning Guthrie's home to her family this week, the Pima County Sheriff's Department told People magazine Thursday, Feb. 26, that the residence "has been processed and has been available" to Guthrie's family since the first week of her disappearance.
In an aerial view, authorities in the Nancy Guthrie case walk through Guthrie's Tucson, Arizona, residence on Feb. 25, 2026.Are Savannah Guthrie, family suspects in Nancy Guthrie abduction?
On Feb. 16, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos addressed speculation over the Guthrie family or their spouses being suspects in the case, noting they have been "100% cooperative."
Misinformation about the family has mounted online, with the help of streamers and tabloids, since Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. But Nanos said the Guthries were ruled out as suspects "in the first few days" of the investigation.
"Not one single person in the family is a suspect," Nanos told 13 News. "So, I am telling everyone, effective today, you guys [media] need to knock it off, quit. People are hurting. They are victims. I am saying they are clear. We have cleared them."
What happened to Nancy Guthrie suspect backpack?
In surveillance video and photos previously released of the suspect in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, the man was seen wearing a backpack.
During a Feb. 13 appearance on the "Today" show, NBC correspondent Tom Winter said the backpack – a black, 25-liter "Ozark Trail Hiker Pack" backpack – was a private-label brand exclusively sold to Walmart. If the backpack was purchased new, Winter said police could possibly subpoena the retailer for a list of people who recently bought it in the greater Tucson, Arizona, area.
In a statement shared with USA TODAY Feb. 16, Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesperson Brittany Abarr said while the suspect's clothing "may have been purchased from Walmart," it is "not exclusively available" to the store. That same day, Sheriff Chris Nanos told CBS News that he believes Walmart to be the vendor, but investigators are still looking into the "promising" lead.
On Feb. 22, search volunteers recovered a separate backpack in the case, which was handed over to a deputy. But the following day, the Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed that "after reviewing the bag and its contents, it does not appear that this is a viable lead for the investigation."
The bag does not seem to be the same brand of backpack that was seen in the doorbell surveillance footage, and it also "appears to have been outside for much longer than three weeks" and contained the identification of a minor, according to the sheriff's department.
Why don't Nancy Guthrie investigators have DNA results?
Among the DNA recovered at the scene were dried blood droplets spotted on the Spanish tile entrance at Nancy Guthrie's home on Feb. 3, which the Pima County Sheriff's Department later confirmed was the 84-year-old woman's blood.
Additionally, the sheriff revealed on Feb. 13 that investigators collected DNA from the home that did not belong to Nancy Guthrie or anyone in close contact with her.
Around 16 gloves have been collected near the Guthrie house, the FBI confirmed, while clarifying that most were "searchers' gloves discarded in various areas when they searched the vicinity." Gloves closest to the property, approximately 2 miles away, were sent for testing (DNA evidence has been sent to DNA Labs International, a private lab in South Florida).
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The "Today" show cohost returned to Studio 1A Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, after taking a lengthy hiatus to undergo vocal cord surgery. Look back at her career on TV.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed on Feb. 17 that preliminary results failed to match the DNA collection at her home to the gloves the FBI said resembled those of the suspect seen in the surveillance video. The DNA profile also did not match anyone in the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.
In a Feb. 17 interview with NBC News, Nanos said the lack of a match from the DNA found on the gloves is "not the end," noting that investigators would be turning their focus to "genealogy and some of the partial DNA we have at the home." Days later, the sheriff's department said in an update that DNA analysis was "underway on biological evidence" but warned that "this process can be lengthy."
"We believe that we may have some DNA there that may be our suspect," Nanos said at the time. "But we won't know that until that DNA is separated, sorted out, maybe admitted to CODIS, maybe through genealogy."
Nancy Guthrie abduction timeline
In a press conference Feb. 5, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told reporters that doorbell camera video had helped authorities piece together a timeline of events for Guthrie's kidnapping.
Jan. 31 at 5:32 p.m. Guthrie traveled to her family's house for a game night.
Jan. 31 at 9:48 p.m. Her family dropped her back at home, and the garage door opened.
Jan. 31 at 9:50 p.m. The garage door closed.
Feb. 1 at 1:47 a.m. Doorbell camera in front of Guthrie's home disconnected.
Feb. 1 at 2:12 a.m. Software for the smart home detected a person on the camera, but no video was initially available.
Feb. 1 at 2:28 a.m. Guthrie's pacemaker app shows it was disconnected from her phone.
Feb. 1 at 11:56 a.m. The family checks on her.
Feb. 1 at 12:03 p.m. Family calls 911 to report her missing.
Feb. 1 at 12:15 p.m. Patrol cars arrive.
Contributing: Brendan Morrow, Taijuan Moorman, Ramon Padilla, Anna Kaufman, Melina Khan, KiMi Robinson and Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY; Perry Vandell, Richard Ruelas and Sarah Lapidus, Arizona Republic
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Savannah Guthrie mom update – The latest on Nancy Guthrie search
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