Nancy Guthrie case could be ‘burglary gone wrong’ as investigators believe missing 84-year-old could still be alive: Live updates
By MELISSA KOENIG, US REPORTER and EMMA RICHTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and EMMA JAMES IN TUCSON, ARIZONA
Updated:
A growing number of investigators are said to be probing the possibility that Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping on February 1 began as a burglary gone wrong.
One person familiar with the ongoing investigation into Guthrie’s disappearance told Arizona Family on Sunday that police are looking at the possibility that a man caught tampering with her Nest doorbell camera may have just been trying to burglarize the $1 million home in Tucson, Arizona.
If that were the case, the source said there is hope that the 84-year-old could still be alive even as the search for her extends into a third consecutive week without any arrests.
Several people have been questioned in connection with her disappearance, but were later released. A series of ransom notes have also been sent to media outlets, including TMZ, demanding at least $6 million in bitcoin from the Guthrie family.
Authorities are now waiting for confirmation on DNA samples from an unknown male profile that was lifted from a glove that the FBI has said ‘appears to match’ the pair the suspect was seen wearing in the shocking doorbell surveillance footage.
It was found last week near Nancy’s home along with several other gloves, which were sealed in evidence bags by the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, and shipped overnight for testing at a private lab in Florida.
Nearly 16 gloves were collected near her home, and most of them were used and discarded by searchers at the site, the FBI told the Daily Mail.
But one of the gloves is different from the rest and appears to match the ones the unidentified masked captor was wearing in the doorbell video captured at Nancy’s front porch, the FBI said.
DNA results usually take about 24 hours to come back
Follow along for more details as the investigation unfolds.
Abduction could be burglary gone wrong
A source with knowledge of the investigation has told Arizona Family’s true crime correspondent Briana Whitney there is a growing belief among investigators that Nancy Guthrie’s abduction on February 1 was a burglary gone wrong.
If that is the case, they believe there is a possibility the 84-year-old could still be alive.
The hypothesis comes after multiple experts who reviewed Guthrie’s doorbell camera footage from the night of her disappearance told Arizona Family the incident did not appear to be a planned out kidnapping.
Glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s home ‘matches’ the one’s worn by suspect in chilling video, FBI says
A total of 16 gloves were found about two miles from Nancy’s home, the FBI told the Daily Mail.
On Sunday, it was revealed that most of those gloves were used by searchers who then discarded them on the ground.
But one of the gloves appeared to be a match to the one’s a male suspect was wearing in doorbell footage captured in the early hours of February 1, the agency said.
Law enforcement throws cold water on burglary theory
Despite a report suggesting investigators were increasingly probing the possibility that Nancy Guthrie’s abduction on February 1 was a burglary gone wrong, an unidentified law enforcement source poured cold water on the theory.
‘This is not the working theory inside the unit,’ the unidentified source told Fox News, noting that nighttime residential burglaries are uncommon.
The source then went on to question why a burglar would target Guthrie’s home.
‘We don’t have any indication that [Guthrie] really kept anything valuable there, and if this was a burglary gone wrong, they don’t take the victim with them usually.’
‘I guess anything is possible but my gut says it’s something else entirely.’
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos also told the outlet that the information about the burglary theory ‘did not come from us’ and he has ‘no idea’ where it came from.
‘Even though that is one of many possibilities, we would never speculate such a thing,’ Nanos said.
‘We will let the evidence take us to the motive.’
Investigators ‘leaning away from family’ as suspects
The FBI is leaning away from the possibility that Nancy Guthrie’s family may be behind her abduction, sources briefed on the investigation told ABC News.
Agents are also said to be leaning away from both the man who was stopped in a car in Rio Rico last week and the man whose home was searched Friday night as potential suspects.
But Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has previously said ‘nobody is fully cleared’ until the person or people who abducted Guthrie are in custody.
Savannah Guthrie posts new video pleading with captors to ‘do the right thing’
Today Show host Savannah Guthrie posted a new video on Sunday to mark two weeks since her mother was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona.
She said she and her siblings ‘still have hope,’ before turning her attention ‘to whoever has her or knows where she is.
‘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.’
Holster suspect was seen wearing could have come from Walmart
The holster a suspect was seen wearing in Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell video camera is cheaply made, and may have come from Walmart, an active-duty Miami-area police officer told Fox News.
The officer noted that the holster’s seemingly light-colored appearance is misleading, since it appeared in an infrared recording.
Instead, the officer said the main panel comprises a different material from the piping, and the shape and other details align with a Strategy brand hip holster available at some Walmart stores for around $10.
As of Saturday afternoon, the holster was listed as in stock at five Walmart stores in the Tucson area: 1260 E. Tucson Marketplace Blvd., 7150 E. Speedway Blvd., 7635 N. La Cholla Blvd., 1650 W. Valencia Road and 8280 N. Cortaro Road, according to the retailer’s website.
It describes the water-resistant holster as being designed to hold a revolver with a barrel measuring four to six and a half inches, and is designed for right-hand use.
The FBI has previously announced that the suspect was seen carrying an Ozark Trail backpack, which is also exclusively sold at Walmart stores.
Meanwhile, the officer told Fox that the gun in the Nest video appeared to be a Walther semiautomatic or something similar – which is not considered popular among gun aficionados.
As a result, the officer said he doesn’t expect that investigators will find many purchases for the gun.
Almost immediately after news broke of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, the country became captivated with the investigation.
At the same time, amateur journalists and internet sleuths have thrust themselves into the probe, with many of them setting up camp right outside of the 84-year-old’s home in Tucson, Arizona.
Now, officially two weeks into the search for Savannah Guthrie’s beloved mother, tensions have appeared to grow between locals and internet personalities pushing out information on the case, including a lot of speculation and unconfirmed reports.
Man wearing similar backpack to Nancy Guthrie suspect is seen in another clip
Newly released footage showed a man trying to scale a wall in Tucson while wearing a similar backpack to the one Nancy Guthrie‘s captor was seen with.
An unidentified bald man donning a gray zip-down jacket and blue jeans was seen taking off one backpack while another remained on his back around 1.53am local time on February 1, the same day the 84-year-old was reported missing.
He then appeared to try to get on the other side of the stone wall, but after a couple of moments of difficulty, he walked away.
Gabby Petito’s father speaks out on Nancy Guthrie case
Black latex glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s house
Concerned residents have reported a black latex glove found around two and a half miles from missing Nancy Guthrie’s house.
The glove was discovered in a dusty riverbed close to a shopping strip more than two weeks after the 84-year-old vanished.
Several locals reported the item to the Pimo County Sheriff’s Office, but no law enforcement has yet shown up to process the possible evidence.
It comes after federal authorities announced this morning that they had found several discarded searchers gloves in their search.
One of the gloves found has been submitted for DNA profiling as it matches the kind of glove worn by the suspected kidnapper caught on Nancy’s doorbell.
Despite the FBI issuing a statement explaining they are expecting new information from DNA processed by a lab in Florida, there has been little movement from law enforcement as of Sunday afternoon.
Democrat lawmaker slams internet sleuths for camping outside Nancy Guthrie’s home
Almost immediately after news broke of Nancy Guthrie‘s disappearance, the country became captivated with the investigation.
At the same time, amateur journalists and internet sleuths have thrust themselves into the probe, with many of them setting up camp right outside of the 84-year-old’s home in Tucson, Arizona.
Now, officially two weeks into the search for Savannah Guthrie’s beloved mother, tensions have appeared to grow between locals and internet personalities pushing out information on the case, including a lot of speculation and unconfirmed reports.
Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez, who represents Tucson, said she is fed up with the presence of true crime sleuths who have taken over Tucson and the Pima County area.
‘I am so sick of watching the “reporting” grifting, insane speculation, lies and BS by random wannabe journalists and YouTubers who have now caused more harm than good to this entire situation and put this serious case in jeopardy,’ Hernandez said in an X post late Saturday evening.
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Nancy Guthrie case could be ‘burglary gone wrong’ as investigators believe missing 84-year-old could still be alive: Live updates
