Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says investigators are getting closer in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, even as the search reached its 100th day on Tuesday, May 12. Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31 in her Catalina Foothills neighborhood north of Tucson, Arizona, before what authorities have described as an apparent kidnapping.
Nanos discussed the case in an interview published on Wednesday, May 13, and said the sheriff's department is still pressing ahead. He said homicide detectives were brought in after a preliminary look at the scene did not seem right, adding that the unit handles missing-person cases while search-and-rescue teams provide operational support. He also said the department's DNA labs are still working with investigators on ways to use the evidence already collected.
The case has remained active since Guthrie was reported missing from her Arizona home in early February, but there have been no major breakthroughs in recent weeks. The Guthrie family has kept a reward of up to $1 million in place for information that could lead to her recovery, a sign of how much faith they still place in a tip that has yet to come.
That search has drawn in multiple agencies and turned on a small number of unsettling details. In February, the FBI released images showing an armed person at Guthrie's front door tampering with the camera before her disappearance, but the suspect has not been identified. Law enforcement has also confirmed blood on Guthrie's porch belonged to her, while DNA found inside the home did not belong to Guthrie or anyone close to her.
One recent lead did not pan out. On Tuesday, May 7, the Tucson Police Department said a human bone found 7 miles from Guthrie's house was prehistoric and unrelated to the case. The finding briefly raised hopes that new evidence had surfaced, only to close another possible path.
The missing woman's daughter, Savannah Guthrie, has kept the case in the public eye while trying to balance it with her own return to work. She stepped back from the Today show in February and returned in April, then posted a Mother's Day message on May 10 that called her mother, “Mother, daughter, sister, Nonie,” and said, “We will never stop looking for you. We will never be at peace until we find you.”
For investigators, the unanswered question is no longer whether the case has gone cold. Nanos' comments point the other way. After 100 days, the search is still moving, the evidence file is still active and the sheriff's department is still treating Nancy Guthrie's disappearance as a case that may yet break open.
