Authorities looking for Nancy Guthrie conducted an operation at a residence near her home late Friday, as the hunt for the missing 84-year-old mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie neared the end of its second week.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement overnight that “law enforcement activity” related to the case was underway at a residence, and photos showed a sheriff’s vehicle and cones sealing off a street about two miles from Guthrie’s property in Tucson. The department declined to elaborate, citing a request from the FBI, its partner in the investigation. A SWAT tactical rescue vehicle could be seen in photos with more than a dozen officers present.
The search for Guthrie has drawn intense media interest, led to thousands of tips from the public and prompted a show of support from President Donald Trump, but it has yielded few developments in the investigation.
Her family reported her missing around noon on Feb. 1, after she spent the previous evening with her other daughter, Annie. Investigators have said they believe Nancy Guthrie did not leave the home on her own because of her health condition and what they saw at the scene.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have pleaded on social media for the return of their mother — who the family and authorities say takes daily medications and struggles to walk. At one point, the TV host said, “We will pay,” in an address to an apparent abductor.
Earlier on Friday, the sheriff’s department said in a statement that several gloves had been found during the investigation, the closest of which were two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home.
“All collected evidence has been submitted for laboratory analysis,” it said, adding that, in consultation with the FBI, evidence requiring forensic testing had been sent to an “out-of-state lab that has been utilized since the beginning of this case.”
This week, the FBI increased its reward to $100,000 for any information leading to Guthrie’s location or the arrest of anyone involved in her disappearance.
It said the investigation is focused on a man who is around 5-foot-10 with an average build and was wearing an “‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack.”
The agency also released what it described as “previously inaccessible” images and video showing a masked figure with black gloves who appeared to have tampered with the camera at Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.
The sheriff’s office also said this week that it had detained a man for questioning and searched a property in Rio Rico, around an hour’s drive from Tucson, but he was released.
The sheriff’s department said Friday that the man described in the latest FBI release remains a “key focus,” but that the involvement of other people has not been ruled out. Authorities are appealing for videos from neighbors and said all footage is being reviewed.
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