As the search for Nancy Guthrie nears the one-month mark, the authorities are scaling back the number of detectives assigned to the investigation, signaling a shift from an all-hands-on-deck approach to a targeted operation.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona, which has been leading the search, is returning many officers who had been pulled in from other units to their original posts, a spokeswoman said on Friday. Now, only detectives directly assigned to Ms. Guthrie’s case will be involved, unless a major break warrants another staffing surge, said the spokeswoman, Angelica Carrillo.
The department was “refocusing resources,” Ms. Carrillo said.
Although the move indicates the investigation is entering a new phase, officials say they remain committed to finding Ms. Guthrie, the mother of the “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, who was abducted from her home outside Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 1.
“This remains an active investigation and will continue until Nancy Guthrie is located or all leads have been exhausted,” Ms. Carrillo said.
The drawdown comes nearly a week after the sheriff’s department said that there had been no change in the resources devoted to the search and that “several hundred law enforcement personnel” were still assigned to it. The sheriff did not say how many would continue to work the case.
Sheriff’s deputies will still patrol Ms. Guthrie’s neighborhood, a quiet subdivision in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains that has become a magnet for reporters and gawkers, who have lined the streets for weeks. All the attention recently prompted the police to restrict vehicle access outside Ms. Guthrie’s home.
As the investigation has worn on, Ms. Guthrie’s family has acknowledged that it may be too late to bring her home alive.
“She may already be gone,” Savannah Guthrie said in a video posted to social media this week.
But the family has continued to urge anyone who might have information about Ms. Guthrie’s whereabouts to come forward. On Tuesday, Savannah Guthrie said her family was offering up to $1 million for any tip that helps law enforcement officials find her mother.
“If you’ve been waiting and you haven’t been sure, let this be your sign to please come forward,” she said. “Tell what you know, and help us bring our beloved mom home.”
She and her siblings were “blowing on the embers of hope,” she said.
“We still believe in a miracle,” Savannah Guthrie said.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs contributed reporting.
Reis Thebault is a Phoenix-based reporter for The Times, covering the American Southwest.
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