Nancy Guthrie Disappearance: Sheriff Reveals 'Unknown DNA' Breakthrough Hope

More than 100 days after Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Tucson home, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says investigators are still testing blood evidence and may be edging closer to identifying the unknown DNA found at the scene.

Speaking to People, Nanos said the sample is being examined by laboratories, including FBI specialists in Quantico, while the case remains active and no suspect has been named.

The news came after weeks of public frustration over the pace of the investigation, which has drawn national attention because Guthrie is the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie.

Authorities believe the 84-year-old may have been abducted from her Arizona home, and investigators have previously released doorbell camera footage showing a masked figure near the property around the time she vanished.

Nancy Guthrie Disappearance: The 'Unknown DNA' Investigators Are Chasing

Speaking to People, Sheriff Nanos confirmed that labs are still analysing blood collected from outside Nancy Guthrie's home, including spatter on the porch and along the path leading towards the street.

'I know we have DNA that is unknown who the contributor or depositor is, but I think they're getting closer to finding out who that was,' he said.

A separate report by investigative journalist Jonathan Lee Riches claimed the new blood sample has been sent to the FBI's facility in Quantico, Virginia, and suggested the Bureau and the sheriff's office are 'really close' to cracking the kidnapping.

What is clear is that the DNA work has been complicated. Early in the investigation, officials described 'mixed' genetic material from inside the home, indicating more than one contributor.

Detectives are also still trying to determine whether the blood outside belongs solely to Nancy, a possible attacker, or both. If the Quantico tests identify an unknown profile, it could give detectives a concrete person of interest for the first time.

Sheriff Nanos Under Pressure As Nancy Guthrie Family Turns To FBI

The search for Nancy Guthrie has unfolded under an intense media spotlight, in no small part because of her daughter's high‑profile job on American network television. That scrutiny has bled into local politics in Pima County, where Nanos has already survived a vote to remove him from office following a perjury probe over alleged misrepresentation of his work history.

Criticism of his handling of the Guthrie investigation has dovetailed with those broader attacks. Some commentators argue the sheriff's office was slow off the mark and initially sidelined federal agents, a characterisation Nanos rejects. He insists the FBI has been deeply involved and that the case is anything but neglected.

'My team, I've said all along, they're gonna solve this,' he told People. 'I fully 100% believe that.'

Yet in the same round of interviews, Nanos conceded that he is no longer the one personally talking to the Guthrie family as the probe drags past the 100‑day mark.

'I personally am not,' he said when asked about his direct contact with the family. 'If they need the family for anything, they get in touch with them and the family. It works both ways. We text or, every now and then, a phone call. But no, I've not even sat down with her face‑to‑face. She's got a lot on her plate. The FBI and my detectives and those, they've been talking with her face‑to‑face. She doesn't need to talk to me.'

That admission raised eyebrows among former investigators and armchair observers alike. Ex‑FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told US network NewsNation she wondered 'who cut off the communication — was it the family or was it him?' and suggested it showed a preference within the family to deal directly with federal agents rather than with a local sheriff under a political cloud.

Inside The Slow Grind Of The Nancy Guthrie Investigation

Guthrie, described by those close to her as physically frail, was 84 when she disappeared. Experts quoted in US coverage have openly questioned whether she could still be alive so long after an apparent violent abduction, given that blood was found at the scene.

Authorities have not publicly declared her deceased, but the longer the case remains unresolved, the more brutal the wait for her children and grandchildren.

Early on, there were flashes of what looked like investigative momentum. Surveillance images showed a masked man with a gun lingering outside her front entrance. Detectives seized thousands of hours of CCTV from nearby homes and businesses, alongside dashcam and doorbell recordings from residents. Digital evidence, Nanos has suggested, could still prove as decisive as the DNA.

He bristles at suggestions the hunt has stalled.

'When you have the best minds of the country working on problems, I think they're gonna solve them,' he said. 'It just takes a while.'

In another comment, he framed the lab work as the dividing line between an active probe and a cold case. 'When the labs tell us, "Hey, there's nothing else we can do," well, then maybe we've got a problem... we've got a cold case... but right now, the labs aren't telling us that.'

Nanos also insists his team is right to move cautiously, noting that the public — and the Guthrie family themselves — are understandably 'frustrated' by the pace. 'Nobody wants to make a false arrest. Nobody wants to falsely accuse somebody,' he said.

Nancy Guthrie Family Clings To Hope As Rewards Climb

While the sheriff navigates politics and forensics, the Guthrie family has been left to wage its own public campaign. Savannah Guthrie recently posted an emotional Mother's Day video appealing for information 'that can make the difference', vowing: 'We will never stop looking for you. We will never be at peace until we find you.'

The family is offering a $1 million (£745,000) reward for information leading to Nancy's recovery, on top of the FBI's $100,000 (£74,500) reward. The Bureau has so far only released dashcam footage featuring the masked suspect near the home and has not announced any major leads or further descriptions of the man.

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen entering her Tucson house on 31 January and is believed to have been abducted late that night or in the early hours of 1 February.

Blood was discovered at the scene and authorities quickly released doorbell footage showing a masked man with a firearm near her front entrance. Despite a nationwide appeal and a $1.1 million (£820,000) combined reward from the family and the FBI, there have been no arrests and no confirmed sightings of the missing grandmother.