Nancy Guthrie Case Update: Police Break Silence on Second Kidnapping in Search Area

Four months after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her home in Tucson's Catalina Foothills, the Pima County Sheriff's Department has confirmed it is investigating a separate kidnapping less than seven miles away.

Officials insist the new case is not linked to the Nancy Guthrie investigation, detectives are still treating it as potentially valuable.

Sheriff Confirms Second Kidnapping In Search Area

The new case centres on 40-year-old Coral Michelle Smith, who is wanted on kidnapping and aggravated assault charges involving an unnamed female victim.

According to Fox News Digital reporter Mike Ruiz, the incident took place on 29 May at the intersection of River Road and La Cholla Boulevard, just under seven miles from Nancy Guthrie's home in the Catalina Foothills neighbourhood.

On Wednesday 10 June, a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff's Department publicly addressed the growing speculation that the two investigations might be linked.

'This is not connected to the Guthrie investigation,' the spokesperson told Ruiz, drawing a clear official line between the abduction of Nancy Guthrie and the alleged kidnapping involving Smith.

The victim in the Smith case has been located, although her identity has not been released. It is not yet clear whether she knew Smith before the attack, and investigators have not disclosed further details of her condition or the circumstances of the assault.

Court records cited in US coverage paint Smith as a long-term repeat offender. She has previously faced accusations of kidnapping, assault, robbery and disorderly conduct, and has served four separate prison sentences.

Her most recent conviction, for aggravated assault causing physical injury, led to a prison term that ended in 2023.

Pima County officials have issued a wanted alert for Smith and urged the public to 'be on the lookout', warning residents not to approach her and to contact law enforcement immediately if she is seen.

Why Detectives Still See The Smith Kidnapping As Relevant To Nancy Guthrie

Despite the sheriff's insistence that there is no evidential link, veteran investigators say it would be a mistake to treat the Smith case as irrelevant to the wider Nancy Guthrie search.

Retired homicide detective Chris McDonough, director of the Cold Case Foundation and a former investigator on high-profile cases including those of JonBenet Ramsey and Elizabeth Smart, told Jesse Weber Live that detectives will inevitably scrutinise any violent crime in the orbit of an unsolved abduction.

'In any major missing person or abduction-type of investigation, the investigators are going to cast a wide net,' McDonough said, as reported by NewsNation. Officers, he added, would be especially focused on anyone in the area with a 'violent kidnapping history.'

McDonough described it as 'very standard protocol' to track Smith down and test for any overlap with the Guthrie case, even if only to rule it out.

Even if investigators ultimately find no direct link, McDonough said Smith could still prove useful as a source of information rather than a suspect.

'They're going to ask her about any familiarity around the Guthrie home,' he explained. 'What's the word on the street? She may not be involved in any way, shape or form, but she may have information that may connect something.'

Where The Nancy Guthrie Investigation Stands Now

Publicly, progress on the Nancy Guthrie investigation has slowed. The FBI has released the doorbell footage of a masked person on her doorstep on the night she vanished, and DNA from the scene has gone to Quantico for analysis, but thousands of tips later, authorities say they still do not know who that person is.

Reports in US media suggest that Pima County has scaled back the intense, early phase of the ground search. Retired FBI agent Jason Pack told Page Six that such a reduction in visible activity was standard. Resources are 'added at the front end', he said, to cover obvious leads and large search areas, then pulled back as the case shifts into a slower, more analytical phase.

The Sheriff's Office maintains that the Nancy Guthrie file remains active. Investigators are continuing to work leads, examine local criminal activity and follow up on any potential witnesses or informants, including, if they can locate her, the wanted suspect in the separate kidnapping case.

Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, disappeared in the early hours of 1 February. She was dropped home by her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, and is believed by investigators to have been abducted from inside the property later that night.

Doorbell footage has since captured a masked figure on her front step and DNA has been sent to the FBI's lab in Quantico, but the person in the video has not been identified and no suspect has been named.