TUCSON, Arizona - Law enforcement officials expanded sweeps across highways, undeveloped parcels and isolated properties in southern Arizona on Wednesday as they continued efforts to determine the whereabouts of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the elderly mother of television journalist Savannah Guthrie.
Investigators said they are conducting forensic testing on a black latex glove that was recovered along a roadside roughly 1.5 miles from the elder Guthrie's residence, where authorities believe she was taken. Tests are being run for fingerprints and potential DNA matches as officials search for physical links to the abduction.
Video and photographs showing FBI personnel seizing the glove were posted online by the New York Post on Wednesday. It remains unclear whether the single glove matches the pair seen on a masked man in footage recently released by authorities. That footage shows an armed individual wearing a ski mask manipulating the doorbell camera at approximately the time police say Nancy Guthrie vanished.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31 when family members dropped her off at her home after an evening meal with relatives, according to police. Her family reported her missing the next day.
Examination of video evidence
As officers and forensic teams continued to comb a search zone on Tucson's outskirts, law enforcement said the newly disseminated doorbell camera video was being processed through "advanced analytics" to try to clarify the identity of the masked individual.
A former FBI agent described how analysts might attempt to detect facial markers through the ski mask's fabric, noting the work can involve mathematical techniques and the possible application of AI, given recent developments in the field. The approach relies on mapping facial geometry - the relative positions and proportions of features such as eyes, ears, nose, mouth, jawline and forehead - and then comparing those measurements against databases in hopes of finding a match.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has emphasized that Nancy Guthrie had very limited mobility and likely could not have moved far from her home without assistance, leading investigators early on to treat the case as a forcible abduction.
Forensic and investigative developments
Authorities previously confirmed that traces of blood discovered on the front porch belonged to Nancy Guthrie based on DNA testing. Family members and law enforcement have publicly described her as frail and dependent on daily medication.
Since the disappearance, at least two alleged ransom notes have surfaced; both were initially delivered to media outlets and established deadlines that have passed without any verified proof of life. Savannah Guthrie, who co-anchors a national morning television program, has recorded several video appeals alongside her siblings, urging the captors to return their mother and asking the public for assistance. In those messages, the family has said they remain willing to comply with ransom demands.
Authorities said late on Tuesday that a "subject" had been detained for questioning following a traffic stop in Pima County, but the individual was later released and not charged. The sheriff's office also reported that deputies and an FBI forensic team executed a court-authorized search at a location in Rio Rico, Arizona, a community about 60 miles south of Tucson near the border with Mexico. A man who said he was briefly detained told reporters he lived at the address that was searched.
Scale of the response and public tips
The investigation has drawn a substantial law enforcement response. Hundreds of sheriff's deputies and FBI agents have been assigned to the inquiry, and authorities reported receiving nearly 18,000 phone tips since February 1. The sheriff's office said more than a quarter of those tips arrived within the prior 24-hour period.
As investigators continue hands-on searches and lab analyses, several lines of inquiry remain active: confirming whether the glove is connected to the masked individual in the video, further refining image-based analysis to detect facial geometry through the mask, and following up on leads generated by the high volume of public tips.
To date, no authenticated proof of Nancy Guthrie's condition or location has been released publicly.