More than a dozen volunteers fanned out across Tucson's Catalina Foothills neighborhood Sunday morning, searching for any trace of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie, who vanished from her home three weeks ago.
They found a black glove at the intersection of First Avenue and East Camino Alberca, roughly 2.3 miles from Guthrie's residence, along with a SwissGear backpack about 2.8 miles away.
The discoveries come as DNA evidence collected from the scene has yet to produce a suspect, Fox News reported. A glove recovered earlier, about two miles from the home, did not match any known criminals in the FBI's CODIS database. Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC that the mixed DNA sample could take weeks, months, or up to a year to process at the Florida lab handling the case.
Nancy Guthrie disappeared in the early morning hours of Feb. 1. Blood found on her front porch was traced back to her. The FBI released doorbell camera footage showing a masked man on her property. A search warrant was served on Feb. 13, but did not result in any charges.
Three weeks later, ordinary citizens are doing what institutions have not.
When the Public Steps In
The volunteer search launched shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday was the day after Nanos's NBC interview aired. About 12 to 15 people broke into groups of two to four and combed the surrounding area. Christi Wiggins drove in from Phoenix to help.
"I just feel like if it was my mom or anybody in my family that was missing, I'd want somebody to come out and search and try to help find her and bring her home."
Katherine Montanez, another volunteer, captured the mix of urgency and unease that defined the morning.
"I'm nervous, I'm kind of scared, I am unsure, but I'm also, I have a lot of energy to get out there and hopefully, you know, help locate anything to help find her."
These are not professional investigators. They are neighbors and strangers who saw a story about an elderly woman taken from her home and decided sitting still was not an option. That impulse is worth something. It is, in fact, the kind of civic instinct that communities depend on when official channels move slowly.
Not everything went smoothly. Deputies were called to the scene after some volunteer searchers and several online streamers walked onto Guthrie's property with a shovel. A deputy asked them all to leave. There is a line between civic initiative and interference, and it matters, especially in a case this sensitive.
The DNA Problem
The forensic bottleneck at the center of this case deserves more public attention than it has received. The DNA sample recovered from the scene is mixed, meaning it contains genetic material from more than one person. That complicates everything.
CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist at Parabon Nanolabs and a leading expert in the field, explained the challenge. Standard CODIS testing uses 20 genetic markers, known as STRs, and getting a mixed sample clean enough for a database match is extremely difficult.
"It is possible to deconvolute a mixed sample and get a profile, but it's really hard to get a profile into CODIS. It has to be practically perfect."
Moore noted that investigative genetic genealogy offers an alternative path. Instead of the 20 STR markers CODIS requires, genealogical methods use hundreds of thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphism markers to build a profile. Sources told Fox News Digital that the mixed DNA provided only a partial profile, but even partial data has value.
"You could absolutely use that same sample to create a snip profile."
Moore also pointed out that even incomplete STR profiles can serve a purpose. If investigators develop a suspect, they can compare whatever markers they have.
"If you're comparing 13 markers, or just 10 markers, you can still compare them."
This matters for understanding the timeline. The "weeks, months, or up to a year" estimate Nanos gave is not necessarily a dead end. It reflects the difficulty of the standard CODIS route. But forensic genetic genealogy, the same method that cracked the Golden State Killer case, works differently. The question is whether investigators are pursuing that track aggressively enough.
Three Weeks and Counting
Consider what the public knows so far:
- An 84-year-old woman disappeared from her home on Feb. 1
- Her blood was found on the front porch
- A masked figure was captured on doorbell camera footage
- A search warrant served Feb. 13 produced no charges
- The primary DNA evidence is a mixed sample that may not be CODIS-eligible
- Two gloves and a backpack have been found in the surrounding area, none yet conclusively tied to the suspect
That is a thin evidence trail for a case this serious. Investigators say they are working to confirm other items the suspect was seen wearing, which suggests they are still in the identification phase. The FBI tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI, remains active.
There is something deeply uncomfortable about the pace here. An elderly woman was apparently taken from her home in the middle of the night. There is a video of a masked figure at her door. There is blood. And three weeks later, the investigation is waiting on a lab in Florida to untangle a DNA sample that may never produce a clean match through conventional means.
What Happens Next
The volunteer search organizers did not respond to media inquiries on Monday morning. Whether another organized effort materializes remains unclear. What is clear is that public interest in this case is not fading. If anything, the slow drip of forensic updates is intensifying frustration.
Cases like this test the public's faith in the institutions tasked with solving them. The FBI is involved. The Pima County Sheriff's Department is involved. Forensic labs are processing evidence. All of that is appropriate. But the gap between public urgency and institutional pace is real, and it is growing.
Somewhere in Tucson, an 84-year-old woman is missing. Strangers are driving in from Phoenix to look for her. The DNA is still pending. And a black glove sits in an evidence bag, waiting to speak.
