One hundred days after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson home, the single most promising piece of physical evidence in her case, a strand of DNA recovered from the residence, remains under analysis at an FBI crime lab, with no suspect identified and no arrest made.
The milestone passed Monday with Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos declining to discuss the evidence but pledging the investigation is far from over. Law enforcement sources told CBS News that testing on the DNA sample was still in progress. For the family of the elderly grandmother, and for her daughter, NBC "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, the wait continues.
What investigators do have is a thin but active forensic trail. What they do not have, after more than three months of work by local detectives and federal agents, is a credible lead or a named suspect. That gap tells its own story about how the case has unfolded, and about the questions that still hang over the coordination between Pima County and the FBI.
Nancy Guthrie is believed to have been taken from her Arizona home in the early hours of February 1. Security footage captured a masked man loitering around her doorstep the night police believe she was kidnapped. Blood spatters were later discovered on her front doorstep.
Pima County sheriff's detectives initially sent the DNA sample to a private lab in Florida. Several weeks after Guthrie went missing, the evidence was turned over to federal investigators for testing at the FBI's own facility, the New York Post reported. Authorities have not disclosed exactly what type of DNA is being analyzed or where in the home it was found.
That routing, from a local lab in Florida to the FBI, raised pointed questions earlier in the investigation. Reports surfaced suggesting Sheriff Nanos had blocked key evidence from reaching federal investigators. Nanos denied those claims to the Washington Examiner, saying the FBI agreed with the decision to send evidence, including gloves found roughly a mile to a mile and a half from Guthrie's home, to the Florida DNA lab.
Nanos framed the decision as common sense, not obstruction:
"Actually, the FBI just wanted to send the one or two they found by the crime scene, closest to it, mile, mile and a half.... I said, 'No, why do that? Let's just send them all to where all the DNA exist, all the profiles and the markers exist.' They agreed, makes sense."
Still, the delay in getting evidence to the FBI drew scrutiny. FBI Director Kash Patel has said the bureau was sidelined for four days at the outset of the investigation, a gap that, in a kidnapping case involving an elderly woman who relies on daily medication, could prove consequential.
Beyond the DNA strand from inside the home, investigators pursued another forensic thread: a glove recovered roughly two miles from the residence. An FBI spokesperson told Just The News that the glove "appears to match" one worn by the person captured on doorbell camera footage the morning Guthrie disappeared. The glove contained DNA, and the FBI said it was awaiting quality control and official confirmation before entering the unknown male DNA profile into CODIS, the bureau's national DNA database.
But that lead has so far produced no match. AP News reported that DNA from gloves found near the home produced no hits in CODIS. The Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed as much: "At this point, there have been no confirmed CODIS matches in this investigation."
Authorities said additional DNA evidence from the residence is still being analyzed and may also be submitted to genetic genealogy databases, a newer technique that builds out family trees to identify suspects even when a direct match doesn't exist in law enforcement records.
Retired FBI special agent Jason Pack cautioned that the pace of DNA work bears no resemblance to what Americans see on television. The analysis, including building out entire family trees to identify suspects, "takes far longer than television crime dramas would have people believe," Pack said. "That kind of work is slow because it has to be right."
The complexity of the evidence may add to the timeline. Fox News reported that the FBI received DNA evidence from Guthrie's home, including a hair sample, for more advanced testing. Forensic genealogist CeCe Moore suggested the sample from the scene may be a complex mixture: "I would assume it would be Nancy plus two or more unknowns." The Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed that "DNA analysis remains ongoing."
Sheriff Nanos has maintained a tight lid on case details. Asked about the DNA still under analysis, he said:
"It would be highly inappropriate of me to speak to the evidence. We have to keep the integrity of this case. If we make an arrest, that individual has the right to a fair trial, I can't sit here and address all of that."
He added: "We are working hard with all of our partners to resolve this case, and we will."
That confidence contrasts with the reality on the ground. Investigators still had not determined any credible leads or suspects as the case crossed the 100-day threshold. The FBI increased the reward for information leading to Guthrie's recovery to $100,000. Ransom-note deadlines referenced earlier in the investigation have expired without resolution.
Savannah Guthrie has made public appeals for help. "It is never too late to do the right thing," she said in an Instagram video, urging anyone involved to come forward.
Investigators have also explored other avenues, including efforts to detect signals from Nancy Guthrie's heart pacemaker, a technology-driven approach that underscores how few conventional leads remain. A retired Arizona lieutenant has suggested that a possible Mexico angle in the case may have been downplayed, raising further questions about the investigation's early direction.
Ex-FBI special agent Lance Leising, who served in Arizona, offered a window into how the bureau prioritizes DNA evidence. "An item containing DNA, such as a strand of hair found somewhere in a house, is one thing, but a strand of hair near the victim's last known location, such as in her bed, would be a high priority for the FBI," Leising said. Authorities have not disclosed where in the home the DNA was found, a detail that could signal how seriously the FBI treats the sample.
The case has drawn sustained attention in part because of Savannah Guthrie's public profile, but the underlying facts would be alarming regardless. An 84-year-old woman who depends on daily medication was apparently taken from her own home in the middle of the night. A masked figure was captured on camera near her door. Blood was found on her doorstep. And more than three months later, the best forensic evidence is still sitting in a lab.
At the three-month mark, Nanos renewed his public plea for information, an acknowledgment that the investigation needed outside help. Earlier in the case, the FBI zeroed in on a vacant home near Guthrie's residence, but that lead, like others, has not produced a public breakthrough.
Investigators have said they believe they know the motive behind the kidnapping, but knowing why someone was taken is cold comfort when you still don't know who took her, or where she is.
Hope in this case now rests inside an FBI lab, in a strand of DNA that may or may not belong to the person responsible. For Nancy Guthrie's family, and for anyone who believes an 84-year-old grandmother deserves answers, the science cannot move fast enough.
