The FBI has been blocked from accessing key evidence in the search for Savannah Guthrie’s missing mom, Nancy Guthrie, according to a new report.
A law enforcement official told Reuters on Thursday, February 12, that the FBI requested that the Pima County Sheriff’s Department send physical evidence — including a glove and other DNA — to the bureau’s national crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, for processing as their search for Nancy, 84, continues. Per the official, sheriff Chris Nanos has insisted on using a different lab in Florida, delaying the FBI in its ability to help the case.
Retired FBI agent Scott Curtis addressed the report on Thursday, telling Us Weekly, “Friction between the Sheriff’s Department and the FBI will not help matters.” Curtis is also “surprised” the FBI hasn’t taken over the case nearly two weeks after Nancy was reported missing.
Savannah’s mom was last seen in Arizona on January 31. Nanos previously told Us that there were some suspicious clues at Nancy’s home that pointed to a crime taking place.
“I’ve been doing this for 50 years. When something doesn’t sit well, it doesn’t sit well,” he said earlier this month. “Something unusual at that house occurred that made us go, ‘Wow … something’s wrong here. Something doesn’t fit.’”
Nanos emphasized that he didn’t want Nancy’s loved ones to “lose hope,” adding, “But in the same sense, just as there’s hope, there’s also things that point to us that say, ‘This lady’s in danger.’”
Savannah and her siblings, Annie and Camron Guthrie, have issued several emotional statements pleading for their mom’s safe return. Shortly before the deadline of an alleged ransom note was reached on Monday, February 9, Savannah confessed that her family was in an “hour of desperation.”
One day later, the FBI released surveillance footage and photos of an individual at Nancy’s home. The subject was seen wearing a mask and carrying a backpack, with what appeared to be a gun kept at their waist.
Investigators later told NBC Tucson affiliate KVOA on Wednesday, February 11, that black gloves were found during the search around Nancy’s home. The gloves were submitted for DNA analysis.
Authorities previously announced that $50,000 was being offered for information about Nancy’s abduction before doubling the amount.
“Today, the FBI is increasing its reward up to $100,000 for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance,” read a statement shared by FBI Phoenix via social media on Thursday.
The post revealed that “new identifying details about the suspect” were able to be “confirmed after a forensic analysis of the doorbell camera footage by the FBI’s Operational Technology Division.”
“The suspect is described as a male, approximately 5’9” – 5’10” tall, with an average build. In the video, he is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack,” the statement continued. “We hope this updated description will help concentrate the public tips we are receiving. Since February 1, 2026, the FBI has collected over 13,000 tips from the public related to this case.”
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