More than 100 days after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson home, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says crime labs are narrowing in on the identity behind unknown DNA found at her property, and he insists the case is far from cold.
Nanos told People magazine that investigators have been working with multiple laboratories across the country, including the FBI's facility in Quantico, Virginia, to match DNA evidence recovered from the scene. The sheriff expressed confidence that answers are coming, even as the public grows restless and no suspect has been named.
Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC's Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since February 1. Police believe she was abducted from her home. Blood spatter was found on her front porch and along the pathway leading to the street. Investigators released doorbell camera footage showing a masked individual at the property, but that person has never been publicly identified. As TV Insider reported, the question of whose blood was found, Nancy Guthrie's, her alleged abductor's, or both, remains an open and active part of the investigation.
Nanos was blunt about the pace of the investigation, telling People:
"When the labs tell us, 'Hey, there's nothing else we can do,' well, then maybe we've got a problem... we've got a cold case... but right now, the labs aren't telling us that."
He added that the country's top forensic minds are engaged in the effort.
"When you have the best minds of the country working on problems, I think they're gonna solve them. It just takes a while."
That message, patience, not panic, has been the sheriff's consistent public posture. But it has not satisfied everyone. The case has drawn intense national scrutiny, in part because of Savannah Guthrie's profile and in part because of the grim details: an elderly woman, apparent forced entry, blood evidence, and a masked figure caught on camera.
Nanos acknowledged the frustration directly. "There's frustration because people want to know," he said. "But this is just like any other case. Sometimes you solve them within hours or days. Sometimes it takes a long time."
Early in the investigation, Newsmax reported that the Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed DNA recovered from Nancy Guthrie's home belonged to her. The home showed signs of forced entry, and authorities said they believed she did not leave voluntarily. Even so, Nanos cautioned the public against jumping to conclusions, warning that "the sharing of unverified accusations or false information is irresponsible and does not assist the investigation."
One lead that generated early attention, a pair of gloves found roughly two miles from the home, turned out to be a dead end. The FBI initially noted the gloves appeared to match those worn by the masked man seen in porch camera footage. But DNA testing told a different story.
AP News reported that DNA from the gloves produced no matches in the national CODIS database. Authorities said additional DNA evidence from the residence was also being analyzed and could be submitted to genetic genealogy databases, a technique that has helped crack other cold cases in recent years.
Nanos himself later clarified the glove situation in an interview with Fox News. Just The News reported that the sheriff said the DNA on the gloves belonged to a restaurant worker employed across the street from Guthrie's home.
"We believed wholeheartedly that those gloves belonged to a restaurant and guess what? The owner of the glove, we found working at a restaurant across the street. It has nothing to do with the case."
That leaves investigators focused on the unidentified DNA found at the property itself, and on the masked figure captured on security footage, described as roughly 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10 with an average build, carrying a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.
Nanos has framed his approach as careful and methodical. He told People he wants to protect the integrity of any future prosecution.
"Nobody wants to make a false arrest. Nobody wants to falsely accuse somebody. At some point in time, someday we may have somebody in a courtroom that deserves his or her right to have a fair and impartial trial. The way you get that is through a fair and impartial investigation."
That is a reasonable standard in principle. But the sheriff's handling of the case has drawn sharp criticism from multiple directions. The public dispute between FBI Director Kash Patel and Nanos over the pace and quality of the investigation brought federal-level attention to what critics called a sluggish local response.
The political fallout has been tangible. A Republican candidate launched a formal recall effort against Nanos, arguing that his leadership of the Guthrie probe reflected broader failures in his office. That effort drew support from residents who felt the sheriff had been more interested in managing public perception than in producing results.
Meanwhile, Pima County supervisors unanimously demanded Nanos answer for perjury allegations and a troubled work history, adding institutional pressure from within county government itself.
Through it all, Nanos has maintained that Nancy Guthrie may still be alive. He previously told reporters he believed she was being held locally near Tucson, a claim that generated headlines but, as of now, remains unconfirmed by any public evidence.
Savannah Guthrie herself broke her silence about her mother's disappearance, describing propped-open doors and blood on the doorstep in emotional public remarks that underscored the gravity of the case for the family.
The facts as they stand are stark. An 84-year-old woman was apparently taken from her home by force. Blood was found on her porch and walkway. A masked figure was caught on camera. Glove evidence led nowhere. The national DNA database turned up no hits. And more than three months later, no suspect has been named, no person of interest has been identified, and Nancy Guthrie has not been found.
Nanos says the labs are still working, the investigation is active, and he has "confidence in our labs." The FBI lab at Quantico is involved. Genetic genealogy remains a possible next step. Those are real investigative tools, not excuses.
But tools only matter if someone uses them to produce results. The recall effort against the sheriff reflects a community that has heard plenty of reassurances and seen precious few answers.
The sheriff's own words frame the stakes clearly: "I know we have DNA that is unknown who the contributor or depositor is, but I think they're getting closer to finding out who that was." Getting closer is not the same as getting there. And for an 84-year-old woman missing since February, time is the one resource investigators cannot manufacture.
Patience is a virtue in law enforcement. But patience without progress is just delay, and Nancy Guthrie's family, and the public, deserve to know the difference.