TUCSON, Ariz. — A forensic lead that investigators hoped would crack the month-long mystery of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance has reached a dead end. On Wednesday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that DNA found on a discarded glove—previously thought to be a critical link to the 84-year-old’s abductor—belongs to a local restaurant worker with no connection to the crime.
The update comes as a significant blow to the investigation into the disappearance of the mother of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, who was forcibly taken from her home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
The Glove Theory Collapses
For weeks, a black glove discovered in a roadside field approximately two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s residence was a primary focus for forensic teams. The item appeared to match those worn by a masked, armed assailant captured on Nest surveillance footage at Guthrie’s front door.
However, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos revealed in a recent interview with KVOA that the DNA match led investigators to a nearby eatery rather than a suspect hideout.
“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,” Nanos stated. “It has nothing to do with the case.”
The department reiterated on X (formerly Twitter) on March 4 that the individual identified through the testing is “not part of this investigation.”
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Forensic Hurdles and ‘Mixed’ DNA
While the roadside glove has been ruled out, the broader forensic investigation is stalling due to the complexity of the evidence. Sheriff Nanos noted that other samples sent to a private lab in Florida contain “mixed DNA,” a common hurdle where the victim’s genetic material overwhelms the minute traces left by a perpetrator.
“It’s a challenge because we know we have DNA, but now we have to deal with that mixture and how we’re going to separate it,” Nanos told reporters. Despite the setback, the Sheriff maintained a determined outlook, stating earlier this week that investigators are “definitely closer” as they synthesize intelligence from over 30,000 combined tips and calls.
A Chilling Timeline and Rising Rewards
The investigation, now bolstered by the FBI, remains centered on the 31-minute window during which Nancy Guthrie vanished:
- 1:47 a.m.: The doorbell camera at her Catalina Foothills home was manually disconnected.
- 2:12 a.m.: Motion sensors detected a dark figure approaching the residence.
- 2:28 a.m.: Guthrie’s pacemaker was disconnected from its monitoring app on her cellphone, suggesting physical intervention.
In late February, new Ring camera footage from a neighbor showed a vehicle speeding away from the area at 2:36 a.m., just eight minutes after the pacemaker went offline. Authorities are currently reviewing that footage, though they have not yet identified the vehicle’s make or model.
The Family’s Plea
Savannah Guthrie, who has remained off the air to assist in the search, visited a makeshift memorial outside her mother’s home on March 2. Accompanied by her sister Annie and brother-in-law Tommaso Cioni, the family left a heartbreaking note describing their grief as “standing on ash, on scorched earth.”
The Guthrie family has increased their private reward to $1 million for information leading to Nancy’s recovery, in addition to the $100,000 offered by the FBI. They have also donated $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
As the search enters its second month, the focus shifts to more granular digital forensics and the hope that a massive reward will finally compel a witness to come forward.
