Nancy Guthrie live updates: Authorities sorting through thousands of tips as investigators search desert
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing Feb. 1 after she did not show up to a friend's house to watch a virtual church service.
What we know
- Investigators combed through the desert terrain near the home of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "TODAY" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, who disappeared from her home in Tucson, Ariz.
- Guthrie, 84, was dropped off at her home the night of Jan. 31 after spending time with her family and was reported missing about noon Feb. 1 after she didn't show up to watch a virtual church service with a friend.
- A man was detained for questioning in the investigation earlier this week and released without charges after speaking with investigators, authorities said.
- The Pima County Sheriff's Department said it has fielded thousands of calls since the FBI released security photos and videos from the morning Guthrie disappeared. The images showed a potential subject wearing gloves, a mask and a backpack who appeared to tamper with the camera at Guthrie’s front door.
- Savannah Guthrie posted a montage of home movie footage of her mom on Instagram today. "Our lovely mom. We will never give up on her. Thank you for your prayers and hope," she wrote.
Day 12 of the search — what we’ve learned today:
- Savannah Guthrie on Instagram shared home movies of herself, her siblings and her mother when they were younger. In her caption she wrote: “Our lovely mom. We will never give up on her.”
- A tent was placed outside Guthrie’s front door today from 7:35 a.m. to 9 a.m. but it’s not clear what it was used for.
- Gloves found at Gurthrie’s home are being sent out for testing, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said today. Pictures and videos released earlier this week by the FBI depicting Guthrie’s possible kidnapper showed a person wearing black gloves.
- Authorities expanded their call for video footage. Police sent an alert through the Neighbors App to users within a 2-mile radius of Guthrie’s home.
What we know about Guthrie's health
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Guthrie does not have cognitive issues, characterizing her as “sharp as a tack.” However, he said, she has limited mobility and needs to take medication daily or “it could be fatal.”
“She is mobile. It’s a challenge for her to get, as the family says, she couldn’t walk 50 yards by herself,” he said.
Guthrie has a pacemaker — a device typically implanted under the skin to regulate heartbeat — which disconnected from its monitoring app on her phone early Feb. 1.
In an emotional video posted on her Instagram page, Savannah Guthrie pleaded for her mother’s return, noting her health is fragile.
“She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer,” Savannah Guthrie said in the video, flanked by her sister, Annie Guthrie, and brother, Camron Guthrie.
Sheriff's department says there are no scheduled press briefings at this time
The FBI is looking into ransom notes or communications involving the Guthrie family, the sheriff's department said.
No press briefings on the matter are scheduled at this time, and the sheriff is not conducting one-on-one interviews; however, the sheriff remains the department's spokesperson.
A press conference will be called when there is a significant development.
Sheriff's department collecting video in relation to investigation
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is asking for all video footage, including vehicles, vehicle traffic, people and pedestrians, and anything "neighbors deem out of the ordinary or important to our investigation" from Jan. 1 to Feb. 2.
Police also sent an alert through the Neighbors App to all users within a 2-mile radius of Guthrie's home. Additionally, app users may receive requests from the sheriff's department for surveillance footage from doorbell cameras.
Gloves found at Guthrie residence, sheriff’s department says
Gloves found at Guthrie's house are being sent out for testing, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a statement this afternoon.
The department said "several items of evidence" were found at the residence, but provided no details beyond the gloves.
The news comes after multiple reports that a nylon glove was found at the home.
Pictures and videos released earlier this week by the FBI that include a possible subject in Guthrie's kidnapping show a person wearing black gloves, as well as a mask and a backpack. The person was also carrying a gun on their body.
Law enforcement is following up on all viable community leads. The sheriff's department said the community should expect increased law enforcement going forward.
Large media presence outside Guthrie’s home as investigation stretches into 12th day
Flowers and messages near Guthrie's house in Tucson, Ariz. Ty ONeil / AP
International and national media outlets, trucks and camera crews have practically blocked the entire street in front of Guthrie’s home amid the ongoing investigation into her disappearance.
Tall Saguaro cacti and large modern Southern homes dot the affluent community of Catalina Foothills. Set in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, houses in this unincorporated neighborhood are generously spaced apart from one another. A Pima County sheriff’s truck sits in her driveway.
Guthrie's neighbor says detectives have asked him about a truck
David Romano, who said he lives around the corner from Guthrie, said detectives have come to his house twice and asked if he has a truck.
Romano said he does not drive a truck, but that investigators seem to be looking for someone who does.
He did not mention what kind of truck he had or why officials had asked his family twice.
Internet-connected doorbells promise security but raise privacy alarms
The FBI’s publication of videos from Nancy Guthrie’s Google Nest doorbell camera has reinvigorated questions that have dogged big tech companies as they have become a larger part of people’s daily lives: How much data are these devices collecting? What happens to that data? Is it ever truly deleted?
FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday that the footage had been recovered thanks to the bureau’s work with private companies, coming after Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said the video was unavailable because Guthrie did not pay for a Nest subscription.
While the details are still unknown, Patel said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday evening: “We were able to execute lawful searches and go to these private sector companies and expedite results, and then go into their systems and actually excavate material that people would think would normally be deleted and no one would look for.”
The capture of those videos was a relief, offering authorities and the public some information to use in hopes of finding Guthrie. But it also underscored how these systems can collect video even if people might not be aware that they are doing so, and that the modern systems that power these internet-connected devices can be harnessed by law enforcement — even when that data may not be available to the users themselves.
Tent placed today outside Guthrie's home was taken down
A tent was placed outside Guthrie's front door on day 12 of the investigation into her disappearance. People have been leaving flowers and notes outside her home.
Federal investigators put the white pop-up tent at her front door at 7:45 a.m. local time and took it down at 9:07 a.m. Five agents were seen on the ground.
It was not immediately clear who set up the tent or what it was used for. An FBI official told NBC News that the bureau has no comment on the tent.
A woman walks her dogs past Nancy Guthrie's house today, where a tent has been erected outside her door. NBC News
Savannah Guthrie posts montage of home movies on Instagram: 'We will never give up on her'
"TODAY" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie took to Instagram again today, posting what appears to be archival footage of her, her siblings and their mother.
"Our lovely mom. We will never give up on her," Savannah Guthrie wrote in the post caption. "Thank you for your prayers and hope."
"Bring Her Home" banner unveiled outside Tucson TV station
Well-wishers write messages of support for the family of Nancy Guthrie on a 4-foot banner outside KVOA in Tucson. KVOA
Nancy's daughter Savannah Guthrie worked at the NBC affiliate before becoming a "TODAY" anchor.
‘Where’s Nancy?’ Guthrie case baffles ex-FBI agents
When former FBI agent Katherine Schweit heard about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, her mind drifted to a crime that took place in rural Wisconsin more than two decades ago.
An 88-year-old grandmother was abducted from her home in February 2003 and placed in the trunk of her car. Her abductor drove her to his property and shackled her inside a trailer. Soon after, the woman’s grandson, who owned a construction company, started to receive messages demanding millions for her release.
“The kidnapper thought he could get a big ransom from the family,” said Schweit, who investigated the case and helped capture the abductor five days after the woman was taken.
The Guthrie case doesn’t seem to be following that script, Schweit said. “If you were going to abduct somebody for cash, why wouldn’t you aggressively try to get the cash by communicating with the family right from the start, so you could get your money and return the victim?”
It’s one of the big questions baffling investigators, law enforcement experts and the millions of Americans following the high-profile case. Even the recent release of home surveillance footage showing a potential subject provides no additional information about the person’s possible motive or what happened to Guthrie.
Officials still looking for clues in Guthrie's disappearance
No suspects or persons of interest are in custody in relation to Guthrie's disappearance as the investigation enters its 12th day.
Officials are now reaching out to her neighbors, requesting footage from their security cameras for specific dates and times.
It’s not yet clear how the FBI collected the video from Guthrie’s Google Nest camera
Shortly after Guthrie disappeared, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that a camera affixed to her door had been disconnected, that she did not have a subscription that would have saved video and that investigators were trying to work with a tech company on the difficult forensic task of recovering any video.
Against those odds, they were successful. More than a week after her reported disappearance, that video was revealed.
An internet-connected Google Nest camera captured an unidentified person in a mask and gloves, carrying a backpack and a gun, approaching Guthrie’s home just before her disappearance. FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was able to collect the video from “backend systems.”
It’s not yet clear how the FBI was able to collect the video. Experts told NBC News that, in some cases, it is possible to collect data from the complex infrastructure that has enabled cloud-based cameras to become a common household feature.
Home security cameras in the spotlight after Guthrie disappearance
The footage the FBI recovered from Guthrie’s Google Nest doorbell camera has provided critical clues in the investigation and led to an outpouring of tips. Now, home security companies including Nest, Ring and Blink, are being thrust into the spotlight.
Nearly 80% of U.S. homeowners say they own some type of security camera, including the most popular brands of Nest, Ring, Arlo and Blink.
Many install these cameras out of concern for crime and property safety.
Authorities have fielded thousands of calls since images were shared
More than 4,000 calls have come into the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in the 24 hours after the FBI released photos and videos of a potential subject.
The department yesterday said it has received 18,000 calls with tips since Feb. 1.
What clues do the images from the videos offer?
Law enforcement, digital forensics experts and the public have been analyzing every frame of the videos recovered from Guthrie’s Nest camera to identify clues about who may have taken her.
Report: Investigators recover pair of black gloves
A pair of black gloves has been recovered by investigators searching for clues in the disappearance of Guthrie, according to a report from NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson. The gloves are being tested for traces of DNA, the report said.
KVOA also reported that residents in the Catalina Foothills where Guthrie lives have been asked to provide investigators with any doorbell camera footage between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Jan. 11.
The need for this is urgent as investigators fear the footage could be automatically overwritten and deleted if it isn't retrieved soon, KVOA reported.
NBC News has asked the FBI and the Pima County Sherriff's Department for comment and has not received responses.
Arizona TV station joins calls for information on Guthrie's whereabouts
NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson has called for anyone with information on the whereabouts of Guthrie to come forward.
The station, where Savannah Guthrie once worked, hung a banner outside its office yesterday that simply read "BRING HER HOME."
"As we're now almost through 11 days into the search, we all want to know where she is, if she's okay and we want to bring her home to her family," an online story at kvoa.com said.
Members of the FBI surveil an area around Guthrie's residence in Tucson, Ariz., yesterday. Brandon Bell / Getty Images
It's been a week since last news briefing
Today marks one week since authorities have provided an official news briefing on the status of the Guthrie case, though the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been supplying written updates.
They have said that investigators continue “working around the clock” as they follow up on all leads.
Since Feb. 1, when Guthrie was reported missing, the sheriff’s department has fielded more than 18,000 calls, they said.
Detained man said he 'felt like I was being kidnapped'
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department searched a property in Rio Rico, a community 60 miles south of Tucson, on Tuesday night and took a man into custody.
But that man, who identified himself as delivery driver Carlos Palazuelos, told reporters early yesterday that after being questioned, he was released without being arrested. Authorities confirmed that a man was detained and released as a follow-up on incoming leads. He has not been charged.
Palazuelos said he might have delivered something to Guthrie’s home at some point, but didn’t recall doing so. He said he was stopped while driving and was detained and questioned because officers thought his eyes matched those seen in the doorcam footage released by the FBI.
Palazuelos said that he doesn’t know who Guthrie is and wasn’t involved in the kidnapping.
Palazuelos said being questioned and stopped was “terrifying. Something I didn’t do. I felt like I was being kidnapped, bro. They didn’t tell me anything.”
Palazuelos confirmed his house was searched as per a warrant. His front and back doors were damaged, he said.
