The search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie has intensified this week, with reports the FBI has been in touch with the Mexican government and law enforcement regarding her disappearance.
Guthrie, the mother of US television host Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since February 1, with investigators indicating she was likely abducted from her Tucson, Arizona home in the middle of the night.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told BBC News this week that he believes Guthrie was targeted in the apparent abduction. Surveillance footage appears to show a masked, armed person tampering with her doorbell camera on the night of her disappearance.
Guthrie’s family reported her missing at 12.15pm on February 1, when she did not attend church. Authorities have confirmed a trail of blood on Guthrie’s doorstep belonged to her.
Alleged ransom notes have been sent to several media outlets, including TMZ.
While it has been reported police have been in touch with Mexican authorities, there has been no official request for collaboration over the Guthrie case. Authorities have insisted there is has no evidence she had been taken over the Mexican border.
Sheriff Nanos said Guthrie was limited in her physical mobility and could not have left her home unassisted. She has a pacemaker, which was disconnected from her phone app on the night of her disappearance.
Savannah Guthrie, a popular co-anchor of the morning show Today, has posted a series of video messages alongside her siblings on social media, pleading for the return of her mother.
Following an anonymous donation this week, the rewards for information about Guthrie’s disappearance have totalled more than $200,000.
‘The Guthrie family are victims, plain and simple‘
Sheriff Nanos has cleared Nancy Guthrie’s family members as possible suspects in the case. In a public statement, the Sheriff said her family, including all siblings and spouses, had been gracious while cooperating with the investigation and were not suspects.
“To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel,” the sheriff said.
“The Guthrie family are victims, plain and simple.”
Earlier this week, DNA evidence was taken from a glove found near Guthrie’s home. It produced no matches in the FBI’s database. It appeared to match the gloves worn by the masked person in the surveillance footage.
Despite widespread public attention, no arrests have been made and no suspect has been publicly identified.