As of today in Eastern Time, the most substantive “Nancy Guthrie” update is tied to an ongoing missing-person investigation involving an 84-year-old Arizona woman who shares the name with a well-known Christian author and Bible teacher. That overlap has muddied searches, tips, and social chatter—so here’s the clearest picture of what has materially changed in the case, what still hasn’t, and what to watch next.
The Nancy Guthrie Disappearance: The Latest Verified Developments
Investigators are now in the third week of searching for Nancy Guthrie, who was reported missing after disappearing from her Tucson-area home around the end of January and early February. The case has been treated as a suspected abduction, and authorities say they continue to work active leads, review neighborhood surveillance, and process biological evidence.
Key confirmed developments in the most recent update window:
- DNA work continues, but no public “break” yet. A glove recovered not far from the home produced DNA that was checked against a national database without yielding a match. Separately, biological evidence recovered from the residence remains under laboratory analysis.
- The tip volume has surged into the tens of thousands. Authorities say their call center has been inundated, and detectives are sorting a massive queue of incoming leads. That flood cuts both ways: it increases the chance of a useful detail, but it also creates noise that can slow triage.
- The reward total is now above $200,000. That figure reflects multiple contributions and is intended to motivate actionable information rather than general speculation.
- No scheduled press availability. Officials indicated there were no press briefings planned through the immediate weekend period, signaling that the investigative team is prioritizing operational work over daily media updates.
What happened, in plain terms
Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will. Publicly released information has emphasized evidence collection, video review, and follow-up on a person captured on doorbell-style footage. Despite the high visibility of the case, there has been no announcement of an identified suspect, verified ransom exchange, or confirmed sighting.
What’s Behind the Headline: Incentives, Stakeholders, and Pressure Points
This case sits at the intersection of three powerful forces:
- A time-sensitive health concern. Authorities have raised concerns about medical needs and continuity of care, which makes the search more urgent and complicates risk assessment.
- A celebrity-adjacent profile. Because Nancy Guthrie is the mother of Savannah Guthrie, a prominent morning television co-host, the case draws national attention. That attention can accelerate tips and resources—but it also increases hoaxes, rumor cycles, and opportunistic scams.
- A resource allocation challenge. Local agencies must balance the intensive demands of a high-profile investigation with day-to-day public safety work. The disclosure that call volumes have spiked is a signal: this case is materially affecting normal operations.
Stakeholders with the most at stake include Nancy Guthrie’s family, local residents near the home (who may hold critical video), law enforcement leadership (whose credibility is under constant scrutiny), and potential witnesses who may be reluctant to come forward without clear guidance.
What We Still Don’t Know: The Missing Pieces That Matter Most
Several gaps are central to whether this investigation turns a corner:
- Who is the person on the video, and what is their path of travel? Identification is the hinge issue.
- What does the biological evidence show once testing is complete? The difference between “evidence exists” and “evidence identifies someone” is enormous, and labs can take time.
- Is there a verified motive—targeted abduction, mistaken identity, or opportunistic crime? Investigators have not publicly pinned that down.
- Are there confirmed communications from a perpetrator? Public claims circulate fast in cases like this, but only verified communications meaningfully change strategy.
Second-Order Effects: Why This Case Ripples Beyond One Investigation
High-profile missing-person cases often trigger broader impacts:
- Community behavior changes. Neighbors install cameras, alter routines, and report suspicious activity more often—helpful in some ways, destabilizing in others.
- Copycat noise and fraud risk. Public reward totals can attract false leads and predatory fundraising attempts.
- Institutional scrutiny. Agency decisions—what to release, when to hold briefings, how to handle rumors—become a parallel battle over trust.
What Happens Next: Realistic Scenarios and Triggers to Watch
Here are the most plausible near-term paths forward, with the triggers that would move the story:
- Video identification breakthrough
Trigger: a credible tip links the person on camera to a name, vehicle, or address; a new angle of footage surfaces. - Forensic linkage
Trigger: lab results connect biological evidence to a known individual or to genetic genealogy leads. - Geographic narrowing
Trigger: investigators confirm a route, a vehicle, or a specific secondary location, tightening search areas and warrant activity. - Case-wide reset in public strategy
Trigger: sustained rumor volume forces a formal information campaign to clarify what tips are useful and what is misinformation.
The Other Nancy Guthrie: The Bible Teacher With the Same Name
If you meant Nancy Guthrie the Christian author and Bible teacher: there is no verified “today” news event tied to her in the last 24 hours that matches the urgency of the disappearance case above. What is publicly visible is an active speaking schedule with multiple workshop dates listed for spring 2026 and additional event booking noted later in 2026.
Why this matters: the name collision is real, and it can distort searches and amplify confusion. If your intent was the Bible teacher, the safest “update today” is simply that her upcoming events calendar continues to reflect spring appearances and later-year bookings—without any confirmed breaking-news development in the last day.
If you want, reply with either “missing case” or “Bible teacher” and I’ll tailor the next update to just that one, keeping it strictly to verified developments in the most recent window.
What to Know About the Search for Nancy Guthrie
Day 20: Where Things Stand
The hunt for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of the “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, has extended to its 20th day. The authorities have said they believe she was abducted from her home near Tucson, Ariz., early on Feb. 1.
Background on the Case
Details on the disappearance and investigation.
The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of the “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie, has gripped the nation, with unverified reports of ransom notes, chilling doorbell camera footage and the fame of Ms. Guthrie’s daughter capturing intense interest.
As the days have passed since her last known sighting, developments have intermittently surfaced, but none of them have led to an arrest.
Here’s what we know.
The sheriff clears all of the Guthrie family members.
More than two weeks into the investigation, Chris Nanos, the Pima County sheriff, cleared all members of the Guthrie family, including all siblings and spouses, as possible suspects.
It was the first time that Sheriff Nanos had ruled anyone out in the course of the investigation.
“The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” he said in a statement. “To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims, plain and simple.”
Police seek to match DNA found in gloves.
The F.B.I. on Sunday said that gloves found about two miles from Ms. Guthrie’s home had an unknown man’s DNA on them, and that it would put the DNA profile into a database in an effort to identify the person.
The F.B.I. said that the gloves appeared to match those worn by the man who was captured on Ms. Guthrie’s doorbell camera on the night she was abducted.
The F.B.I. added that most of the other gloves recovered during its searches were those of investigators who had discarded them while conducting sweeps near the home.
A sheriff’s department spokeswoman previously said that investigators found DNA on Nancy Guthrie’s property that was neither hers nor that of anyone in “close contact with her.” The police did not say where the DNA was found.
A flurry of activity happened two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home.
Late on Friday night, law enforcement officials swarmed an upscale subdivision two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, searching a house as well as a Range Rover parked at a nearby Culver’s.
Where investigators have searched
Since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance on Feb. 1, investigators have returned to her house multiple times and canvassed several homes in and around her neighborhood.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said that a federal court-ordered search warrant was executed at the home. A traffic stop was also conducted, and a person was questioned but there were no arrests.
The police also investigated a house on the edge of the Catalina Foothills neighborhood, a short drive from Nancy Guthrie’s home and the home of her older daughter and son-in-law, the sheriff’s department said.
The authorities briefly detained a man but released him after questioning.
The authorities released surveillance images of a masked suspect.
The authorities released surveillance footage from Ms. Guthrie’s doorstep showing a man standing at her front door, wearing a ski mask, gloves and a backpack on the morning of her disappearance.
The sheriff’s department said the man was wearing clothing that can be purchased at Walmart, but noted that it is also available elsewhere.
A timeline, but few clues.
The investigation into Ms. Guthrie’s disappearance began after she failed to arrive at a friend’s house to watch a live-streamed church service on Feb. 1.
Early in the investigation, Sheriff Nanos described Ms. Guthrie’s home as “a crime scene.”
Ms. Guthrie has limited mobility and requires medication every 24 hours, but is mentally sharp, according to the authorities.
Ms. Guthrie’s pacemaker app showed that it had been disconnected from her phone at 2:28 a.m. on the night of her disappearance, indicating she was no longer near the phone, which was left inside her house.
Credit…Pima County Sheriff’s Department, via Associated Press
The Guthries said they would pay a ransom.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have released a series of videos pleading with whoever is involved in their mother’s disappearance to contact them.
They have also said that they were willing to pay for their mother’s return.
“We still have hope and we still believe,” Savannah Guthrie said in a video posted Sunday, two weeks after her mother disappeared. “I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it’s never too late.”
Officials were investigating a message.
The authorities said in the week after her disappearance that they were reviewing a message sent to a Tucson television station.
They did not confirm whether it was related to a purported ransom note sent to several news outlets after Ms. Guthrie’s disappearance, which demanded millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
Savannah Guthrie withdrew from NBC’s Olympics coverage.
Savannah Guthrie, 54, is best known as one of the anchors of the NBC morning show “Today,” a job she has held since 2012.
She joined NBC News in 2007, after working in local news and as a lawyer. She did not go to Italy for the Milan-Cortina Olympics, where she had been expected to play a key role in NBC’s coverage of the Games.
Savannah Guthrie grew up and attended college in Tucson, Ariz. She lives in New York with her husband, the communications consultant Michael Feldman, and their two children.
Sheriff Updates Investigation into Missing Nancy Guthrie: New Leads and Ongoing Questions
Nancy Guthrie has been missing since Sunday, Feb. 1. Authorities have received thousands of tips but, so far, none of the leads have led to an arrest—and none have led to Nancy, 84.
On Friday, Feb. 20, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department shared a new update in the case.
“Investigators are not ruling out the possibility that more than one person may be involved,” read the update, according to NewsNation’s Brian Entin.
Many internet users have theorized that the person involved did not act alone, and the sheriff’s latest update seems to support that idea. Social media users reacted to the latest update on X, many finding themselves with more questions.
Related: Savannah Guthrie’s Mom: Polygraph Report Remains Unconfirmed as Public Awaits Answers
“What is the point of taking an 84 year old woman? They never sent proof of life or not alive. So why did they take her? FIND NANCY. BRING NANCY HOME,” one person wrote.
“It’s day 20+ and counting bro, A woman is gone. A family is grieving. And now they may have to face the possibility that multiple people stood by or worse while everything fell apart. No one deserves that. Whatever the truth is, I hope it comes out fully. For Nancy. For the people who loved her. For the peace her family desperately needs,” someone else said.
“Yes that’s a deep possibility because the guy on the mask alone couldn’t have done the job alone,” a third comment read.
“With hundreds of officers.. agents… DNA … AI…. and NO CLUE what happened after weeks?!? Seems odd in 2026,” a fourth X user added.
Authorities believe that Nancy may have been abducted from her Arizona home in the middle of the night. The FBI has released images and videos of a subject who appeared on Nancy’s front stoop around the time that they believe she was kidnapped.
Law Enforcement Turns to Genetic Genealogy for DNA
A DNA expert believes the kidnapper “will be identified” through investigative genetic genealogy after an unknown person’s DNA was recovered at Nancy Guthrie’s home.
An expert believes it’s only a matter of time before DNA found on Nancy Guthrie’s property can be traced to a specific individual as investigators turn to genetic genealogy to identify the suspect in the case.
As 400 FBI agents and sheriff deputies sift through thousands of tips about the case, authorities are hoping the DNA can provide a crucial lead. They are currently scouring the vast expanse of Arizona’s Pima County, which is larger than the state of New Jersey.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News correspondent Liz Kreutz on Feb. 19 that the unknown DNA found at Nancy Guthrie’s home is a mixture of DNA, which CeCe Moore, chief genetic genealogist at Parabon, a lab specializing in forensic genetic genealogy, said is “common” in violent crimes.
Moore said the recovered DNA could be a crucial development for investigators as the search for Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother reaches its 20th day.
Here’s what to know.
DNA Expert: Kidnapper ‘Will Be Identified’
While Moore said it could take anywhere from days to weeks for the DNA found at the scene to be processed, she is optimistic it will be traced to a specific person.
“I am extremely hopeful,” Moore told Kreutz on TODAY Feb. 19. “I am so happy to hear that the sheriff confirmed that they did find an unknown person’s DNA at the crime scene. That is fantastic.”
Nanos previously said that DNA found at the scene of Nancy Guthrie’s home could potentially belong to the suspect, who was seen wearing a balaclava, gloves and a holstered weapon in footage captured by surveillance video.
DNA analysis of a glove found two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson did not yield any hits in the FBI’s database, and there was no match with what was found at the property, Nanos said.
“Now we start with genealogy and some of the partial DNA we have at the home,” Nanos told Kreutz in an interview earlier this week.
Genetic genealogy combines DNA analysis and looking at genealogical records and publicly available databases. It has worked before in identifying high-profile criminals like Joseph DeAngelo, known as the Golden State Killer, and Bryan Kohberger, who received four consecutive life sentences for killing four University of Idaho students in 2022.
“If I was the kidnapper, I would be extremely concerned right now,” Moore said. “Because using investigative genetic genealogy, he will be identified.”
The question is how long that will take.
“If they have deep roots in the United States, it could be minutes, it could be a few hours,” Moore said. “But if it’s somebody who doesn’t have connections to the U.S. in their tree in more recent generations, then it could take much longer.”
Sheriff: No Sign Nancy Guthrie Was Taken Across the Border
Nanos told Kreutz that while it’s a possibility, there is no evidence Nancy Guthrie was taken to Mexico after being abducted from her home.
Authorities have been in touch with officials on both sides of the Mexican border, two officials familiar with the matter told NBC News.
Police Are Digging Deeper Into Surveillance Footage, Gun Holster
In the surveillance video taken in front of Nancy Guthrie’s front door, the masked suspect can be seen wearing a unique-looking gun holster in an unusual position between his legs.
Nanos told Kreutz on Feb. 19 that authorities have been showing a picture of the holster to local gun shop owners to see if anyone recognizes the suspect or remembers selling the holster. NBC News also spoke to one local gun shop owner who said the FBI visited him with a list of about two dozen pictures.
Kreutz also noted that a ring appears to be showing through one of the suspect’s gloves in the surveillance footage released by investigators.
“I look at the same photo you look at and I get. I see it. I see,” Nanos said. “People have circled and said (it’s a ring). My speculation is, I’m going to give that to my team. They’ll look at that. They’ll analyze it, and we’ll see.”
Nanos also believes the suspect had a target in mind.
“I think this was an individual who had a target for whatever reason, and he has made it tough. But I’ve got some pretty tough investigators, too,” he said.
Companies Offering Help to Retrieve More Footage
Since authorities released the doorbell camera video of the suspect on Feb. 10, Google is still working on retrieving more footage from other Nest cameras on Nancy Guthrie’s property, according to Nanos.
He added that additional companies, including Meta and Apple, have offered to help.
“The way it was described to me is you’ve got eight layers of paint, and you want to peel down to the sixth layer, but you get to that fifth layer, you might tear the sixth layer,” Nanos said. “So there it’s a delicate operation for them.”
The update on the case from Nanos comes after he released a statement on Feb. 16 that cleared the Guthrie family as possible suspects in the case, while advising online sleuths to not speculate who could be involved in the kidnapping.
“This is a family who’s lost their mom to a monster,” he told Kreutz. “We’re going to find her, and we’re going to find that monster. But come on, we can do better.”