As the search for Nancy Guthrie continues eight weeks after she vanished “without a trace,” as her daughter, Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, said during an interview earlier this week, experts and former officers are still looking into the scene of her disappearance for clues.
Among them is former Pima County SWAT Commander Bob Krieger, who recently commented on revelations made by the Today show host that the back doors of her 84-year-old mother’s home were propped open when the family first went looking for her.
“For me, it’s a quick way in and a quick way out,” Krieger told NewsNation reporter Brian Entin in an interview for his show Brian Entin Investigates.
“Just one less thing you have to think about, opening the door, you don’t want it closing behind you and maybe automatically locking and you not knowing how to unlock it to get out,” he added.
“It’s a time thing.”
What Do We Know About the Scene of Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance?
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31, when she was given a ride back home by a family member after having dinner at one of her daughter’s home. She was reported missing around noon the next day, after she failed to show up at a friend’s house to watch Sunday morning virtual church services.
Bloodstains were found at the scene of her disappearance, her home north of Tucson, Arizona, which were confirmed to be hers. Her doorbell camera had been disconnected, but images were recovered by the FBI showing an armed and masked man outside of the residence on the morning of her vanishing.
At roughly the same time as her doorbell camera disconnected, the woman’s pacemaker disconnected from her phone.
Investigators are treating the case as a kidnapping, though clues have been scarce and no suspect has been publicly identified. Gloves found about 2 miles from Guthrie’s home pointed to the DNA of an unknown male that did not match samples in the FBI’s DNA database or DNA found at the woman’s property, authorities said last month.
Savannah Guthrie also revealed many details not shared by authorities on her mother’s disappearance. According to the TV host, the 84-year-old woman was taken in her pajamas, without her shoes or medicine.
During an interview with Today colleague Hoda Kotb earlier this month, Savannah Guthrie said that when she went to look for her mother at her home they found the two back doors open.
“We thought maybe they came and there was a stretcher and they took her out the back, but her phone was there, and her purse was there and all her things,” the Today host said. “And it just didn’t make any sense.”
She said that, considering her mother’s poor health, there was no way that the 84-year-old woman had propped the doors open and wandered off.
Why Were the Back Doors Open?
Investigators searching for the missing woman have not commented on the back doors of her home being propped open, a detail that was revealed by Savannah Guthrie. They have not commented either on whether there were signs of forced entry at the property.
In his interview with Entin, Krieger said he believes that the back doors were left open by the kidnappers.
“My theory, my hunch, is that she was probably carried out. They probably restrained her inside, some way, and as they left they just carried her,” Krieger suggested, saying that it could have been a one-person job as well as a kidnapping involving two suspects.
The doors were propped open to make sure the kidnapper or kidnappers did not “get lost in the house,” Krieger said.
The desert terrain around Guthrie’s home, however, would have proven difficult to navigate, Krieger said, and that is why bloodstains belonging to the woman were found near the front of the house.
“You can’t even see her house necessarily, there’s just so much brush and trees back here,” Krieger said.
“There’s no way they’re bringing her back this way. If they got there that way, they clearly had to go out the front,” he added. “If they’re propped open, it’s clearly for a reason. Quick in, quick out, whichever it was.”
How Close Are Investigators to Finding Nancy Guthrie?
The case is still very much active, and investigators are likely following several leads. Nancy Guthrie has now been missing for two months.
In a statement issued on March 21, the Guthrie family asked for renewed attention to any clue that could lead to finding their mother, writing that “no detail is too small.”
The post reads: “We continue to believe it is Tucsonans, and the greeted [sic] Southern Arizona community, that hold the key to finding resolution in this case. Someone knows something. It’s possible a member of this community has information that they do not even realize is significant.
“We hope people search their memories, especially around the key timelines of January 31 and the early morning hours of February 1, as well as the late evening of January 11.
“We desperately ask this community for renewed attention to our mom’s case—please consult camera, footage, journal notes, text messages, observations, or conversations that in retrospect may hold significance. No detail is too small. It may be the key.”
The family is offering a reward of up to $1 million for any information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s recovery. The FBI is still offering a $100,000 reward for any information leading to her whereabouts or the suspect or suspects in the case.
Meanwhile, the Pima County Sheriff Office investigating Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is facing troubles of its own, as a former sheriff has accused current leadership of ‘corrupting’ the crime scene, and a deputy has been arrested and fired on a kidnapping charge.
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