Evidence Used to Catch Golden State Killer Could Be Key to Finding Nancy Guthrie as FBI Source Claims It’s ‘Cracked Cases Far Colder Than This One’
The Nancy Guthrie investigation is looking much different today than it was two months ago. Guthrie disappeared sometime between late January 31 and the early hours of February 1, and the first few days were a race against time, with police pursuing every lead and the Guthrie family posting multiple videos pleading with the kidnappers. Multiple ransom notes were even received.
Now, however, the investigation has shifted. That doesn’t mean police are not going after every lead; it just means that they’re retracing some of their steps and focusing on the DNA they collected from Nancy Guthrie’s house. Because that DNA could end up being the key to solving the case.
Related: Who are Savannah Guthrie’s siblings?
Retired FBI special agent Jason Pack spoke with Parade about the case and explained how the investigation has shifted. “The absence of a named suspect does not mean the absence of progress,” he said. “The most consequential investigative work almost never happens in front of a camera,” he added. “Right now, investigators are sitting on months of subpoena returns, lab results, financial records, and digital forensics.”
Pack also pointed out that Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that investigators believe Nancy was targeted. “That is not a throwaway statement,” he said. “They have a direction.”
“The DNA recovered from the property that does not match Nancy or anyone in her circle is still one of the biggest threads left to pull,” Pack explained. “When CODIS does not return a hit, investigators turn to genetic genealogy. That science broke the Golden State Killer case. It has cracked cases far colder than this one.”
Police have, to this point, shared surveillance photos and videos of one suspect, and have also recovered DNA from the scene. Law enforcement officials have also returned to Nancy Guthrie’s neighborhood to canvass the area, focusing on an empty house near Nancy’s home and even investigating the possibility of an internet outage on the night Nancy disappeared.
NewsNation’s Brian Entin also recently revealed, per Realtor.com, that “a source very close to the investigation now [confirms] to us that there were no signs of an assault inside Nancy Guthrie’s home, that most of the rooms were described as ‘immaculate,’ so the house was very, very clean.”
No suspect has yet been identified and no motive for the abduction has been disclosed publicly. The reward for information about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is up to $1 million.
Savannah Guthrie recently gave an interview on the Today show about her mother’s disappearance and announced she would be returning to the show on April 6. “When times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family,” she said of her colleagues. “And so I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try. I would like to try.”
“I’m not going to be the same. But maybe it’s like that old poem: ‘More beautiful in the broken places,” she added.
