{"id":200924,"date":"2026-02-19T15:07:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/arizona-authorities-turn-to-genetic-genealogy-in-ongoing-search-for-nancy-guthrie-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:07:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:07:05","slug":"arizona-authorities-turn-to-genetic-genealogy-in-ongoing-search-for-nancy-guthrie-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/arizona-authorities-turn-to-genetic-genealogy-in-ongoing-search-for-nancy-guthrie-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona authorities turn to genetic genealogy in ongoing search for Nancy Guthrie – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Federal and local authorities will use genetic genealogy to analyze DNA found at Nancy Guthrie’s home as the ongoing investigation into her possible abduction stretches into its third week.
The 84-year-old mother of \u201cTODAY\u201d co-host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing around noon on Feb. 1 after she did not show up to a friend\u2019s house to watch virtual church services. Guthrie was last seen the previous night around 9:45, after dinner at her daughter, Annie’s, house.
Authorities believe that Guthrie was possibly taken from her home. They have not publicly identified a suspect or person of interest. All members of the Guthrie family have been cleared as potential suspects in the case that involves local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
In an update this week, authorities said DNA recovered from a glove found about 2 miles from Guthrie’s home did not match any samples in the FBI’s DNA database, called CODIS, nor did it match DNA found at Guthrie\u2019s property, authorities said on Tuesday. The Combined DNA Index System has 19 million offender DNA profiles and more than 1 million forensic profiles, according to the FBI<\/a>. But a match would not necessarily break the case.
The glove appeared to match the gloves worn by a person seen in security video from outside Guthrie\u2019s home, authorities have said.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos on Tuesday told NBC News that investigators are analyzing some partial DNA that was found at Guthrie\u2019s home. Investigators are also exploring \u201cinvestigative genetic genealogy options\u201d to identify possible DNA matches, the department said.
“We believe that we may have some DNA there that may be our suspect, but we won\u2019t know that until that DNA is separated, sorted out, maybe admitted to CODIS, maybe through genetic genealogy,” Nanos said.
Investigators are now turning to genetic genealogy, which has previously successfully identified other high-profile criminals like the Golden State Killer and University of Idaho murderer Brian Kohberger.
“If I was the kidnapper, I would be extremely concerned right now, because using investigative genetic genealogy, he will be identified,” DNA expert CeCe Moore told “TODAY” Thursday.
Authorities, however, are not allowed to use well-known genealogy sites such as Ancestry.com or 23andMe, and will have to rely on publicly available DNA databases to test the DNA. Moore noted that the process may take a while.
“If they have deep roots in the United States, it could be minutes, it could be a few hours,” Moore said. “But if it\u2019s somebody who doesn\u2019t have connections to the U.S. in their tree in more recent generations, then it could take much longer.”
Last week, the FBI released security camera images and videos of an armed and masked man outside Guthrie\u2019s home on the morning of her disappearance. The FBI has since described that suspect as a 5\u20199\u201d to 5\u201910\u201d tall male carrying a unique gun holster and an Ozark Trail backpack from Walmart. He also may have been wearing a ring.
Nanos noted that identifying the suspect’s backpack <\/strong>could be a critical clue in the investigation.
“We\u2019re working with our Walmart managers all across the state to try to find out how many sales there were of that backpack in the last 20, 30 days, the last 60 days,” Nanos said. “And can we do something with that? Can we break it \u2014 maybe we\u2019ll find a credit card or a bank card? Maybe we\u2019ll find a video of the guy walking in”
The FBI currently has a $100,000 reward for information leading to the location of Guthrie or an arrest for anyone involved in her disappearance. As of Thursday morning, the FBI said it has received<\/a> more than 19,000 tips related to the case since Feb. 1.
An additional $102,500 reward is being offered through Tucson Crime Stoppers, known locally as 88-CRIME.
There\u2019s no evidence that Guthrie was taken over the U.S.-Mexico border, two officials briefed on the case said.
The Pima County Sheriff\u2019s Department and, later, the FBI have been in touch with officials on both sides of the border to share information in the case, officials said, noting that such outreach is standard in missing-person cases like this one.
A Tucson attorney confirmed to NBC affiliate News12<\/a> that his client, 37-year-old Luke Daley, was briefly detained on Friday night during a search of his home but was not arrested. “Both Mr. Daley and his mother are hopeful that Nancy will be returned to her family unharmed,” attorney Chris Scileppi said.
Scileppi did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
As authorities continue to comb through thousands of tips and leads, Nanos stressed that the case is far from cold.
“As long as we have the ability to chase a lead, it\u2019s not cold,” Nanos said. “We\u2019re not going to give up. We\u2019re going to find Nancy, and we\u2019re going to find out who did this.”
Pilar Melendez is a breaking news editor for NBC News Digital who has spent the last decade covering crime, justice, and national news.
Liz Kreutz is an NBC News correspondent.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeFederal and local authorities will use genetic genealogy to analyze DNA found at Nancy Guthrie’s home as the ongoing investigation into her possible abduction stretches into its third week. The 84-year-old mother of \u201cTODAY\u201d co-host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing around noon on Feb. 1 after she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":200925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-200924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}