There has been a bombshell DNA twist in the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, which has now entered day ten.
The search for elderly Nancy Guthrie has now stretched into its tenth day, and the mystery surrounding her disappearance is only deepening.
Nancy vanished from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on January 31.
According to officials, there were no signs that she planned to leave, and her family insists she would not have gone anywhere on her own.
Nancy is believed to have limited mobility, depends on daily medication, and requires assistance to move around.
Her pacemaker and monitoring devices were disconnected after she disappeared, raising serious concerns about her health.
If she is found alive, authorities say she could need urgent medical care.
Savannah Guthrie speaks out
Due to the high-profile nature of the case, Nancy’s dissapearance quickly captured the nation.
Nancy is the mother of Savannah Guthrie, co-host of NBC’s TODAY show.
Reports say Savannah earns more than $8 million a year – a detail that has now become part of the conversation after a ransom demand surfaced.
Just days after Nancy went missing, law enforcement and local media outlets received the chilling ransom note.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Savannah Guthrie (@savannahguthrie)
The eerie message demanded $6 million in bitcoin in exchange for Nancy’s safe return. The note has not yet been officially verified, but investigators are treating it seriously.
Savannah, along with her siblings Cameron and Annie, has made several public pleas.
In an emotional Instagram video posted just three hours before the ransom deadline on February 9, Savannah spoke directly to the suspected kidnapper.
“We are at an hour of desperation,” she said.
Standing beside her brother and sister, she continued: “We received your message and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her.”
Then she added words that caught the public’s attention: “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
The deadline
Despite the family’s willingness, the deadline passed without any proof that Nancy was still alive — something the family had requested before sending the money.
Meanwhile, Savannah said federal agents are ‘working around the clock’ on the case.
However, the investigation took a dramatic turn just yesterday (February 10), when the FBI released surveillance footage connected to the case.
In the black-and-white clip, a masked person can be seen outside Nancy’s home in the early hours of the morning she disappeared. The individual appears to be armed and is seen near the front door camera.
Footage of the suspect
FBI Director Kash Patel said the video was recovered from backend systems after investigators worked to access previously unavailable data.
He confirmed that the footage shows an armed individual who appears to have tampered with the security camera.
At this stage, authorities have not confirmed the gender of the person in the footage, despite many online users suggesting the suspect is a woman, due to her ‘arched eyebrows.’
During a briefing, FBI director Kash Patel said: “The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.
“Working with our partners – as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.”
DNA twist
As part of the next stage of the investigation, federal officers are now taking DNA samples from outside her home in Tucson, Arizona, including droplets of Nancy’s blood.
Former Las Vegas Police Lieutenant, Randy Sutton, told Fox News that the samples would be used to ‘eliminate individuals or obtain information about them.’
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office said it currently has no suspects, and that there has been little new information about the case since last week, despite the release of the footage.
The FBI is now offering a $50,000 reward for information that could help bring Nancy home.
