“Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, 84, went missing on Feb. 1.
As the investigation continued into its third week, authorities focused their attention on Guthrie’s pacemaker device.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News they are deploying a tracking tool, known as the “signal sniffer,” which can detect electronic signals emitted by devices, like pacemakers.
Earlier this week, the authorities mounted this device on a helicopter, flying at a low altitude around the area of investigation, close to Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home.
“Investigators are attempting to locate the device and are working with the manufacturer and other experts in the field to assist in that effort,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said, according to People magazine.
Morgan Wright, CEO and founder of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, told KOLD that software runs continuous scans to recognize whether the signals emitted are coming from Guthrie’s pacemaker.
“The pacemaker is the most unbiased witness we have,” he said.
DNA test comes back nonconclusive
On Tuesday morning, the sheriff’s department said the gloves they sent in for a DNA test produced no matches.
“There is additional DNA evidence that was found at the residence that is also being analyzed,” the statement said.
The authorities took two black gloves, discarded on the side of the road two miles away from the Guthrie home, into evidence on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
FBI’s Combined DNA Index System tested the gloves to see whether they matched the ones worn by the man in the surveillance video from the Guthrie home. However, the DNA did not yield matches in the federal database.
Sheriff rules out the Guthrie family.
On Monday, Sheriff Chris Nanos pushed back against narratives that suggested members of the Guthrie family were involved in Nancy Guthrie’s abduction.
“To be clear … the Guthrie family — to include all siblings and spouses — has been cleared as possible suspects in this case,” Nanos said. “The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case.”
That includes Nancy Guthrie’s three adult children and their spouses.
He further added that the suggestion “is not only wrong; it is cruel.”
“The Guthrie family is victims, plain and simple,” the Pima County sheriff said, and asked the media to show “compassion and professionalism.”
Nanos told KOLD, “We talked to them, we took their phones, we took their computers. I mean, we did everything. We processed their vehicles, we processed their homes. They have been really affected. They’re victims.”
The sheriff’s department announced several road closures over the long weekend as investigators combed through more than 40,000 tips sent in relation to this case, as CNN reported.
Trump on the Nancy Guthrie case
President Donald Trump told the New York Post on Monday that the perpetrators responsible for Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance should set her free or they will face “very, very severe — the most severe” consequences at the federal level.
When asked if the DOJ would seek the death penalty in this case, the president said, “The most, yeah — that’s true.”
Trump previously directed federal agencies to help bring back Guthrie.
“I spoke with Savannah Guthrie and let her know that I am directing all federal law enforcement to be at the family’s and local law enforcement’s complete disposal IMMEDIATELY,” he said.
On the two-week mark of her mother’s disappearance, Savannah Guthrie shared a message on social media.
“I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope. And we still believe,” she said in the video dated Feb. 15.
“I wanted to say to whoever has her, or knows where she is, that it’s never too late. You are not lost or alone. It is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. We believe. We believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it’s never too late,” she said.
Where is the investigation focused?
As per the FBI, the suspect is “a male, approximately 5’9” - 5’10” tall, with an average build.”
He wore a black, 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack in the surveillance video released by the authorities.
Aside from trying to find a DNA match on the gloves or at the Guthrie home, investigators are also trying to locate Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker device.
Nanos has previously warned that Guthrie may be vulnerable without her medication, saying she is “not in good physical health.” Her blood was found on her porch.
Authorities also contacted Walmart management to identify the individual who purchased a backpack available at their stores, according to ABC News affiliate reporter Ashley Holden.