Sheriff clears Nancy Guthrie’s family as suspects in her disappearance

PIMA COUNTY, Ariz. – Family members of Nancy Guthrie, including her children and their spouses, have been ruled out as suspects in her disappearance, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.

‘Cleared as possible suspects’

“To be clear…the Guthrie family – to include all siblings and spouses – has been cleared as possible suspects in this case. The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Feb. 16.

The sheriff goes on to say the family members are victims.

“To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple…please, I’m begging you the media to honor your profession and report with some sense of compassion and professionalism,” Sheriff Nanos said.

The backstory:

Guthrie, 84, was last seen on Jan. 31 at her Catalina Foothills Tucson-area home. She didn’t arrive for church the next day and that’s when the authorities were notified.

Since then, blood droplets were found on her front porch where her Nest camera captured surveillance footage of a masked suspect. At one point, the suspect tried to cover up the lense with leaves.

On Feb. 15, the FBI said investigators recovered a pair of gloves two miles away from Guthrie’s home that appear to match the suspect’s in the surveillance footage. The pair of gloves has a DNA profile on them, and they were sent to a lab for testing.

Nancy Guthrie missing person poster (FBI)

Full statement from the FBI on the gloves

“The gloves found approximately 2 miles from the Guthrie residence in a field near the side of the road were packaged up by PCOS and sent overnight on 2/12 and they arrived at their private lab in Florida on 2/13. The FBI received preliminary results yesterday on 2/14 and are awaiting quality control and official confirmation today before putting unknown male profile into CoDIS, the national database unique to the bureau. This process typically takes 24 hours from when the bureau receives DNA. Investigators collected approximately 16 gloves in various areas near the house. Most of them were searchers’ gloves that they discarded in various areas when they searched the vicinity. The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video. The FBI has and will continue to provide assistance on whatever timeline is provided to us.”

CLICK HERE TO READ & WATCH OUR FULL COVERAGE ON THIS CASE

What you can do:

The FBI continues to urge anyone with information to contact its hotline at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has also set up a tipline where the community can submit information. A new online form is available for tips.