Nancy Guthrie Update: Police Confirm 'Different' Element Found in Search for Savannah's Mum

The desert north of Tucson can look emptied out, almost polite — until you notice what should not be there. In the search for Nancy Guthrie, that is the problem: one torn black glove in open scrubland can feel like a clue, a cruel coincidence, or both at once.

In brief, investigators are still treating the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie as an abduction; a couple say they found what appeared to be bloodstained gloves and a marked rock about a mile from her home; and police say DNA work on gloves recovered in the area has not produced a database hit.

The Gloves in the Desert

According to the couple, who asked to remain anonymous, they were walking on Feb. 11 when they came across a black glove in the desert near Campbell Avenue in Tucson's Catalina Foothills area, less than a mile from the neighbourhood where Nancy Guthrie vanished. The woman told reporters the glove 'appeared to be ripped' and 'appeared to have blood on it,' describing staining towards the wrist and a tear near the index finger.

A second glove, the couple said, was nearby — about 10 feet from the first — while a rock in the same patch of desert seemed to show what they believed was a dried blood droplet. The husband said they did not touch or move anything and called the sheriff's department, adding: 'We immediately were like, "We have to do something."'

Officers interviewed the pair and, according to multiple reports citing local coverage, investigators stayed at the scene into the early hours, roughly until 2 a.m. It is the kind of detail that can read like reassurance — serious people taking a potential lead seriously — yet it also underlines the maddening truth of this case: time keeps passing and certainty still refuses to show up.

What Police are Saying About Nancy Guthrie Evidence

For readers outside the US, it is worth translating the bureaucracy: the Pima County Sheriff's Department is the lead local law-enforcement agency here, operating at county level, while the FBI is involved because the case has crossed the threshold into a major, high-profile investigation. The sheriff's department has been careful — almost pointedly careful — about what it will and will not confirm regarding the gloves described by the couple.

In a statement cited by outlets covering the search, the department said it could not confirm specifics, adding: 'Detectives and agents have collected multiple gloves from the area and analysis is part of the investigation.' That line matters because it tacitly acknowledges that gloves have become a recurring thread in the evidence trail — found, collected, logged, tested — without yet delivering the neat TV-mystery payoff people keep reaching for.

Police have also publicly addressed forensic results from gloves recovered roughly two miles from Nancy Guthrie's residence, saying DNA evidence submitted to CODIS, the FBI's national DNA database, produced no matches. In the same set of updates, the department said the DNA submitted did not match DNA found at the property and that additional DNA evidence from the residence is still being analysed. That 'different' element — the mismatch — does not solve anything on its own, but it does narrow the fantasy that one clean lab result will suddenly name a suspect.

Sheriff Chris Nanos has also pushed back on any lazy assumption that this was an elderly woman simply wandering off, telling NPR: 'Nancy Guthrie has a clear mind. This is not a dementia-related situation.' NPR reported that she relies on a pacemaker and medication, a detail that makes the timeline feel less like a puzzle and more like an emergency that keeps stretching on.

Ransom Emails and the Bitcoin Noise

Hovering over the practical work — door-to-door checks, lab analysis, tip triage — is the circus of messages and alleged demands. TMZ reported receiving an alleged ransom note demanding millions in Bitcoin and directing payment to a specific wallet address, though authorities have not publicly vouched for the note's authenticity. Separate reporting has described additional emails from a person claiming to know the kidnapper's identity, asking for Bitcoin and saying the money would be needed to 'lay low' because of feared retaliation.

Savannah Guthrie, meanwhile, has spoken publicly as the search drags on, and coverage has noted a retired FBI agent's view that she embedded a 'code word,' 'celebrate,' in a message aimed at whoever has her mother. It is a grim piece of modern hostage-case theatre: family members talking to a camera, hoping the right stranger is watching and hoping the wrong one is listening, too.