Lots of Leads and Some Progress on the Guthrie Case

AP Photo/Ty ONeil

There's still no suspect but Pima County Sheriff's Office and the FBI have thousands of leads to work on. I'll get to the new stuff in a moment but first a summary of what we know at this point.

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Guthrie was reported missing Feb. 1 from her home near Tucson, Arizona. She was last seen the previous night around 9:45 p.m, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. Authorities have described the case as a possible kidnapping or abduction, but clues have been scarce...

Blood found on the porch outside her home tested positive for her DNA, Nanos said. His office has not commented on whether there were signs of forced entry at the property.

The case appeared to enter a new phase Feb. 10 after FBI Director Kash Patel released Google Nest doorbell camera screengrabs and video clips of a man wearing a ski mask and a holstered pistol outside Guthrie’s house the morning she went missing.

Yesterday law enforcement put up a privacy tent near the entrance to Guthrie's home and today the FBI released information including the suspect's height. Investigators are hoping the new information helps narrow down the number of tips they are getting, including sadly some from psychics

The person in the video is described as a 5’9” to 5’10” man with an average build wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack.’

“We hope this updated description will help concentrate the public tips we are receiving,” the FBI Phoenix office said. Over 13,000 tips have been submitted to the FBI on the case since February 1, they said. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said yesterday they’ve received nearly 18,000 calls so far...

In addition to helping potential witnesses with possible recollection of events, a source familiar said additional details about the individual on video are being released to help reduce tips from across the country that investigators believe are not at all associated with the case.

In the category of tips likely unrelated to the case, the source said investigators have been contacted by some psychics, mystics and clairvoyants trying to help.

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The height is helpful and also the identification of the backpack. Apparently this model was sold at WalMart so there are probably a lot of the out there. However, if the backpack was bought locally, they might be able to track down this sale.

There were reports that a glove was found about 1.5-2 miles from Guthrie's home. That glove is now being tested for DNA but no one has any idea yet if it's connected to this case.

Also, DNA was found at Nancy Guthrie's house that, so far, hasn't been eliminated. In other words, the DNA didn't belong to anyone who lived or worked in the house or to any of the family members who'd been there. The identity of the person who left the DNA is unknown, suggesting that person did not have a criminal record which would put them in a law enforcement database.

Officials have not been able to determine who the DNA belongs to, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

This means it didn’t match the “known contributors,” Miller said, meaning the people who have been around or inside Guthrie’s house for other reasons.

It’s also “not somebody who’s been convicted of a felony or arrested on a serious charge where that DNA would be in the FBI system,” Miller said. Investigators would have run it through that database, he said...

“Trust me, if we knew who it was, we’d be on it,” Nanos said. “But we do have some DNA, and we’ll continue to work … with the lab on that DNA analysis.”

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So thousands of tips and some information which could be used to help rule suspects in or out. What we're still lacking at this point are actual suspects.

Just a random thought. Other cases have used public genetic databases to help identify samples, usually by connecting them to a known family tree. It's called genetic genealogy. Could that be used here to identify the DNA found in the house?  I'm sure someone has thought about but no word on whether it's being pursued.

Finally, here's a local news interview with the Pima County Sheriff. If he sounds a little defensive it's because there were reports he was withholding data on the case from the FBI. But he says that's not true at all and that all decisions are being made together with the FBI.


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John Sexton 3:20 PM | February 13, 2026
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