The Pima County Sheriff’s Department issued a brief update to the media overnight, saying that police and the FBI “continue to work around the clock on this investigation and are actively pursuing all viable leads.”

It said that “all evidence collected from the crime scene and related search locations” has been submitted for forensic analysis and is being processed.

The sheriff’s department said the $1 million reward offer for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s recovery was “determined by the Guthrie family.”

Police also said that the Guthrie family requested “No Trespassing” signs be placed around Nancy’s residence. “Members of the media are expected to observe these postings and comply with the law,” the sheriff’s department said.

The sheriff’s department added that while it has been distributing updates to the media “on an almost daily basis,” it will now “limit further updates to instances when new information warrants release.”

While announcing a $1 million reward on behalf of her family on Tuesday for the “recovery” of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie also announced a $500,000 donation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The nonprofit was founded by John and Revé Walsh in 1984 with a mission to “help find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent child victimization.”

Savannah Guthrie said her family understands “that we are not alone in our loss.”

“We know there are millions of families that have suffered with this kind of uncertainty,” she said. “We are hoping that the attention that has been given to our mom and our family will extend to all families like ours.”

In a statement posted to Facebook, the organization said that it was “incredibly grateful to the Guthrie family for turning their personal heartbreak into a commitment to helping others.”

The FBI’s Phoenix field office posted a message on social media on Tuesday announcing the private $1 million reward from Nancy Guthrie’s family and urging people with “well-wishes or case theories” to stop calling its tip line.

“If you have firsthand knowledge of Nancy’s whereabouts or any information about where she may be located, please contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324),” the message read.

“To help keep the tip line available for actionable investigative law enforcement leads, please submit only serious and detailed fact-based information — no well-wishes or case theories,” the FBI said, adding: “The tip line is not for personal messages to the Guthrie family.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department had issued similar pleas asking people not to call 911 with their opinions on the case.

With the search for Nancy Guthrie now in its fourth week, Savannah Guthrie posted a new video to Instagram offering $1 million for information leading to the “recovery” of her mom.

“It is day 24 since our mom was taken in the dark of night from her bed,” the Today show cohost said through tears. “And every hour and minute and second and every long night has been agony since then, of worrying for her, fearing for her, aching for her and most of all just missing her, just missing her.”

Savannah Guthrie thanked people for keeping the family in their prayers.

“Please keep praying without ceasing. We still believe in a miracle. We still believe that she can come home,” she said. “Hope against hope. As my sister says, we are blowing on the embers of hope.”

“We also know that she may be lost. She may already be gone,” Savannah Guthrie continued. “If this is what is to be, then we will all accept it. But we need to know where she is. For that reason, we are offering a familial reward of up to $1 million for any information that leads us to her recovery.”

She added: “Someone out there knows something and can bring her home. Somebody knows. And we are begging you, please come forward now.”

Multiple news outlets reported on Monday that the masked person seen on the doorbell camera footage released by the FBI and taken from Nancy Guthrie’s home on Feb. 1, the morning she was reported missing, had gone to her doorstep before that sighting.

According to unnamed law enforcement sources cited by ABC News, one theory is that “the suspect approached the door the first time, noticed the camera and was scared off, only to return later, when he is seen tampering with the device and putting branches in front of the lens.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department issued a statement late Monday pushing back against the reports.

“We are aware that doorbell images released earlier in the investigation depict a suspect in different stages of attire, including with and without a backpack,” the sheriff’s department said. “There is no date or time stamp associated with these images. Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”

Several groups of private citizens have mounted their own searches in the areas around Nancy Guthrie’s home in hopes of helping authorities locate potentially crucial evidence about her disappearance.

“We feel it’s our duty to find her,” Alex Zabel, who helped organize one of the search groups, told local TV station KOLD News 13.

One of the groups includes members of a Mexican nonprofit organization that aims to find missing people in Sonora, the Mexican state that borders Arizona. Some local homeowners have granted the group permission to search their properties, its leader, Lupita Tello, told the Arizona Republic.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has asked search groups to give professional law enforcement personnel plenty of space to conduct the official investigation. “We appreciate their concern, and we all want to find Nancy, but this work is best left to professionals,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement.

One volunteer search turned up a backpack and clothes that were handed over to the authorities, but they did not appear to be related to the case.

“After reviewing the bag and its contents, it does not appear that this is a viable lead for the investigation,” the sheriff’s department told KOLD.

Despite a lack of significant progress in the case, hundreds of law enforcement personnel from several agencies are continuing to pursue every available lead to locate Nancy Guthrie. “There have been no changes to resources in this investigation,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department wrote in a press release on Saturday.

Partial DNA samples collected from Guthrie’s home are being analyzed, though a timeline for when those results might become available is unknown and “there can be challenges” in determining the source of imperfect genetic samples, the department said.

On Saturday, authorities asked volunteer search groups made up of private citizens who had inquired about potentially helping with the investigation to please stay out of the area. “We all want to find Nancy, but this work is best left to professionals,” the sheriff’s department wrote on social media.

Though the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance has centered around the person seen in images from her doorbell cam, authorities have not ruled out the possibility that other people may have also been involved, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Friday.

The department also said it has collected surveillance footage from Guthrie’s neighbors, which it is currently analyzing for potential leads.

President Trump continues to offer his opinions in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

Asked by a reporter on Air Force One on Thursday about what he thinks happened to Guthrie, Trump said, “It’s so crazy. It’s so bad.”

The president said that he “didn’t like when they were talking about they’re going after the pacemaker.” Earlier this week, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that investigators were working with the manufacturer of Guthrie’s pacemaker in an effort to locate the device. Multiple news outlets had reported that law enforcement was using a tracking tool known as a “signal sniffer,” mounted to a helicopter, in the hopes of finding it.

“Before they even started going after it, they’re coming and reporting it,” Trump said. “If, in fact, they could do it that way, the person would say, ‘Well, I’m not gonna let that happen,’ right? So bad things would happen, and he’s not going to let that happen. I can’t imagine why they would have done that in terms of strategy.”

Trump suggested that the media “start reporting on other subjects also and see what happens.”

“It’s a very sad situation,” he added.

Nearly three weeks after Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, officials say they continue to be swamped with tips — but not many are actionable.

Cecila Ochoa, dispatch manager for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, told NBC News that many of the calls coming into 911 are from people who want to share theories and opinions about the case.

She asked that people think twice about calling police.

“If you’re thinking about calling in a tip or a lead or if you have specific information regarding the case, I ask that you take a moment and think — is this tip viable, is it credible?” she said. “What we don’t want are the opinions and the thoughts and kind of wondering, ‘Are investigators doing a, b, c and d?’”

The sheriff’s department issued a similar plea last week.

“As long as leads continue to come in, investigators will continue to follow up on them,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department wrote in a news release Thursday afternoon.

According to the department, several hundred personnel from various law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

On Wednesday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News that the thousands of tips that are being submitted by the public are helping keep the case active.

“As long as we have the ability to chase a lead, it’s not cold,” he said.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has received more than 28,000 calls through 911 and its non-emergency lines since the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance began nearly three weeks ago.

Cecilia Ochoa, the department’s dispatch manager, described to a local news outlet how it is handling such an overwhelming flood of information from the public.

“People saying the suspect is right-handed or left-handed, or whether it’s a man or a woman. There are plenty of people calling in about the same thoughts or theories, so those are typically the types of things we just we don’t want to hear about,” she told KOLD News 13 in Tucson on Thursday.

Ochoa said she and her team have had to modify how they interact with people who call about the case, telling them that the department is “not taking any tips unless it’s a possible location or suspect information.”

The change was needed, Ochoa told KOLD, in order to ease the burden on investigators who are “having to comb through every single” tip that comes in.

After DNA recovered from a glove found about two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home turned up no matches in the FBI’s national database, authorities are turning to genetic genealogy as the investigation into her disappearance stretches into its third week.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News that investigators are analyzing partial DNA found at Guthrie’s home and are exploring “investigative genetic genealogy options” to identify possible matches.

The forensic investigative genetic genealogy method, which incorporates public genealogy websites with DNA analysis, helped authorities identify Brian Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students in 2022.

The law prevents police from searching private genealogy databases such as Ancestry.com or 23andMe. Instead, investigative genetic genealogy relies on publicly available databases, such as GEDmatch.

“If I was the kidnapper, I would be extremely concerned right now,” CeCe Moore, a DNA expert, said on NBC’s Today show Thursday. “Because, using investigative genetic genealogy, he will be identified.”

ABC News reported on Wednesday that the FBI has “reached out to Mexican authorities” about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

NBC News confirmed the report, saying such outreach is standard, given the proximity of the U.S.-Mexico border to Tucson, Ariz., where she was reported missing.

But law enforcement sources told both ABC News and NBC News that there’s no evidence that Guthrie was taken across the border.

The Tucson-based nonprofit 88-Crime announced Wednesday that it had received $100,000 from an anonymous donor to be used as a reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s location. The new reward is in addition to the $100,000 sum that the FBI is offering.

88-Crime is a local chapter of Crime Stoppers, a nationwide community program that allows people to anonymously report information about criminal activity without potentially putting themselves at risk of punishment. The $100,000 donation will be added to the $2,500 reward the organization had previously offered.

On Monday, Milwaukee-based attorney Michael Hupy said he would provide $100,000 in reward money to Crime Stoppers. Hupy argued that the FBI’s tip line — which requires people to submit personal information like their name, email address and phone number — could be preventing someone from sharing crucial details with law enforcement.

88-Crime has not confirmed whether Hupy is the source of its new reward money.

Investigators are analyzing “biological evidence” collected from Nancy Guthrie’s home, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday. The genetic material belongs to multiple people, the department said, though it declined to say how many separate DNA profiles there are or who they might belong to.

On Tuesday, the department announced that a DNA sample gathered from a pair of gloves found roughly 2 miles from the Guthrie home did not return a match in the FBI’s national DNA database.

In his interview with NBC News, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos expressed hope of solving the Nancy Guthrie case, more than two weeks after she was reported missing.

“As long as we have the ability to chase a lead, it’s not cold,” Nanos said. “And we have thousands of leads we’re looking at.”

He added: “We’re going to find Nancy, and we’re going to find who did this.”

As the search for Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, continues, people have been showing their support by leaving yellow flowers outside the 84-year-old Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills north of Tucson, Ariz., and attaching yellow ribbons to trees in the neighborhood.

At the suggestion of a viewer, Savannah Guthrie’s NBC colleagues filled the Today show studio with yellow roses on Wednesday and wore yellow ribbons in solidarity.

“This is our missing mom,” Today cohost Carson Daly said.

Savannah Guthrie has not been on the show since her mother went missing.

In a new interview with NBC News, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators are canvassing gun shops in an effort to identify the person seen in the video taken from Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera. In the footage, the individual appeared to have a gun in a holster on the front of his waistband.

“We know he had a gun. We know he had a holster that had some pretty unique characteristics,” Nanos said. “We can’t quite identify it yet, but that’s being worked on. So naturally, we go to our gun shops everywhere and say: ‘Have you seen this guy? Can you help us identify this weapon? Can you help us identify this holster?’”

Authorities are also working with Walmart management to “identify and isolate” the individual who purchased the backpack seen in the surveillance footage, the sheriff’s department said. The FBI had identified the backpack as a black, 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack,” which is sold exclusively by the retailer.

The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department have fielded over 40,000 tips since Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Feb. 1, according to the latest figures distributed by the sheriff’s department.

Investigators said the total number of calls to 911 and emergency and administrative lines from Feb. 1-16 was 28,586, including 20,968 nonemergency line calls.

The FBI’s National Threat Operations Center has received more than 18,000 tips related to the Guthrie case over the same period, the sheriff’s office said.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News on Tuesday afternoon that the failure to find a match for DNA found on gloves discovered near Nancy Guthrie’s house is “not the end” of their attempts to use genetic material to find the person responsible for her disappearance.

“Now we start with genealogy and some of the partial DNA we have at the home,” he told the network.

He added that he believes that some of the DNA collected at the home may belong to the suspect, but that investigators won’t know for sure until it’s been cross-referenced against available DNA databases.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday that investigators are still processing evidence from two search warrants executed last week. Authorities searched a home near the edge of Nancy Guthrie’s Catalina Foothills neighborhood outside of Tucson, Ariz., on Friday night, and a residence in Rio Rico, Ariz., earlier in the week.

“The individuals who were questioned have been released, and no arrests have been made,” the sheriff’s department said. “As this investigation continues, you can expect to see similar activity.”

The department added that it “has not confirmed the number of leads investigators are actively pursuing.”

As the search for Nancy Guthie entered its 17th day on Tuesday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that it is working with the manufacturer of the 84-year-old Guthrie’s pacemaker in an effort to “locate the device.” Police had said that Guthrie’s pacemaker stopped syncing with her Apple devices at approximately 2 a.m. the morning she was reported missing.

Separately, investigators are working with Walmart management to “identify and isolate” the individual who purchased the backpack seen in the doorbell camera footage released by the FBI, the sheriff’s department said. The FBI had identified the backpack as a black, 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack,” which is sold exclusively by the retailer.

The sheriff’s department also said that investigators are “canvassing businesses and showing the doorbell video released by the FBI to determine whether the suspect appears familiar.”

Genetic material gathered from gloves that were found roughly two miles away from Nancy Guthrie’s house did not match anything in the FBI’s DNA database, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.

Other sources of DNA material are still being processed, the department said.

Michael Hupy, an attorney and the president of the Milwaukee chapter of the nonprofit Crime Stoppers, has offered up a $100,000 reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s location.

In an interview with a local news station, Hupy argued that the FBI’s system for providing tips surrounding the case — which requires people to submit personal information like their name, email address and phone number — could be preventing someone from sharing crucial details with law enforcement.

“This woman has been missing for two or three weeks. And no leads have amounted to anything,” he told Fox 6 in Milwaukee. “So if the person who knows who the perpetrator is doesn’t want his name exposed, wants a reward and has information that will lead to an arrest — Crime Stoppers is the perfect place to do it.”

Crime Stoppers is a community program that allows people to anonymously report information about criminal activity without potentially putting themselves at risk of punishment. Hupy said that the $100,000 reward would be paid out through the Tucson Crime Stoppers chapter.

There were a few developments in the search for Nancy Guthrie over Presidents’ Day weekend. Here’s a quick recap:

• Friday night: Authorities swarmed a home on the edge of Nancy Guthrie’s Catalina Foothills neighborhood north of Tucson, Ariz., as they carried out a search warrant. Additionally, a person was questioned during a traffic stop. No arrests were made.

• Sunday: The FBI said in a statement that gloves found about two miles from Guthrie’s home appeared to match the ones worn by the suspect in the doorbell camera footage. The DNA from an unknown male was lifted from one of the recovered gloves, the statement said, and will be entered into the bureau’s national database.

• Sunday night: Savannah Guthrie posted another video to Instagram, pleading with her mother’s apparent abductor. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” she said.

• Monday: Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos released a statement saying that all members of the Guthrie family, including the missing 84-year-old’s adult children and their spouses, have been cleared as suspects. “To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel,” Nanos said. “The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple.” The statement came amid ongoing speculation about Nancy Guthrie’s daughter, Annie Guthrie, and her son-in-law, who police said had dinner with her the night before she was reported missing.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos was asked by NBC News why he decided to release a statement on Monday clearing Nancy Guthrie’s family, including her children and their spouses, as suspects in the case.

“Because sometimes we forget we’re human and we hurt, and kindness matters,” Nanos said. “It is every cop’s duty to stand up and be that voice for our victims. I’m not going to sit in silence when others are attacking the innocent. Isn’t that what the badge represents?”

No one in Nancy Guthrie’s family is being considered a potential suspect in her disappearance, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department wrote in a statement Monday afternoon.

“The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” the department wrote.

In the days following Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, there had been ample online speculation surrounding her immediate family, with specific rumors centering around her son-in-law. Monday’s statement makes clear that he and all other members of the family are not suspected of being involved.

President Trump said that he would direct the Department of Justice to seek the “most severe” federal punishment against those responsible for Nancy Guthrie’s apparent abduction if she isn’t returned alive.

The president made the comments in a phone interview with the New York Post on Monday, more than two weeks after the 84-year-old mother of Today show cohost Savannah Guthrie was reported missing.

When asked if that meant the death penalty, Trump said, “The most, yeah — that’s true.”

On Sunday, Savannah Guthrie posted a video on Instagram urging for her mother’s safe return.

“It’s been two weeks since our mom was taken, and I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope and we still believe,” Guthrie said. “And I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it’s never too late, and you’re not lost or alone. It’s never too late to do the right thing.”

Guthrie added, “We are here, and we believe. We believe in the essential goodness of every human being.”

The FBI confirmed to ABC News that the DNA of an unknown male was lifted from a glove that appeared to match the ones worn by the suspect in doorbell camera footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home, taken on the morning she went missing. It was reportedly found about 2 miles away from her house.

A glove found near Nancy Guthrie’s home appears to match the gloves worn by the masked person seen in the FBI-released doorbell camera footage, according to multiple news outlets that cited the FBI.

The glove, which contained DNA, was one of several that investigators found while searching near her home. Most of the gloves belonged to searchers who had discarded them while working in the area, the FBI said.

“The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video,” the FBI said in a statement, adding that it’s waiting on final test results from the glove, which could take about 24 hours.

As the cohost of Today, Savannah Guthrie’s fame has led to national attention in the disappearance of her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, and significant resources have been dedicated to finding her. But it has also led to rampant speculation and false leads.

YouTuber Jimmy Williams told the BBC that the speculation only heightens the intrigue of the case. Since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, his YouTube channel has gained more than 8,000 new subscribers, he said.

Many who have kept up with the details of the case feel for the Guthrie family and believe that this could happen to anybody’s mother.

Kelly Himes, who told the BBC that she lives several miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home, felt compelled to visit the growing number of flowers at the end of Nancy’s driveway to offer a prayer.

“Nancy’s the same age as my mom, the same height as my mom, and she’s got the same hair,” Himes told the BBC. “She lives alone, just like my mom does. This is someone who could be anybody’s mother.”

There are currently no planned news conferences scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 15, a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told Yahoo in an email on Sunday morning.

Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker was disconnected from the accompanying app on her phone just before 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 1, the same day she was reported missing.

Authorities are now using a device called a “signal sniffer” mounted on a Pima County Sheriff’s Department helicopter to attempt to detect her pacemaker, NewsNation reported.

“The helicopter has to stay low and move slowly for it to work,” NewsNation reporter Brian Entin said in a Saturday post on X.

Former FBI special agent Maureen O’Connell also told NewsNation on Saturday, “With regards to this particular tool … I do know that the pacemaker sends off a very short-distance alert, or whatever, so they’re going to have to get really close.”

Arizona state Rep. Alma Hernandez, who represents Pima County, blasted “random wannabe journalists and YouTubers” in an X post on Saturday for doing “more harm than good” in the investigation.

“Let law enforcement do their jobs. Stop following them during swat operations and playing detectives,” she said, adding that she is sick of the “constant LIES” and calling for them to “GO HOME.”

The search for Nancy Guthrie entered its third week on Sunday. The 84-year-old was last seen on Jan. 31 at her Tucson, Ariz., home and was reported missing by her family on Feb. 1. Here’s what we know so far about the investigation:

• The FBI shared details about the masked person seen in the doorbell camera footage it released, describing them as 5 feet 9 inches tall with an average build. They were wearing dark clothing, black gloves and sneakers, and had a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.

• DNA uncovered by forensics teams on Nancy Guthrie’s property that does not match her or anyone close to her is being analyzed at a laboratory, the Pima County sheriff said.

• Additionally, multiple pieces of evidence collected by investigators, including several gloves, are undergoing forensic analysis. One of the gloves was discovered up to 10 miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home.

• Authorities have not named a suspect or made any arrests as of Sunday morning.

  • On Feb. 10, law enforcement detained a man for questioning and searched his residence in Rio Rico, Ariz. He was released hours later.

  • No arrests were made on Friday following a law enforcement operation at a residence near Nancy Guthrie’s home.

Late Friday, more than a dozen law enforcement vehicles — including SWAT and forensics teams — swarmed a residence on the edge of the Catalina Foothills neighborhood, a short drive from both Nancy Guthrie’s home and the home of her older daughter and son-in-law.

Multiple roads were closed for about four hours while officers conducted activity “related to the Guthrie case,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department later confirmed on X.

But despite initially posting that “a written statement” about Friday’s activity would be “forthcoming,” the department ultimately left the scene without explaining why they were there.

“Because this is a joint investigation, at the request of the FBI — no additional information is currently available,” the department announced.

Local deputies and FBI investigators also converged on a second scene in the parking lot of a restaurant about five minutes away from the residential neighborhood they had sealed off.

They were seen investigating and photographing something in the trunk of gray Range Rover. A tow truck eventually hauled the SUV away. It is unclear whether this activity was connected to the Guthrie case.

In an interview with a Fox News reporter on Friday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that the gloves that were recovered by investigators were not found at Nancy Guthrie’s home.

“We never found a glove on that property,” Nanos said.

The department said in a statement on Thursday that investigators had “recovered several items of evidence, including gloves,” and that they were being submitted for analysis. It did not say where the items were recovered.

NBC News incorrectly reported that the gloves were found at Guthrie’s residence. On Friday morning, the network issued a correction, stating that it was not clear where they were found.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it will not hold a press conference on the Nancy Guthrie case today, saying in a post on X that it would notify the media only “if any significant developments occur.”

The last official media briefing on the investigation was on Feb. 5.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, President Trump was asked why the FBI, which is assisting the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, hasn’t taken over the case.

“It was a local case originally, and they didn’t want to let go of it, which is fine — it’s up to them. It’s really up to the community,” Trump said. “But ultimately, when the FBI got involved, I think, you know, progress has been made.”

Asked later if he believes the Mexican cartel or a foreign nation was involved in her apparent abduction, the president replied: “You can’t say that yet. It’s a little bit early, but it’s, uh — somebody either knew what they were doing very well, or they were rank amateurs. Either way, it’s not a good situation.”

There are light rain showers falling in the Tucson, Ariz., area, including in Nancy Guthrie’s Catalina Foothills neighborhood.

The FBI’s field office in Phoenix told CNN that its agents would continue their investigation “regardless of weather conditions.”

But any rain could complicate the search for evidence in the desert terrain. However, while forecasters had predicted up to an inch of rain in some areas, the National Weather Service said it now expects “little to no” accumulation this morning.

A California man accused of sending a fake ransom note to the family of Nancy Guthrie appeared in federal court in Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday.

Derrick Callella, of Hawthorne, Calif., has been charged with “transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce, and without disclosing his identity, utilizing a telecommunications device with intent to abuse, threaten or harass a person,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for District of Arizona announced in a press release.

According to prosecutors, Callella sent text messages to Nancy Guthrie’s daughter, Annie Guthrie, and her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, asking about a bitcoin transaction moments after the Guthrie family released their first video message addressing Nancy Guthrie’s apparent kidnapper.

Callella made an initial appearance in federal court in Santa Ana, Calif., last week and was released on $20,000 bond.

He was granted release on Thursday under multiple conditions — including no contact with any victims or witnesses and having all of his devices monitored — as he awaits trial.

In a new interview with KOLD-TV, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators have developed “good leads” in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

But Nanos also acknowledged that there are still no signs of the 84-year-old, who was reported missing on Feb. 1.

And the sheriff again disputed a report that he was blocking the FBI’s access to key evidence in the investigation, insisting that local and federal law enforcement are on the same page.

In addition to the growing makeshift memorial outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home, neighbors of the missing 84-year-old in the Catalina Foothills have been tying ribbons to trees, symbolizing hope of her safe return.

KOLD-TV reports that a local Tucson flower shop has also been helping create special arrangements with yellow roses for those looking to support the Guthrie family.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is denying a report that he is blocking the FBI’s access to key evidence in the Nancy Guthrie case.

Reuters reported on Thursday that the FBI asked for evidence, including gloves and DNA found near the 84-year-old’s home, to be processed at the bureau’s national crime laboratory in Quantico, Va., but Nanos insisted on using a private lab in Florida.

In an interview with KVOA-TV, Nanos said the report was “not even close to the truth.”

Nanos said that he and FBI officials had a discussion about sending recently discovered gloves to the bureau’s lab. “I said ‘No, why do that? Let’s just send them all to where all the DNA exist, all the profiles and the markers exist,'” Nanos explained. “They agreed, makes sense.”

Authorities provided a new description of the person suspected of abducting Nancy Guthrie based on forensic evidence from images captured by the doorbell camera outside her home.

He is described as “approximately 5’9” – 5’10” tall, with an average build.” The agency also shared specific details of the bag he is believed to have been wearing, a black, 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack.”

The FBI is also doubling the size of its reward for information that leads to her location, from $50,000 to $100,000. The agency said it has collected more than 13,000 tips from the public since Guthrie’s disappearance on Feb. 1.

Forecasters are expecting rain showers that could bring between one-quarter and 1 inch of precipitation to the Tucson, Ariz., area on Friday, which could create challenges for law enforcement as they scour the area surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s home for evidence.

Friday’s showers will be the first rain to fall in the area since Guthrie’s disappearance on Feb. 1. The FBI’s field office in Phoenix told CNN that its agents will continue their investigation “regardless of weather conditions.”

Photos show investigators searching for evidence in the past few days near Nancy Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills area near Tucson, Ariz.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a post on X Thursday that there are no scheduled press briefings at this time and that Sheriff Chris Nanos is not conducting separate interviews.

If there’s a “significant development” in the case, a press conference will be called, the post added.

In an update on Thursday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said that investigators have “recovered several items of evidence, including gloves,” and that they are being submitted for analysis.

On Wednesday, as FBI agents scoured the Catalina Foothills near Nancy Guthrie’s home north of Tucson, Ariz., a black glove was recovered about 1.5 miles from the 84-year-old’s residence, according to a New York Post reporter who was there when the item was found.

It’s unclear whether authorities believe it’s the same glove worn by the person seen in the doorbell camera footage released earlier this week by the FBI.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is expanding its call for video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s neighbors.

Investigators are now “requesting any video showing vehicles, traffic, pedestrians, or suspicious activity from Jan. 1 – Feb. 2” in a 2-mile radius of Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills, the department announced in a post on X.

Police previously asked neighbors to review footage from Jan. 11 between 9 p.m. and midnight, as well as from Jan. 31 between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

An alert was also sent through the Neighbors app, police said. Residents may be contacted directly through the app by the sheriff’s department, urging recipients to “verify legitimate posts” by looking for a blue checkmark.

It’s been 12 days since Nancy Guthrie was reported missing from her Tucson, Ariz., home. Authorities have so far not publicly identified any persons of interest or suspects in the case.

Here’s what’s happened in the investigation this week.

Sunday, Feb. 8

• Detectives continue follow-up work at multiple locations, and an investigator is seen using a pole to search in a septic tank behind Nancy Guthrie’s home.

Monday, Feb. 9

• The FBI says it isn’t aware of any communication between the Guthrie family and possible kidnappers, despite a 5 p.m. ransom deadline set for that evening.

• Savannah Guthrie releases an emotional Instagram video pleading for the public’s help, saying, “We are at an hour of desperation.”

Tuesday, Feb. 10

• The FBI releases a video and images of what it says is “an armed individual” appearing to tamper with a doorbell camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1

• Authorities detain a man for several hours and later release him after they carry out a “court-authorized search” of the Rio Rico, Ariz., home he shares with his wife and mother-in-law. He says agents told him he looked like the person in the doorbell camera footage.

Wednesday, Feb. 11

• Investigators widen their search outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills.

• FBI agents recover a pair of black gloves that are being tested for traces of DNA, according to KVOA of Tucson.

• TMZ says it received a note from someone claiming to have information about Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapper in exchange for 1 bitcoin, worth over $60,000.

• Authorities say they’ve received over 18,000 tips as of this point in the investigation, with more than 4,000 since the FBI released the doorbell camera footage.

Thursday, Feb. 12

• Police ask Nancy Guthrie’s neighbors to check their home security footage from Jan. 11 and Jan. 31.

• A white tent is temporarily constructed in front of Nancy Guthrie’s home, then later taken down.

A man who says he lives around the corner from Nancy Guthrie said investigators have asked him on two separate occasions if he owns a truck, according to NBC News.

David Romano told detectives he does not own a truck, but indicated that investigators seem to be looking for someone who does.

Romano didn’t say why investigators may have asked him about it twice.

A white tent that had been set up outside the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s home north of Tucson, Ariz., early this morning has been taken down, according to reporters there. It remains unclear why it was put up or taken down.

The tent had been blocking the view of the front entrance, where police said blood belonging to Nancy Guthrie was found.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday that it has received nearly 18,000 tips related to the Nancy Guthrie case since Sunday, Feb. 1, when she was reported missing.

More than 4,000 of those calls had come within 24 hours of the FBI releasing six surveillance images and three videos of a masked person, who appeared to be tampering with a doorbell camera in front of Nancy Guthrie’s home.

Retired FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas told Yahoo that investigators are likely working to follow up on each and every tip, first and foremost because one of thousands could lead to a break in the case. “I worked one case where we had over 5,700 leads,” Trombiatas said, “and it was tip number 5,444 that led to the resolution of the case.”

Another reason to follow up on each tip is to cover all bases before the case goes to court. “When it’s time to prosecute,” Trombitas said, “if you don’t follow those up, the defense is going to bring up an argument … ‘How do you know that another individual that was mentioned wasn’t the one that’s really responsible if you didn’t follow it up?”

A white tent was put up outside the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s home north of Tucson, Ariz., just before 8 a.m. local time, according to reporters there. It’s unclear why.

The tent is now blocking the front entrance, where police previously said that blood belonging to Nancy Guthrie was found.

The entrance is also where the doorbell camera that captured the footage released by the FBI of “an armed individual” on the morning of her disappearance had been.

With the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie entering its 12th day, Savannah Guthrie posted a new video to Instagram on Thursday with old footage showing her and her sister as children with their mother.

“Our lovely mom,” Savannah Guthrie wrote in the caption. “We will never give up on her. thank you for your prayers and hope.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is asking Nancy Guthrie’s neighbors to check their home security cameras for footage from Jan. 11 between 9 p.m. and midnight, ABC News reported on Thursday.

The request, which was made on an app called Neighbors, did not specify a reason, per ABC.

Authorities also asked people in the Catalina Foothills area to check footage from Jan. 31 — the day Nancy Guthrie was last seen — between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. for a “suspicious vehicle” that was seen in the area.

The FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday that they have fielded more than 18,000 tips since Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Feb. 1, and more than 4,000 since the release of doorbell camera footage showing “an armed individual” outside her home on the morning of her disappearance.

They encouraged anyone with information to call the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Photographs show investigators widening their search today near Nancy Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills north of Tucson.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos previously said it’s possible Nancy Guthrie was targeted, and if so, investigators don’t know whether it was because of Savannah Guthrie’s high public profile as a Today coanchor.

Harry Trombitas, retired FBI special agent, told Yahoo, “I still believe it was targeted.”

“I don’t think that they randomly picked Nancy’s house,” he added. “I truly think they must have known something that Nancy was there and perhaps the family had some money.”

Trombitas said that if it were a random burglary, for example, there was no need to take Nancy, and they could have gotten out quickly and tried another home down the road.

“It appears to me like it was targeted,” Trombitas said. “They knew at least who was there, and until we catch them and have a chance to interview them, a lot of these questions that we have about how they conducted the crime are going to remain unanswered until we sit down with them and ask them these questions.”

Despite multiple updates happening in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance on Tuesday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday that “there are no press briefings or interviews scheduled at this time.” A press conference will only be held if there’s a “significant development,” it added.

Retired FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas told Yahoo, “I absolutely think that it’s a good sign” for the progress in the investigation. “I think they’ve been working behind the scenes tirelessly” to bring Nancy back home to her family.

“Law enforcement is not going to lay their whole case out,” Trombitas explained.

“I’ve worked cases where it is critical that you not release this information and that you have to remember that everything you say not only is being picked up by the media and passed on to the public, but you’re talking to the bad guys as well,” he pointed out.

“I think there’s a good chance that some very valuable tips have come in, and they’re in the process of following up on those, and I truly believe that before too long, we will have another break in the case,” Trombitas said.

Yahoo spoke with retired FBI Special Agent Harry Trombitas on Wednesday about the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie and stressed the importance of how much authorities need the public’s help in finding her.

“In my career, I worked a number of kidnappings, and relying on the public is critical,” Trombitas said. “Oftentimes, you hear about law enforcement agencies thinking that they can do this by themselves, that they don’t need any public input, and the reality is we need public input. We need to have the public call the information in; help us out, no tip is too small,” he explained.

“I believe this case is going to be solved on a public tip.”

Trombitas explained that there was one case he worked that had 5,700 leads, and it was the 5,444th tip that led to the resolution of the case.

“Somebody knows who is involved out there, and we just need them to contact law enforcement.”

The FBI is urging people with any information regarding the case to contact them at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

TMZ says it received another note related to Nancy Guthrie’s apparent abduction and forwarded it to the FBI.

Last week, TMZ was one of three news outlets to receive a ransom note demanding $6 million from the family. The FBI has not publicly verified the authenticity of that note.

Harvey Levin, TMZ founder, said the sender of the latest note claims to “have information about who the kidnapper is.” According to Levin, the person who sent it said that they have been trying to get in touch with two of Nancy’s adult children, Annie Guthrie and Camron Guthrie, but have been unsuccessful.

The sender is demanding one bitcoin in exchange for the information, per TMZ.

According to Yahoo Finance, one bitcoin is currently worth about $67,000. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for “information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.”

The FBI’s field office in Phoenix issued a statement on Wednesday saying that “numerous” agents are “conducting an extensive search along multiple roadways in the Catalina Foothills area related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation.”

Guthrie’s home, where she was last seen, is in the same area, just north of Tucson.

“We are asking the media and motorists to follow all traffic laws and to remain especially cautious when passing law enforcement personnel near the roadways,” the statement added.

A lot unfolded on Tuesday in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Here’s a recap to get you caught up:

Tuesday afternoon:

• The FBI released a total of three videos and six images of what it said was an “armed individual” appearing to tamper with a doorbell camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, the same day she was reported missing.

• An FBI webpage dedicated to the Nancy Guthrie case was launched, featuring an updated missing person poster, along with the surveillance videos and photos. A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered for “information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.”

Tuesday night:

• Deputies from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department detained a person at a traffic stop in an area south of Tucson, Ariz., for questioning.

• A “court-authorized search” of a home in Rio Rico, Ariz., was carried out by the sheriff’s department and the FBI’s Evidence Response Team related to the investigation.

• Authorities released the detained person after several hours. The man, a delivery driver who identified himself as Carlos, told reporters that authorities said he looked like the person in the FBI-released surveillance footage. “I hope they get the suspect,” he said. “Because I am not it.”

• Despite the law enforcement activity, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it did not have plans for a scheduled press conference.

• FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News that his agents are “looking at” multiple ”persons of interest” in the investigation. “We have made substantial progress in these last 36 to 48 hours,” Patel said. “We are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is asking the public not to call 911 to “share opinions or commentary” about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

“To ensure we can respond to other emergencies, we must keep 9-1-1 lines open for situations requiring immediate assistance,” the sheriff’s department said Tuesday in a post on X. “These lines are not the appropriate place to share opinions or commentary.”

Last week, the sheriff’s department urged people wanting to express their “thoughts and prayers” to the Guthrie family to stop calling its nonemergency line.

“Calls expressing condolences have overwhelmed our communications staff,” the department said.

Despite the law enforcement activity overnight, authorities have not scheduled a news conference to update the public on the investigation.

“There are no press briefings or interviews scheduled at this time,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a post on X. “Should a significant development occur, a press conference will be called & media will be notified via email and our X account.

The man who was detained and later released just hours after the FBI released surveillance videos and photos of a person in front of Nancy Guthrie’s home told reporters that he doesn’t know what led authorities to him on Tuesday night.

The delivery driver, who identified himself as Carlos, said authorities were following him in his vehicle while he was working. When they approached his vehicle, he said they only told him to “stop moving,” asked him his name, and then he was detained in a police car.

Reporters asked him what was going through his mind when authorities told him the search was related to the kidnapping case of Nancy Guthrie. Carlos said he was thinking, “What the f*** am I doing here? I didn’t do anything, to be honest. I’m innocent.”

Carlos said he doesn’t follow the news, let alone know who Savannah Guthrie is or her mother. He said his first priority is to get his name cleared because his family is in “shock.”

“I hope they get the suspect because I’m not it,” Carlos told reporters. “And they better do their job and find the suspect that did it so they can clear my name.”

A man who was detained for several hours in connection with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance has been released after authorities concluded a search of the home he shares with his wife and mother-in-law in Rio Rico, Ariz., south of Tucson.

The man, a driver who identified himself as Carlos, told reporters that he had not heard of the Guthrie case but hoped police would solve it.

He said agents told him that he looked like the person seen in the doorbell camera footage released by the FBI.

“I hope they get the suspect,” he said. “Because I’m not it.”

Authorities are searching a home in Rio Rico, Ariz., an unincorporated community about 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Rio Rico is roughly 65 miles south of the Catalina Foothills community in northern Tucson, where Nancy Guthrie’s home is located.

FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News late Tuesday that his agents are “looking at” multiple people “related to” the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

“We have made substantial progress in these last 36 to 48 hours,” Patel said. “We are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest.”

Patel spoke to Fox News shortly before the Pima Country sheriff announced that a “subject” had been detained in connection with the investigation.

He indicated that the “private sector” had helped the FBI identify “persons of interest in and around the area related to this event” and explained that investigators were currently trying to determine whether any of them were involved in Guthrie’s disappearance.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI’s Evidence Response Team are conducting a “court-authorized search” at a location in Rio Rico, Ariz., as part of the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, the department said in a statement. The operation is expected to last several hours, it added.

Rio Rico is about 60 miles south of Tucson and 15 miles north of the Mexico border.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos released a statement Tuesday night confirming that a “subject” had been detained in connection with the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

“There is no press conference scheduled at this time,” the sheriff’s department added.

Multiple news outlets reported Tuesday night that a person has been detained by police for questioning in connection with the apparent abduction of Nancy Guthrie

The person, who was not named, was detained “in a location south of Tucson,” ABC News reported, adding that “law enforcement is preparing to search a location associated with the individual.”

The development comes hours after the FBI released images and video of what it described as “an armed individual” from a doorbell camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home Tucson area home on the morning of her disappearance. The person was seen in the footage wearing a mask, a backpack and gloves, and carrying what appeared to be a holstered handgun in the front of their waistband.

It was not immediately clear whether the detained person was the individual seen in the newly released footage.

Initially, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said there was “no video available” from the night of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance — even though Guthrie owned a Nest-made doorbell camera.

To save video, authorities explained, Guthrie would have needed a subscription to Google’s recording service. (Google owns Nest.)

So where did Tuesday’s breakthrough images of an “armed individual” wearing a ski mask and gloves come from?

Earlier, FBI Director Kash Patel said it was “recovered from residual data located in backend systems.”

Now CNN is reporting that Google provided the necessary technical expertise to retrieve the lost imagery.

Citing a source “familiar with the investigation,” CNN described the days-long process as “so technically complex that investigators didn’t know whether it would be successful.”

Law enforcement officers were seen today searching the Tucson neighborhood of Nancy Guthrie’s daughter Annie, multiple outlets reported.

Nancy had dinner at Annie’s house the night before she disappeared.

According to NBC News, some officers were “looking in the brush and in a resident’s backyard shed” while others were “overheard asking neighbors for security camera video.”

CNN reported that both FBI agents and Pima County sheriff’s deputies appeared to be canvassing the area.

The FBI has launched a webpage that provides details about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, including a missing person poster and newly released surveillance images and video of a person wearing a mask and gloves outside of her home near Tucson, Ariz.

The website says the images “show an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance. The FBI seeks information that will lead to the identity of this individual.”

The FBI is urging anyone with information regarding the case to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324). People may also contact their local FBI office, the nearest American embassy or consulate, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted another surveillance video on X of what he described as an armed person approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door with their head down, wearing gloves and carrying a backpack.

“Additional recovered footage, from the same camera — at the same timeline the morning of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance,” Patel wrote in the caption. “This footage is just before the original video shared, with the individual approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door.”

The FBI issued an updated missing person poster of Nancy Guthrie — now including the surveillance images it released on Tuesday showing what FBI Director Kash Patel said was an armed individual outside of her home, the same day she was reported missing. The FBI reminded people that it’s offering a $50,000 reward for “information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.”

In a second Instagram post on Tuesday, Savannah Guthrie shared the videos of what the FBI said was an armed person outside of her mother’s home that were released by authorities.

“Someone out there recognizes this person,” she wrote in the caption. “We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the top of Tuesday’s press briefing that she and President Trump have reviewed the newly released photos and video from the FBI.

“The president encourages any American across the country with any knowledge of the suspect to please call the FBI, who continue to assist state and local authorities who are leading this investigation on the ground,” she said.

Leavitt added that “the prayers of this entire White House are with Savannah and her family at this time. We hope this person is found soon and that her mother is brought home safely.”

When responding to a reporter’s question about the newly released images, Leavitt said Trump’s initial reaction was “just pure disgust” and said of the case, “It’s heartbreaking to see.”

Savannah Guthrie shared the FBI’s newly released surveillance images of a person outside of her mother’s home.

“We believe she is still alive. Bring her home,” she wrote in the caption. “Anyone with information, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department 520-351-4900.”

FBI Director Kash Patel posted additional new recovered surveillance videos and photos of an individual from the same security camera outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home.

In the post, he urges “Anyone with information, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit http://tips.fbi.gov.”

https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2021285842044494279

FBI Director Kash Patel posted additional recovered surveillance videos and photos of an individual captured by the same security camera outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home.

In the post, he urges “Anyone with information, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit http://tips.fbi.gov.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which has been working with the FBI in the investigation, said there are no planned press briefings following the FBI’s release of surveillance images of someone outside Nancy Guthrie’s front door early on the morning of Feb. 1, when she disappeared.

Nancy Guthrie does not have cognitive issues and was characterized as “sharp as a tack” by Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos last week. He noted, however, that she does have limited mobility.

“It’s a challenge for her to get, as the family says, she couldn’t walk 50 yards by herself,” he said.

Nancy Guthrie has a pacemaker, which disconnected from its phone monitoring app in the early morning hours on Feb. 1, the same day she was reported missing.

Savannah Guthrie, flanked by her sister, Annie Guthrie, and brother, Camron Guthrie, posted an emotional video last week in which they mentioned their 84-year-old mother’s “fragile” heart and health.

“She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive, and she needs it not to suffer,” Savannah Guthrie said in the video.

In a post on X, FBI Director Kash Patel released new images relating to the investigation of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

“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,” the post states.

A new detail in the timeline of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance reveals that the 84-year-old was supposed to go to a friend’s house to watch a church service streamed online the morning of the day she was reported missing, according to NBC News, which cites a source close to the family. When Nancy Guthrie didn’t arrive, that’s when friends notified the Guthrie family.

Guthrie and her friends would regularly gather together to watch the church services online, the source said.

A surveillance photo showing a potential subject in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is expected to be released by law enforcement officials as soon as today, NBC News reported, citing two senior law enforcement officials.

Last week, in the first video that the Guthrie family posted since their mother Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, they acknowledged news of an alleged ransom note.

“We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated,” Savannah Guthrie said, adding that they required proof their mother was still alive.

Before the rise of AI, providing proof of life could include having a hostage take a picture while holding a newspaper with the date or talking over the phone, Joseph Lestrange, a law enforcement veteran, explained to NPR News.

But now with the prevalence of AI, it’s easy for someone to use certain modeling tools to mimic someone’s voice, or likeness in photos, videos and audio to create “deepfakes.”

“You give it the right prompts, it can pretty much make up just about anything,” Lestrange said.

While investigators haven’t revealed whether any such proof of life has been received, Lestrange explained that federal agencies have “very effective” tools to examine the authenticity of a piece of evidence, like its location data or pixels — local and state agencies might not have access to the same tools.

Savannah Guthrie pleaded for help from followers in an Instagram video on Monday.

She thanked everyone for all the prayers and love their family has felt, including their mom. “We believe somehow, some way, she is feeling these prayers and that God is lifting her even in this moment and in this darkest place,” Guthrie said in the video. “We believe our mom is still out there. We need your help. Law enforcement is working tirelessly around the clock trying to bring her home, trying to find her. She was taken and we don’t know where, and we need your help.”

Guthrie asked followers to report anything that seems strange to law enforcement. “We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help,” she concluded.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department shared the following timeline of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance last Thursday:

Saturday, Jan. 31

• 5:32 p.m. — Nancy takes an Uber to her daughter Annie Guthrie’s nearby home for dinner

• 9:48 p.m. — Nancy’s family drops her off at home and the garage door opens

• 9:50 p.m. — The garage door closes

Sunday, Feb. 1

• 1:47 a.m. — The doorbell camera disconnects

• 2:12 a.m. — Software detects a person or animal on camera, but no video is available

• 2:28 a.m. — Nancy’s pacemaker app disconnects from her phone

• 11:56 a.m. — Nancy’s family goes to the home to check on her after receiving a call that she was not at mass that morning, an unusual occurrence

• 12:03 p.m. — Nancy’s family places a 911 call to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to report her missing

• 12:15 p.m. — Authorities arrive at Nancy’s home