A suspect in the Nancy Guthrie investigation could be identified within two days amid a renewed probe into DNA evidence, a former FBI special agent predicted.
Despite the search for the 84-year-old mother of Today Show star Savannah Guthrie nearing three weeks without any arrests, former FBI special agent John Iannarelli said investigators may be closing in.
‘I imagine we’re going to see a fairly quick turnaround. We might even hear something within the next 24 or 48 hours,’ Iannarelli told Fox and Friends on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the investigation hit a major set-back as a glove found two miles from Nancy’s home in Tucson, Arizona failed to match suspect DNA from the crime scene or to the CODIS criminal database, shattering hopes of a breakthrough.
But Iannarelli said the disappointment ‘is not the end of the road’, and said investigators have other avenues to look into in hopes of bringing the high-profile search to a close.
‘There’s been a lot of ways DNA has been developed through the other systems out there. The 23andMe, Ancestry,’ he said.
‘Any person related to that individual who left their DNA behind at Nancy Guthrie’s home, if they’ve ever taken that test, that DNA evidence is going to be out there and it will link them to other relatives.’
Asked how long this may take, Iannarelli said investigators may get a hit within two days, as genealogy analysis ‘can be a fairly quick process because the DNA has already been tested and it’s in the system.’
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos insists that the search for missing Nancy Guthrie is ‘far from cold’ despite no arrests being made 18 days into her disappearance
Nancy Guthrie, seen with her Today Show star daughter Savannah, disappeared from her home in the early hours of February 1
Despite the search nearing three weeks without any arrests, former FBI special agent John Iannarelli said investigators may be closing in on a suspect – potentially ‘within the next 24 or 48 hours’
Amid mounting pressure on his handling of the investigation, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos insisted on Tuesday that the case is ‘far from cold’ despite no arrests being made 18 days into Nancy’s disappearance.
‘As long as we have the ability to chase a lead, it’s not cold,’ Nanos told NBC News shortly after his office admitted it failed to match the glove to DNA.
‘We’re not going to give up. We’re going to find Nancy, and we’re going to find out who did this.’
The glove was found on Sunday and had been briefly regarded as the best piece of evidence in the ongoing search for the 84-year-old, as it appeared to match one worn by a masked suspect seen on Nancy’s doorbell camera just before her disappearance in the early hours of February 1.
Frustrations surrounding the investigation have heaped pressure on Nanos, who has come under scrutiny for his handling of the case amid allegations he made crucial errors in the first hours of the search.
In an interview on Tuesday following his department’s admission that it failed to match the glove to DNA, Nanos attempted to offer a positive spin on the ongoing search.
The sheriff stressed that he believes Nancy is still alive because he had not seen any ‘proof of death’, and said he and his investigators have not lost hope that the 84-year-old could be returned to her family.
‘They ask me, do I have proof of life? I ask them, is there proof of death?’ Nanos said.
Investigators now say a glove found two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home failed to match DNA from her property – days after it raised hopes as it had appeared to match one worn by a masked suspect seen on Nancy’s doorbell camera on the night of her disappearance
Authorities said they found a total of 16 gloves around Nancy Guthrie’s property, many of which were determined to have belonged to investigators. The glove pictured is not believed to be the one sent for DNA testing
‘I’m going to have that faith, and sometimes that faith, that hope, is all we have… My team, 400 people out there in the field today, woke up this morning and went out there with the hope and the belief that they’re going to find Nancy.’
Nanos brushed off criticisms of his handling of the case and said that he is insistent that he will not ‘crush’ the hopes of Guthrie’s family that she is alive.
He vowed: ‘We’re going to continue working this case, every minute of every day, and we will find her.’
Directing his remarks to those responsible for Nancy’s disappearance, Nanos added: ‘And we will find you… to the individual doing this, let her go, just let her go. It will work out better for you in the long run, trust me.’
Nancy was last seen on the evening of January 31 entering her home in Tucson, Arizona. Her pacemaker disconnected from an Apple Watch at her home hours later.
The glove discovered two miles from her home had previously been touted as the first major break in the search, which has now entered its third week without any suspects or persons of interest being named.
Authorities said they also uncovered 16 gloves scattered in various locations around the home, most of which were found to belong to investigators combing the scene.
After the glove two miles away failed to match DNA from her home, Nanos attempted to downplay the development as a setback to the investigation, telling Fox10 that his detectives have ‘other DNA evidence from the scene, that is more critical to me than DNA found two miles from the scene’.
‘All of that will still be submitted for further analysis,’ he said.
‘You take a fingerprint, and you hope to match it right away. But that’s not that easy.’
Nanos added that the evidence found at the scene included a mix of several people’s DNA, saying that he had to ‘hope’ that forensics analysis could ‘separate that.’