The FBI has recovered DNA from a glove found near the Tucson home of missing 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie that could represent the investigation’s most significant breakthrough since the TODAY show co-host’s mother disappeared two weeks ago.
According to NBC News, the glove containing the DNA evidence was recovered roughly two miles from Guthrie’s home and appears consistent with a glove worn by an individual seen in doorbell camera footage from the morning she disappeared.
An FBI spokesperson confirmed the agency received preliminary results on Saturday and is awaiting quality control and official confirmation before putting the unknown male profile into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the bureau’s national DNA database. This process typically takes 24 hours from when the bureau receives DNA.
What Investigators Found
The glove was one of 16 recovered over several days in areas surrounding Guthrie’s home. Investigators determined most of the gloves belonged to searchers combing the area for evidence.
“The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video,” an FBI spokesperson told NewsNation.
READ MORE: Nancy Guthrie Case Escalates, Multiple Detained After SWAT Raid, Range Rover Covered in a Tarp
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed DNA had been retrieved from multiple gloves. “We’ve gotten DNA back,” Nanos said Friday. “So that’s of use. Now [we] have to go through and try to eliminate people or make people.”
The sheriff’s department sent the gloves to a private lab for analysis in Florida on Thursday evening. They arrived at the laboratory on Friday, and the FBI received preliminary results on Saturday.
Investigation Shifts Focus
Two sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News that authorities are leaning away from several individuals previously scrutinized, including the man whose home was searched Friday night, a man named Carlos who was stopped in a car last week, and any of Guthrie’s relatives.
The sources cautioned that no one has been officially ruled out, and investigators continue to pursue leads.
A federal court-ordered search warrant was executed at a residence near Guthrie’s home Friday night based on a lead investigators received. No arrests were made following the search. Deputies also conducted a traffic stop connected to the case, questioning one individual, but no one was taken into custody.
What Surveillance Video Shows
The FBI has analyzed videos taken from Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home that show a man who is 5’9” to 5’10” tall wearing a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack tampering with her doorbell camera the morning she disappeared.
Experts have said the gloves the subject appears to be wearing in the doorbell video outside Guthrie’s home look like nitrile gloves pulled over another pair of gloves.
The FBI’s Operational Technology Division conducted a forensic analysis of the doorbell camera footage to establish these identifying details about the suspect.
DNA Could Unlock the Case
Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jason Pack told Fox News the recovery of a glove matching the type the suspect is seen wearing represents “a promising development,” though significant hurdles remain in identifying a suspect.
“Finding one that looks right doesn’t mean it is right,” Pack said. “Even when a glove appears to match, the DNA inside can be degraded by weather, moisture, or handling. It can come back to someone who had nothing to do with the crime. Or it can yield nothing usable at all.”
If the DNA profile comes back with a match in the criminal database, investigators could have a name within hours.
Former FBI supervisory special agent Jim Clemente said forensic evidence from inside the home is more likely to yield results than outdoor items exposed to Arizona’s harsh elements.
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