Law Enforcement Reveals Nancy Guthrie’s Abductor Had a ‘Target’ as Sheriff Admits It’s Been ‘Tough’ To Locate Him

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Law enforcement officials have revealed that Nancy Guthrie's kidnapper had a "target," noting that this person has made it that much more difficult for investigators to track him down.

While speaking out about the disappearance of Savannah's mother, Nancy, which has entered its third week, the Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC that he believes her abductor has made it "tough."

“I think this was an individual who had a target for whatever reason, and he has made it tough, but I've got some pretty tough investigators too,” Nanos revealed.

Law enforcement also revealed that an Arizona internet user searched the web for Nancy's address as well as Savannah's salary, weeks before the 84-year-old's abduction,  according to Fox News Digital.

There were reportedly two Google searches of Nancy's home between March 1 and 8, 2025, and the other from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1, 2025.

The mystery person allegedly searched for images of the property.

Someone also searched "Savannah Guthrie salary" between Dec. 13 and 20, 2025.

Amid the glimpse into the suspect's mind, TMZ has reportedly received yet another ransom note that "is sophisticated, and puts the media right in the middle of it," as per the outlet.

The reports of an alleged new note come just hours after TMZ founder Harvey Levin told Fox News that the outlet would no longer share if they received a ransom note.

"We decided that we’re not going to say if he’s sent us any more letters. If we say we got a letter today, and tomorrow you ask me, and I say we got a letter tomorrow, and then the next day we say we’re not gonna talk about it, it tips off the kidnapper.

"We’re essentially saying, 'Well, that’s the day he gave us the information,'" Levin said.

The law enforcement official noted that he is focusing in on the fact that the gloves they discovered at the crime scene didn't match any of Nancy's close acquaintances.

The FBI and the Sheriff’s Department revealed that DNA recovered from gloves found near Nancy’s home belongs to an unknown male.

However, after submitting the DNA to CODIS—a criminal justice database—law enforcement officials were not able to secure a match.

"There were no DNA hits in CODIS. At this point, there have been no confirmed CODIS matches in this investigation," the sheriff's department said.

Although there were no matches in CODIS, officials have revealed that they won't give up and will explore other options, such as genealogy testing, noting, "that's not the end."

“Now we start with genealogy and some of the partial DNA we have at the home.

“To me, that’s more critical than any glove I found 2 miles away. I’m not dismissing the glove 2 miles away, but I have gloves 5 miles away, 10 miles away, so we prioritize.

“We believe that we may have some DNA there that may be our suspect, but we won’t know that until that DNA is separated, sorted out, maybe admitted to CODIS, maybe through genealogy,” Sheriff Nanos said in an interview.

He did not reveal where in the home the DNA was discovered.

On Feb. 17, it was revealed that law enforcement officials shut down rumors that Nancy's kidnapping was inside job as they revealed that the Guthrie family, including all siblings and spouses, have been cleared as possible suspects.

"To be clear...the Guthrie family—to include all siblings and spouses—has been cleared as possible suspects in this case. The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case.

"To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple," a statement released by the Sheriff's Department said.

The announcement came as investigators revealed that they were still processing evidence from the two search warrants they executed last week.

"The individuals who were questioned have been released, and no arrests have been made. As this investigation continues, you can expect to see similar activity," a statement from officials revealed.

The department noted that officials have yet to confirm how many leads they are looking into. "Regarding gun shops, investigators are canvassing businesses and showing the doorbell video released by the FBI to determine whether the suspect appears familiar," the officials added.

Investigators previously revealed they have spent the past several days searching gun stores near Nancy’s home, according to NBC News. A federal law enforcement official described the investigation as ongoing and active.

“Things are still very fluid, and we are pursuing many leads,” the official said, noting that such investigative steps are standard procedure.

Since authorities released security footage showing a masked, armed intruder outside Nancy’s home, investigators have reportedly received between 40,000 and 50,000 tips from the public.

Law enforcement also revealed that they are working with Walmart management to identify the person seen in the security footage, who purchased the backpack from the grocery chain.

"Investigators are working with Walmart management to identify and isolate the individual who purchased the backpack," the department said.

Federal officials are also in the process of locating Guthrie's pacemaker device.

Anyone with any information about Nancy Guthrie's case should call 1-800-CALL-FBI, 520-351-4900, 88-CRIME, or visit https://tips.fbi.gov/.

President Donald Trump has also weighed in on Nancy's disappearance, telling the New York Post that the 84-year-old's abductors would face "the most severe" consequences if Nancy was found dead.

When asked if that meant the Justice Department would seek the death penalty, Trump replied, “The most, yeah—that’s true.”

Despite the uncertainty, the Guthrie family continues to hold out hope that Nancy will be found alive. Savannah has been sharing frequent messages of encouragement and appeals to the public.

“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,” she said in a recent video.

Addressing her mother’s alleged kidnapper directly, she added: “It’s never too late. You’re not lost or alone, and it is never too late to do the right thing. We are here. And we believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being.”

The FBI previously uncovered DNA at the missing grandmother's property that does not belong to her or anyone "close" to her, it has been revealed.

When the 13th day in the search for the missing mother of three drew to a close, the Pima County Sheriff's Department announced the investigators collected DNA "other than Nancy Guthrie's and those in close contact to her" from her Tucson-area property.

They are currently "working to identify who it belongs to," a spokesperson confirmed in an email update sent to Realtor.com®. Authorities are "not disclosing where that DNA was located," the email added.

News of the DNA discovery came hours after it was revealed that the FBI had removed a Nest camera bracket from the front door of Nancy's home on Thursday, after erecting a white tent around the entrance to the property for several hours while the evidence was collected.

Its removal came hours before White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared on Fox News to assure the public that the federal government is doing everything in its power to assist in the case and "bring Nancy Guthrie home."

"I spoke with FBI Director Kash Patel late last night, and he assured me the FBI has been on the ground..." she said, while standing in front of the White House.

"We are offering the full resources and weight of the federal government to help local authorities bring this case to an end, to bring Nancy Guthrie home."

"Our hearts break every day that this goes on," she continued. "Again, the FBI is on the ground wanting to assist in any way that they can, and they have."

The FBI was present at Nancy's $1 million house on Feb. 12, when they are understood to have removed the Nest camera bracket. It is unclear whether any other items were retrieved from the property.

Images obtained by the New York Post, which show the front door to the missing 84-year-old's home before and after the white tent was put in place, reveal that a bracket that was previously mounted to the frame of the door had been taken off during the time that the structure was up.

It's thought that the bracket previously held a Nest security camera that captured a masked, armed intruder approaching the property in the early hours of the morning on Feb. 1, the same day that Nancy is believed to have been taken from her home.

Authorities have previously stated that they do not know the whereabouts of the camera, which appears to have been removed by Nancy's alleged kidnappers.

Footage from the camera was later obtained by the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department, and shared publicly by FBI Director Patel on his X account.

The three video clips show a person in a knitted ski mask and thick gloves approaching the entrance to her home with a gun in a holster around their waist.

Authorities had previously stated that they were unable to retrieve any footage from the Nest camera that was taken from the doorway of Nancy's property because she did not have a subscription that enables archival video to be stored.

However, the Pima County Sheriff's Department revealed in a statement issued that the video was ultimately "recovered from residual data located in backend systems."

"Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff's Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie‘s home that may have been lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors, including the removal of recording devices," the statement read.

"The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems. 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."

On Feb. 12, the FBI has released new key details about the masked, armed intruder caught on the security camera—while announcing that it has increased its reward to $100,000, for information leading to her safe return.

In a post shared to the FBI Phoenix X account, the agency highlighted several "identifying details" about the person in the sinister footage.

"New identifying details about the suspect in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie have been confirmed after a forensic analysis of the doorbell camera footage by the FBI’s Operational Technology Division," the post stated.

"The suspect is described as a male, approximately 5’9” - 5’10” tall, with an average build. In the video, he is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack."

Minutes earlier, it was reported that the FBI was "actively investigating" a video of a man captured carrying a backpack near Nancy's home on the same night that she disappeared—however, it has since been revealed that he has been cleared in the investigation.

Authorities have asked all residents who live within a 2-mile radius of Nancy's $1 million home to pass over any available footage taken on two days leading up to her disappearance—including one date more than two weeks before she was taken from her Arizona property.

Investigators have asked told residents in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood to submit any and all surveillance footage taken by doorbell cameras between the hours of 9 p.m. and midnight on Jan. 11, as well as videos from 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Jan. 31, the morning before the 84-year-old disappeared.

Additionally, the Pima County Sheriff's Department has asked that residents with any video footage taken between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2 that includes "vehicles, vehicle traffic, people/pedestrians, and anything neighbors deem out of the ordinary or important to our investigation" hand those videos over.

A web page has been set up where neighbors can upload their video footage—while the sheriff's department has revealed it will be using the Neighbors App to communicate updates to anyone living within a 2-mile radius of Nancy's home.

One man who lives around the corner from Nancy also said he was asked by detectives about whether he had seen a truck in the area.

While investigators did not reveal why they are asking for the information, David Romano, told NBC News that detectives had asked his family about the vehicle on two occasions.

What is the full timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance?

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos noted during a media briefing on Feb. 5 that, while times are approximate, his team has pieced together several pieces of evidence that indicate Nancy's movements—and the timeline of her apparent abduction.

Nancy, 84, was reported missing at around 12 p.m. local time on Feb. 1, around 14 hours after she was dropped off at the property following a family dinner. When she failed to turn up at her usual church gathering on Sunday, her friends alerted her family, who found her home was empty.

SATURDAY, JAN. 31

5:32 p.m. Nancy travels to Annie's house in an Uber for "dinner and playing games with the family."

9:48 p.m. A garage door at Nancy's house opens when she was dropped off at the property by her daughter.

9:50 p.m. The garage door closes, indicating that Nancy was inside the home.

SUNDAY, FEB. 1

1:47 a.m. Nancy's doorbell security camera is disconnected.

2:12 a.m. Movement is detected on a security camera at the home. No footage of this is currently available.

2:28 a.m. Nancy's pacemaker app indicates that the device has been disconnected from her phone.

11:00 a.m. Nancy fails to arrive at the home of a friend, where she had been due to watch a church service livestream.

11:56 a.m. Nancy's family travels to her home to check on her and finds the property empty.

12:03 p.m. The family calls 911 to report Nancy missing.

12:14 p.m. Police officers arrive at Nancy's home.

While no footage is available from the cameras, Nanos noted that the security camera alerts lead them to believe that a person or persons may have been inside Nancy's home between 2:12 a.m., when movement was detected, and 2:28 a.m., when her pacemaker stopped syncing with her Apple devices.