Nancy Guthrie Update: Backpack Found By Search Volunteers

A group of volunteers helping in the search for missing 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie reportedly recovered a backpack on Sunday.

The volunteers searched along Orange Grove Road not far from Nancy Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills near Tucson, AZCentral reported. They recovered a backpack that was handed over to sheriff’s deputies.

True crime reporter Jonathan Lee Riches, who goes by JLR Investigates on social media, shared photos on X of the backpack as it was removed from where it was found and bagged by a sheriff’s deputy.

In an aerial view, volunteers search for any possible signs of Nancy Guthrie near her residence on February 22, 2026, in Tucson, Arizona. Law enforcem… | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The Context

The discovery comes as the search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, has entered a fourth week.

She was reported missing from her home on February 1 after spending the previous night with family, authorities said. Authorities believe she was taken against her will, and said her blood was found on her porch. Authorities have expressed concerns about her health because she needs daily medication.

On February 10, authorities released surveillance footage showing a masked man wearing a backpack outside Guthrie’s front door on the night she disappeared. The FBI later released a description of the person, who they called a suspect, and said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.”

What To Know

The discovery comes after the Pima County Sheriff’s Department addressed unsanctioned volunteer search parties on Saturday, asking them to refrain from operating independently in the search area.

The department said multiple groups had inquired about searching in the area, but they were asked to give investigators space to conduct their work without interference.

The sheriff’s department also said on Saturday that detectives and agents have collected multiple gloves from the search area, and those items are being analyzed. “Specific details about these pieces of evidence will not be shared publicly, as this remains an active investigation,” the department said.

Last week, authorities said DNA from gloves found a few miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home did not match any entries in CODIS, the FBI’s national database. The FBI has said the gloves appear to match the gloves worn by a masked person seen in the surveillance footage outside Nancy Guthrie’s house on the night she disappeared.

Investigators also collected DNA from Nancy Guthrie’s property that doesn’t belong to her or those in close contact with her, the sheriff’s department said.

The sheriff’s department has also said investigators were turning to investigative genetic genealogy in a bid to track down the suspect.

The sheriff’s department said on Friday that although investigators are seeking information “related to the person seen on video, investigators are not ruling out the possibility that more than one person may be involved.”

The surveillance videos from Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera showed an individual wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket, gloves and handgun holster. The FBI described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 or 10 inches tall with an average build.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said the Guthrie family, including “all siblings and spouses,” had been cleared as possible suspects in the case.

What People Are Saying

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Saturday: “Volunteer search groups have inquired about being in the area. Per the Sheriff, they were asked to please give investigators the space they need to do their work. We appreciate their concern, and we all want to find Nancy, but this work is best left to professionals. PCSD has volunteer opportunities if they wish to get involved with the department. Private property laws apply. It is up to each individual property owner to grant permission for anyone to be on their property.”

Savannah Guthrie said in a video posted on Instagram: “We still have hope and we still believe. 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. And it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, that it’s never too late.”