Nancy Guthrie Update: Good News After Days of Setbacks

DNA from Nancy Guthrie’s home yielded only a partial profile, delaying suspect identification. But, all is not lost.

Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie.

(Photo by: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)

Key Points

DNA from Nancy Guthrie’s home yielded only a partial profile, delaying suspect identification. But, all is not lost.
Genealogy experts say investigative genetic genealogy might help resolve the mixed DNA sample.
Over a dozen volunteers searched for clues, recovering items not matching the suspect’s description.

On Monday, Feb. 23, the investigation into the disappearance Nancy Guthrie continued, despite multiple setbacks regarding DNA evidence.

Over the weekend, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos NBC News that DNA recovered from the scene hadn’t yet helped police find a suspect in the kidnapping of the mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie.

Speaking with NBC, Nanos said that the DNA’s “mixed sample” may take weeks, months or even a year to analyze.

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Now, a report from Fox News out on Monday is shedding light on the DNA problems. In the report, sources tell Fox News Digital that “over the weekend that the mixed DNA inside Guthrie’s home has so far provided only a partial profile, which was insufficient to check against CODIS.”

A Positive Development in the Nancy Guthrie Case, According to Experts

But, all is not lost, and there’s positive news in that same report. Genealogy experts tell Fox News Digital that “investigative genetic genealogy” may be helpful, which uses “different genetic information and may still be viable from the same piece of evidence.”

“It is possible to deconvolute a mixed sample and get a profile, but it’s really hard to get a profile into CODIS,” CeCe Moore, the chief genetic genealogist at Parabon Nanolabs and a leading expert in the field, told Fox News. “It has to be practically perfect.”

In more good news, Moore says that “you could absolutely use that same sample to create a snip profile.”

SNP profiles haven’t been accepted in court until recently, but authorities are able to use partial STR profiles to get an arrest warrant, even when they’re not able for CODIS, Moore added.

“If you’re comparing 13 markers, or just 10 markers, you can still compare them,” she concluded.

More Than 12 Volunteers Helping With the Search for Nancy Guthrie

In another positive development, over the weekend, more than a dozen volunteers went to the scene to help. They recovered a black glove and backpack on the scene, which didn’t fit the description of what authorities say a suspect was wearing. The volunteers were looking for additional clues about the masked suspect and hints at if he was acting alone.

“Participants are being told not to touch anything but rather to photograph potential clues and send them to a gmail account,” Fox News reporter Michael Ruiz stated in a post on X on Sunday, Feb. 22. “Searchers were also instructed not to bring black gloves.”

In a separate post, he added, “I’m told the searchers are looking for evidence like the suspected kidnapper’s gloves, mask, discarded clothing or backpack. They’ve been instructed not to touch anything, take photos and send them in to a central gmail address set up for this purpose by an unidentified organizer.”