Nancy Guthrie’s son-in-law disappears from public view as quirk in the law could mean his home is being searched without consent

Nancy Guthrie‘s son-in-law hasn’t been seen in a week, but police and the FBI are able to search his home without his consent, even without a warrant.

Tommaso Cioni was the last person to see the missing mother of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie before she disappeared in the early hours of February 1.

He and his wife, the Today host’s sister, Annie Guthrie, live in a sprawling $675,000 ranch-style house about four miles from Nancy’s home in Tucson, Arizona.

Annie has been a constant presence, appearing with her siblings, including brother Camron, in videos pleading with Nancy’s kidnappers to bring her back unharmed.

She was with Savannah when she appealed for more information on Tuesday and shared horrifying new footage showing a masked figure wearing latex gloves outside Nancy’s door on the night she vanished.

But Cioni, 50, has not been seen since the Daily Mail spotted him and Annie leaving and returning to their home on February 3.

The Italian schoolteacher is believed to be holed up with his wife and her siblings in a $1.2 million mansion nearby inside a gated, residents-only compound away from prying eyes.

Despite his absence, Pima County Sheriff’s deputies have searched Cioni’s home multiple times, including a nighttime examination on Saturday.


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Annie Guthrie and her husband, Tommaso Cioni, leaving their home on February 3. Cioni was the last to see Nancy before she disappeared

Annie and her husband Tommaso Cioni's $675,000 home where her siblings stayed when they first arrived in Arizona
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Annie and her husband Tommaso Cioni’s $675,000 home where her siblings stayed when they first arrived in Arizona

Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy, was taken from her $1 million home in the Catalina Hills neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, in the early morning hours of February 1
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Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, was taken from her $1 million home in the Catalina Hills neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, in the early morning hours of February 1

Annie was spotted at the home supervising officers as they again rummaged through the home, but Cioni was not seen.

However, police do not need his permission to search the house, even without a warrant, so long as Annie is there to allow them access.

Two US Supreme Court cases ruled that police can search a shared home – such as a marital residence – if one of its occupants is there and consents.

If another resident was present when police arrived to conduct a search and refused access, officers would have to return with a warrant.

This was determined in the Georgia v Randolph case in 2006 when a couple disagreed about allowing police access to their home.

But if the other resident was not physically present, their refusal would not prevent another occupant from letting the police inside.

A second case in 2014, Fernandez v California, decided this rule after a woman who was beaten in a domestic violence attack allowed police to search their shared apartment.

Her boyfriend refused police access when they first arrived, but was in custody when officers returned to conduct a search.

Pima County and federal records do not show any applications for warrants to search Annie and Cioni’s property, indicating they were given permission.

Another terrifying image caught the suspect staring right into the lens of the Nest doorbell camera as he removed it
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Another terrifying image caught the suspect staring right into the lens of the Nest doorbell camera as he removed it

This masked figure was seen on Nancy Guthrie's doorstep on the morning of her disappearance
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This masked figure was seen on Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep on the morning of her disappearance

Whether Cioni objected to police searching the house he shares with Annie is unknown, and he may have already told police they could look inside whenever they wanted.

Cioni and Annie have been married since 2006 and have one young child.

‘Many of you observed an active law enforcement presence at the Guthrie residences over the weekend,’ police said on Monday,

This was after investigators were seen searching Annie’s home, including taking photographs inside the property for several hours, though it is unclear what, if any, evidence had been collected.

Drone footage was also released showing investigators removing a floodlight from Nancy’s home amid revelations that a ransom note specifically referenced the fixture.

A security camera was also removed from the exterior of the property on Monday.

Such activity is now expected to continue through Tuesday, the sheriff’s department said.

Last week, the Pima County Sheriff, Chris Nanos, said he had not ruled out Cioni or anyone else as a suspect in his investigation into the kidnapping of Nancy.

Tommaso Cioni with his wife, Savannah's sister Annie Guthrie
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Tommaso Cioni with his wife, Savannah’s sister Annie Guthrie

Nancy had dinner at the home of Annie and Cioni before Cioni dropped her off at about 9.45pm on January 31.

Cioni said he watched his mother-in-law enter her home through the garage before he drove off.

Investigators found drops of blood on Nancy’s front porch that were later confirmed to be hers and that her doorbell camera was disconnected at around 1.45am.

Less than 30 minutes later, her security camera detected movement. Her pacemaker stopped transmitting data to her Apple Watch and phone shortly afterwards, suggesting she had been taken out of the devices’ range.

Police on Tuesday released images of a suspect tampering with Nancy’s security camera on the night she disappeared.

Clad in a ski mask, the figure was filmed tampering with Nancy’s Nest doorbell camera. It is unclear if the individual is male or female, but some images appear to show facial hair above the top lip.

In releasing the images, FBI Director Kash Patel said that teams with the bureau and Pima County Sheriff’s Department worked to recover the data in backend systems.

‘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,’ he said.

Cioni and Annie have been married since 2006 and have one young child
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Cioni and Annie have been married since 2006 and have one young child

Investigators pictured carrying out a late-night search of Savannah's sister Annie's home late Saturday night amid a renewed hunt for evidence of her missing mom Nancy
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Investigators pictured carrying out a late-night search of Savannah’s sister Annie’s home late Saturday night amid a renewed hunt for evidence of her missing mom Nancy

What looks like a gun inside a holster appears to be clipped to the individual and one image shows what looks like a penlight in the suspect’s mouth.

The masked assailant appeared to rip the Nest camera from its holder on the door frame. It was missing by the time sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene that morning, on February 1.

Subsequent video released by officials showed the individual attempting to cover the lens with a clenched fist before searching the area around the door and ripping a bunch of flowers from the entranceway and waving them at the camera.

Nancy did not have a subscription to Nest, which would have uploaded the images and saved them to a cloud storage platform. This meant investigators took longer to extract the images from her camera.

The images were released after investigators asked Nancy’s household staff to submit DNA swabs they intend to check against samples found inside the grandmother’s home.

Savannah shared the haunting stills to her own Instagram page, saying: ‘We believe she is still alive. Bring her home.’