Ty Oneil
Tucson: Law enforcement investigating the disappearance of Today show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother sealed off a road and converged on a residence in an affluent neighbourhood near Nancy Guthrie’s home in Arizona late on Friday night (Tucson time).
A parade of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock that was set up about three kilometres from the house.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed on Saturday that a federal court-ordered search warrant was executed at a home on Friday in connection with the Guthrie case. The warrant was based on a lead the agency had received. No arrests were made.
CNN reported that roads were reopened after about four hours.
The two agencies also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby Culver’s restaurant parking lot.
Separately, a traffic stop was conducted, and while someone was questioned, no arrests were made, the sheriff’s office said.
No additional information was released on Saturday.
Guthrie, 84, was reported missing on February 1. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch of her Tucson-area home. Purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for payment have passed.
On Friday, the sheriff’s office said DNA from people other than Guthrie or “those in close contact to her” had also been collected from her property, and investigators were “working to identify who it belongs to”.
Authorities have expressed concerns about Guthrie’s health because she needs daily medication. She is said to have a pacemaker and has dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to a sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.
Investigators have studied surveillance video, sorted through thousands of tips and submitted DNA and other evidence for laboratory analysis.
The FBI said it had collected more than 13,000 tips since Guthrie was reported missing. The sheriff’s department, meanwhile, said it had taken at least 18,000 calls.
On Tuesday, authorities released footage showing an armed, masked person at Guthrie’s doorstep on the night she was abducted. The videos – less than a combined minute in length – gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside Guthrie’s home in the foothills outside Tucson.
