A glove recovered by authorities near Nancy Guthrie’s home in Arizona appears to match the description of those worn by the suspect who allegedly kidnapped the elderly mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, the FBI said on Sunday.
The statement marks a possible major breakthrough in the missing persons case as the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office enter their third week in searching for the 84-year-old woman.
The bureau said 16 gloves in total were collected by investigators in various areas near the Guthrie residence, but one of them isn’t the same as the rest.
SWAT SWARMS LOCATIONS NEAR NANCY GUTHRIE’S HOME AS DNA FOUND ON PROPERTY
“The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video,” an FBI spokesperson told Fox News reporter Michael Ruiz.
In the video, the masked suspect approached Guthrie’s front door and used his gloved hand to cover the doorbell camera at one point. The suspect is believed to be a man wearing a black “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack, according to recently released details.
The spokesperson also revealed the FBI is awaiting DNA results from the glove, which the Pima County Sheriff’s Office sent to a private lab in Florida overnight Thursday. The FBI is waiting for confirmation on the preliminary results before putting the male suspect’s profile into its national criminal database.
The bureau said the process takes about 24 hours, so the DNA results could be imminent.
The latest development in the high-profile investigation comes amid reported tensions between federal and local authorities.
ARIZONA SHERIFF DENIES REPORT HE BLOCKED KEY NANCY GUTHRIE EVIDENCE FROM FBI
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos was accused of blocking the FBI from accessing key evidence in the case and sending such evidence, namely the gloves, to the Florida lab instead of the FBI’s national crime lab. News reports said the lack of cooperation would have delayed the search for Guthrie.
Nanos later pushed back on those claims, saying they are “not even close to the truth.” He denied withholding evidence from the FBI, which he said “agreed” to send the gloves to a Florida lab for forensic analysis.
“Actually, the FBI just wanted to send the one or two they found by the crime scene, closest to it — mile, mile and a half,” Nanos told Tucson-based NBC News affiliate KVOA late last week. “I said, ‘No, why do that? Let’s just send them all to where all the DNA exist, all the profiles and the markers exist.’ They agreed, makes sense.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office is taking the lead on the investigation while the FBI provides assistance as requested by local officials.
ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES FLOOD SOCIAL MEDIA AS SEARCH FOR SAVANNAH GUTHRIE’S MISSING MOTHER CONTINUES
Three people were detained for questioning late Friday during a law enforcement operation carried out in part by a SWAT team in Tucson near Guthrie’s home. No one remained in custody afterward.
Guthrie has been missing since the start of the month and is believed to have been abducted. The case has grabbed the nation’s attention because of her relation to the NBC News morning show host.