A dead person was discovered Thursday in southeast Tucson as police continue to search for an 84-year-old man. Nancy Guthriewho went missing on February 1.
Officials suspect the mother of TODAY anchor Savannah Guthrie was abducted from her Catalina Foothills residence near Tucson, Arizonathe night before. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos recently provided a grim update regarding a potential motive for the kidnapping.
The discovery of the body opened a new investigation.
According to the Tucson Police Department, East Division officers were dispatched to a desert location near Kolb Road, located between Escalante and Irvington, on March 12 after reports of a deceased person, KVOA reported.
Contemporary reports indicate that the body has not been officially identified; however, investigators believe it is unlikely to be Guthrie. The Tucson Police Department noted that preliminary evidence does not indicate foul play in this particular discovery.
Conversely, in Guthrie’s case, authorities remain convinced that foul play occurred and that she was forcibly removed from her home after having dinner with her daughter, Annie Guthrie. Her son-in-law Tommaso Cioni reportedly dropped her off after a meal that evening, making the couple among the last people to see her before her disappearance.
Sheriff Nanos specifically stated that members of Guthrie’s family are not considered suspects in the ongoing investigation.
“We believe we know why he did it, and we believe it was targeted, but we, we can’t, we’re not 100 percent sure,” Nanos said, adding, “So it would be silly to tell people, ‘Yeah, don’t worry about it. You are, you’re not his target.’ Don’t think for a second that because this happened to the Guthrie family, you’re safe. No, make up your mind.”
While more details are awaited regarding the unidentified body, Sheriff Nanos discussed the potential motives of the kidnapper with NBC news. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is handling the case with significant assistance from the FBI. Nanos mentioned that he is deliberately withholding specific theories and investigative details to preserve the integrity of the probe, which he described as paramount.
At the same time, the FBI was questioning employees at a Tucson Mexican restaurant as they followed the footsteps of Guthrie and her daughter Annie. Mirror USA.
Savannah Guthrie said her mother she was “taken in the dark of night from her bed.”
“As my sister says, ‘We’re fanning the embers of hope,'” Guthrie said on Feb. 24.
More than a week after the initial disappearance on Feb. 1, the FBI released footage from a camera outside Guthrie’s front door showing a masked intruder. Evidence of her blood was also discovered on the porch, yet the case remains tragically unsolved.
The unusual circumstances and Savannah Guthrie’s high-profile career as a television personality turned the search into national news. Savannah has released several videos in which she appears at times with her siblings Annie and Camron to plead for her mother’s safe release.
Recently, the family offered a $1 million reward for information leading to her recovery. As federal and local authorities step up their efforts, the community remains on high alert for any breakthroughs in this baffling kidnapping.
