All family members of Nancy Guthrie have been cleared as suspects in her disappearance, authorities in Arizona said Monday, noting that this includes their spouses.
“The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a statement.
Nanos said that to suggest that the family aren’t victims “is not only wrong, it is cruel.”
Nancy Guthrie, 84, is the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie. Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings, Annie and Camron, have made repeated video pleas for their mother’s safe return since she was reported missing Feb. 1. Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was forcibly taken from her Tucson home in the middle of the night.
Savannah Guthrie posted her latest video Sunday night, urging whoever is holding her mother to “do the right thing.”
“It’s been two weeks since our mom was taken, and I just wanted to come on and say we still have hope, and we still believe,” she said in a video posted to Instagram.
“And I wanted to say to whoever has her, or knows where she is, that it’s never too late. And you’re not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. We believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it’s never too late.”
Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
As the search for Guthrie continues, law enforcement sources told CBS News that one of the high-tech tools investigators have deployed in the case is a tracking device known as a “signal sniffer,” which is being used in the hopes of detecting possible signals from her heart pacemaker. Officials said Guthrie’s pacemaker app showed a disconnect from her phone at 2:28 a.m. on Feb. 1.
Investigators, mounting the device on a helicopter, flying slow and low, have tried to determine if Guthrie’s pacemaker is emitting any detectable signals that could be used to help target her whereabouts, according to the sources.
Nanos earlier told CBS News that investigators believe the clothing and face mask worn by a suspect in security video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home were likely bought at Walmart, either at a brick-and-mortar store or online.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department via Reuters 
Walmart sells a mask that looks very similar to the mask worn by the man in the doorbell camera video that was shared publicly last week. It is believed to be black, but it looks lighter in the footage because of the Nest camera’s infrared technology, according to Nanos.
The FBI said the suspect was also carrying a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack in the video. CBS News first reported that the backpack is sold exclusively at Walmart.
The FBI described the suspect in the video as a male who is about 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall with an average build.
A recovered glove that appears to match those seen on the suspect in the Nest camera video has produced a DNA profile of an unknown male that is another potential lead in the case, according to the FBI.
The FBI was waiting for official confirmation of the DNA results before putting the profile into its national database, known as CODIS, or Combined DNA Index System. The national DNA database maintained by the FBI could provide a match if the individual had a previous arrest for certain crimes and supplied a DNA sample that put them into the system.
The glove was found approximately 2 miles from Guthrie’s house in a field near a roadside, the FBI said. It was one of 16 gloves found in various areas during the search, but most of them belonged to investigators who had discarded them, the FBI said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has also said DNA that didn’t belong to Nancy Guthrie or those in close contact with her was collected from her property, and investigators are working to identify who it belongs to. The department did not disclose where on the property the DNA was found.
