The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of NBC News anchor Savannah Guthrie has deepened, as the Nancy Guthrie abduction investigation expands across Arizona.
Nancy Guthrie disappeared in the middle of the night from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on 31 January and authorities believe she was taken against her will.
Police in Arizona detained a man in connection with the suspected abduction on 10 February, before releasing him hours later.
Officers also searched a nearby home on 13 February and questioned a person during a traffic stop, but no arrests were made.
A glove that appears to be similar to one worn by a masked man in a surveillance video outside the Guthrie home has been discovered.
Law enforcement also continue to investigate a series of apparent ransom notes that may have been sent from the person or people behind the alleged crime.
The Guthrie family has made several public pleas for her safe return, and has asked for proof that their mother is still alive.
Here is what we know about the case.
When did Nancy Guthrie go missing?
Guthrie was last seen at her home in Catalina Foothills, an affluent neighbourhood roughly six miles (10km) north-east of Tucson, on 31 January evening, when family members dropped her off around 21:30 local time (04:30 GMT).
At 01:47 local time on 1 February, a doorbell camera to her home was disconnected and removed.
At 02:28, the app on her pacemaker, an implanted cardiac device, disconnected from her phone.
Concern grew when members of her church noticed her absence at Sunday’s service and notified her family.
After the family called 911, authorities began a search that soon included volunteers and federal officers from Border Patrol, which stretched into the next morning.
Officials warned she may be in dire health without her medication. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said she was “not in good physical health”, but had no reported cognitive issues.
What do we know about the suspect?
Officials have released videos and images showing a masked and armed suspect at Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep the night she disappeared.
The footage showed the suspect – who the FBI said appears to be a male between 5ft 9in and 5ft 10in (175-177cm) – covering a camera lens with some plants.
He was wearing a 25-litre Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, the FBI added.
Police have said they found blood on Nancy Guthrie’s porch and analysis confirmed it was hers.
Investigators have also discovered 16 gloves, although most were discarded by people searching for Guthrie, according to the FBI.
However, DNA evidence collected from one glove, found approximately two miles from Guthrie’s home, has been sent to a lab for testing, officials said.
The FBI says it has received preliminary DNA test results on the glove and is still waiting for “quality control and official confirmation” before entering an “unknown male profile” into its database.
“The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video,” the FBI said.
Officials have also found DNA at Guthrie’s address that does not belong to her or anyone close to her.
As media crews have descended on the quiet Arizona suburb where the missing woman lives, authorities closed access to her street, nestled below the Santa Catalina mountains on roads lined with the state’s Saguaro cactus.
On 12 February, authorities had put up a white tent outside the entrance to her home, though it was soon taken down.
Who has been detained and released by police?
Hours after sharing the footage of the masked person, police detained a man for questioning at a traffic stop in Arizona in connection with Guthrie’s disappearance, but released him later that night, according to the BBC’s US news partner, CBS News.
After his release, a man, identified only as Carlos, told reporters outside his home that he did not know who Nancy Guthrie was.
“I hope they get the suspect, because I’m not it,” Carlos said, according to footage posted by reporters on social media.
A woman who identified herself as his mother-in-law said earlier that he had nothing to do with the case.
“They’re just invading my property,” she told CBS.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department had confirmed police were conducting a court-authorised search at a location in Rio Rico, south of Tucson, Arizona.
On 13 February, police teams searched a home approximately two miles from where Guthrie lives, however, no arrests were made.
The sheriff’s department confirmed the next day that law enforcement officers had executed a federal court-ordered search warrant based on a lead at the residence in connection with the Guthrie case.
They also questioned a person during a traffic stop, but they were also released.
The department did not provide further details about the lead or the residents of the house, saying only that no one was arrested.
What did the alleged ransom notes say?
FBI Special Agent Heith Janke said his agency had been reviewing several possible ransom notes.
One note, sent to several media outlets, included details about an Apple watch and a floodlight at Nancy Guthrie’s home.
Police said one ransom note sent to the media had two deadlines: one at 17:00 on 5 February and another on 9 February.
The FBI also said it had arrested a person for a fake ransom note on 5 February.
On 6 February, the FBI and the sheriff’s office said they were investigating a new message and were “inspecting the information provided in the message for its accuracy”.
They did not say who received the note or provide any details about what it said, but a presenter for a local affiliate of CBS News told the BBC that her channel received the new “message”. The presenter did not disclose what was in the message.
In several emotional videos, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have commented on the alleged ransom notes and pleaded for their mother’s safe return.
“We are ready to talk,” Guthrie said in a 4 February video, addressing the abductor or abductors directly. She added, “we need to know without a doubt that she is alive and you have her… Please, reach out to us.”
In a separate video on 5 February, her brother Camron said the family still had not received any contact from “whoever is out there holding our mother”, adding: “We want to hear from you”.
On 6 February, the family released a third video, with Savannah Guthrie saying: “We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her.”
She added: “And we will pay.”
On 9 February, Savannah Guthrie released another video pleading for the public to help.
“I just want to share a few thoughts as we enter another week of this nightmare,” she said in a the video posted on Instagram. “She was taken, and we don’t know where. And we need your help.”
On 12 February, she posted another video featuring footage of her mom as a young woman with Savannah and her sister as children. The video also shows a photo of the three Guthrie siblings as children with their mother.
“Our lovely mom,” Guthrie wrote alongside the video. “We will never give up on her. Thank you for your prayers and hope.”
The FBI is offering a reward of $100,000 (£72,000) for information that leads to an arrest. The FBI says it has received more than 13,000 tips from the public since her disappearance.
President Donald Trump, who ordered federal authorities help in the investigation, has called the case “very unusual”.
Who is Savannah Guthrie?
Guthrie, 54, is an American broadcast journalist who has served as the co-anchor of NBC News’ Today since 2012. She is also the network’s chief legal correspondent and a primary anchor for its election coverage. Previously, she was NBC News’ White House correspondent.
Guthrie was born in Australia, but when she was a toddler her family moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she grew up for most of her childhood. She did not travel back to Australia until 2015, visiting with her mum Nancy and fulfilling her “lifelong dream to return”, she told the Daily Telegraph.
“For my mum to come back and get to see where she used to live brings back a lot of happy memories with my dad,” Guthrie told the Daily Telegraph.
Guthrie, who maintains a public stance of political neutrality, has interviewed presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Trump.
She has a law degree from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arizona.
She has won an Edward R Murrow Award for ethical electronic journalism and multiple News Emmys, including for an interview with Trump a month before the 2020 election.
Source: BBC
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