Authorities are examining security camera footage from a home in the Tucson area near Nancy Guthrie’s property that shows a man wearing a backpack trying to scale a wall near a home the morning of her disappearance.
The video, which was captured on a Ring camera about 1:54 a.m. Feb. 1, shows a bald man wearing a gray jacket and a backpack similar to the one worn by the masked man outside Guthrie’s door before she was abducted. Another video, which is also being reviewed, shows a man wearing a baseball cap and a black backpack pulling on a car door handle outside a home in the neighborhood the morning after the 84-year-old vanished.
Sources told The Times the videos are being looked at as part of the investigation into the woman’s abduction. But it’s not clear if or how they might be connected.
Sheriff‘s officials have also asked residents to pull any video footage from Jan. 1 to Feb. 2 that includes vehicles, people or anything deemed “out of the ordinary” or possibly important to the investigation.
The latest piece of video evidence comes as Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says more people are likely to be detained in the case.
Guthrie was discovered missing from her home 12 days ago after she didn’t show up at a friend’s house to watch a church service. She was taken from her home without any of her medication and it’s not clear how long she can survive without it.
Guthrie’s children have been holding onto hope that their mother will be found. “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, one of Nancy’s daughters, posted a tribute to her mother on Instagram on Thursday morning.
The short video shows a much younger Guthrie picking pink flowers in the garden with her elementary school aged children. Guthrie smiles as one of her young daughters places the flowers near her nose, an invitation to smell the fragrant blossoms.
“Our lovely mom. We will never give up on her,” Savannah Guthrie wrote in the caption. “Thank you for your prayers and hope.”
The unusual case has seemingly hit a host of dead ends in recent days.
Authorities on Tuesday detained a 36-year-old man after a traffic stop south of Tucson, but released him hours later. Deputies and FBI forensics experts and agents searched his family’s home overnight but did not locate Guthrie. Authorities have not said if or how he might be connected to the case or what evidence led them to search his family’s home.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said the man’s detention “was part of follow-up on incoming leads.”
But footage from the Nest camera outside Guthrie’s home led to roughly 4,000 new tips over the course of 24 hours, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Meanwhile, investigators on Wednesday scoured along roadways in the foothills north of Tucson for any evidence that could help them crack the case.
Investigators discovered a black glove roughly a mile and a half from Guthrie’s home that is being tested for DNA evidence, sources told The Times. However, it’s not clear at this point whether it’s connected to the woman’s disappearance.
