As the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, stretches on, investigators are still seeking tips that could help break the case and lead to her return.
The FBI and sheriff's department obtained video of an apparent suspect, who is described as a man of average build with an approximate height of 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10. In the Nest doorbell camera video taken at Nancy Guthrie's home, he was wearing a face mask, gloves and a black Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, the FBI said.
Guthrie was reported missing on Sunday, Feb.1, after not showing up for church, and the sheriff said it appeared she was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Her family has been pleading for her return, and the sheriff says they have been cleared of any involvement.
Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings have appealed directly to whoever may have taken their mother. The FBI said it was taking two emails seriously, including what appeared to be a ransom note with a demand for payment in bitcoin.
Here is a timeline of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance and the investigation.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Saturday night, Jan. 31, authorities said. She arrived at her daughter Annie's home at 5:32 p.m. She dined there and was dropped off at her own home after dinner at around 9:48 p.m.
She was dropped off at home by her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni. Police say he waited until Nancy Guthrie was inside before driving off.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a news conference Thursday that her garage door closed at 9:50 p.m., at which time authorities assume Nancy Guthrie was home and going to bed.
A doorbell camera at Nancy Guthrie's home disconnected at 1:47 a.m., and software detected someone, or possibly an animal, on a camera about 25 minutes later, Nanos said. He said at the time the video wasn't available.
Guthrie's pacemaker app showed a disconnect from her phone at 2:28 a.m.
On Sunday morning, a friend called Guthrie's family, telling them she had not shown up for church. They notified the sheriff's department around noon that day, minutes after checking in on her.
Once police arrived at the home at 12:15 p.m, they determined Nancy Guthrie was missing under "concerning" circumstances.
Guthrie has limited mobility and relies on daily medication for her health, officials have said. That prompted an urgent search for her to begin.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed on Monday that her disappearance was being treated as a crime, and urged neighbors to review home video camera footage.
"We saw some things at the home that were concerning to us," Nanos told reporters. "We believe now after we've processed that crime scene that we do in fact have a crime scene, that we do in fact have a crime, and we're asking the community's help."
He told CBS News he believed Guthrie was "abducted" in the middle of the night.
"I believe she was abducted, yes," Nanos said. "She didn't walk from there. She didn't go willingly."
A missing person's flier from the sheriff's department described her as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes and weighing 150 pounds.
On Tuesday, authorities said they were analyzing an apparent ransom note with details about what the 84-year-old was wearing on the night of the crime. The note demanded payment in bitcoin.
"We are aware of reports circulating about possible ransom note(s) regarding the investigation into Nancy Guthrie," Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a social media statement. "We are taking all tips and leads very seriously. Anything that comes in, goes directly to our detectives who are coordinating with the FBI."
They were also looking at what appeared to be drops of blood outside the front door. A law enforcement source also told CBS News some was also found inside the house.
The blood found outside Nancy Guthrie's home has been confirmed to be hers, Nanos later said, adding that investigators were awaiting results from additional samples.
Authorities said surveillance video from the home had led nowhere, and there was still no suspect.
"Nothing has come up that says, 'Here he is, here's your bad guy,'" Nanos told CBS News on Tuesday.
Authorities said that investigators still had not identified a suspect or person of interest in the case.
"Detectives continue to speak with anyone who may have had contact with Mrs. Guthrie," the Pima County Sheriff's Department said on social media.
That night, the FBI was back at Nancy Guthrie's home, using canines to search as they worked to track down every lead.
Meanwhile, Savannah Guthrie released an emotional video pleading for her mother's return and saying her family is "ready to talk."
"We live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her," Savannah Guthrie said in the video with her two siblings, addressing a possible captor or captors. "We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen. Please, reach out to us."
Savannah Guthrie said her mother's health and heart are fragile.
"She lives in constant pain. She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer," Savannah Guthrie said.
She also addressed her mom directly, saying: "Mommy, if you are hearing this, you are a strong woman. You are God's precious daughter, Nancy. We believe and know that even in this valley, He is with you. Everyone is looking for you, mommy, everywhere. We will not rest, your children will not rest, until we are together again."
Around the same time that video was released, President Trump said on social media that he spoke with Savannah Guthrie "and let her know that I am directing ALL Federal Law Enforcement to be at the family's, and Local Law Enforcement's, complete disposal, IMMEDIATELY."
"We are deploying all resources to get her mother home safely," he posted.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a news conference Feb. 5 "We believe Nancy is still out there." He also said that as of late morning local time, authorities had not identified a suspect or a person of interest.
A ransom note that investigators said they're taking seriously included a deadline of 5 p.m., Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI's field office in Phoenix, said at the news conference.
"If a transfer wasn't made, then I think a second demand was for next Monday," Janke said. He wouldn't provide details about what the note said would happen if the demands weren't met.
Separately, an alleged impostor was arrested for making a phony ransom demand in the case, Janke said.
Authorities are continuing to ask for the public's help and urging anyone with possible information to contact them. The FBI announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy Guthrie's recovery or the arrest and conviction of people involved in her disappearance.
"It only takes one tip, just one, to break the case open, to offer that lead that we so desperately need in this case," chief of detectives for the Pima County Attorney's Office, Fabian Pacheco, who oversees one of the tip lines, told CBS News in an interview that aired on "CBS Mornings."
He said about 10% of leads have value.
Anyone with information is being urged to call (520)-882-7463.
In a video posted to Savannah Guthrie's Instagram account the evening of Feb. 5, her brother Camron Guthrie made another appeal for the return of their mother.
"Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you," Camron Guthrie said. "We haven't heard anything directly. We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first, we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact."
A second message was sent to CBS News' Tucson affiliate KOLD. The station said it would not release details about its contents, citing respect for the family and the investigation.
Local and federal authorities said they're "aware of a new message" regarding Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.
"Investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity," the Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a post on social media. The FBI also posted a similar statement on social media. It's unclear what kind of message it is.
In another social media post just after 4 p.m. local time, the sheriff's department said investigators were "conducting follow-up" at the home of Nancy Guthrie and "surrounding areas."
FBI agents removed a camera from the roof of Nancy Guthrie's home and towed a dark-colored SUV from her garage.
Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings posted a new video to social media on Feb. 7 that appeared to be directed at the alleged abductor or abductors, in which she acknowledged having "received a message," and said that the Guthrie family would be willing to pay to see the safe return of Nancy Guthrie.
"We received your message and we understand," Guthrie said in the short video, appearing alongside her siblings Annie and Camron Guthrie. "We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us and we will pay."
An FBI spokesman said Savannah Guthrie was referring to the message sent to KOLD the day before, The Associated Press reported.
A few hours after the video was released, investigators went to the home of Nancy Guthrie's daughter Annie, where she had dinner the night before she disappeared. They were there for about 2.5 hours and focused primarily on the garage of the home.
Two law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators were "developing good information" but that "nothing is imminent."
Sheriff detectives were at Nancy Guthrie's home on Sunday, Feb. 8, focusing on the property's perimeter along the backyard. Investigators also searched what appeared to be a septic tank in the backyard.
A second ransom deadline was looming as the search for Nancy Guthrie entered its second week.
CBS News has learned investigators are canvassing nearby gas stations in an effort to track down any suspicious vehicles captured on surveillance cameras around the time Nancy Guthrie went missing.
A sheriff's deputy will now be stationed outside Nancy Guthrie's home, around the clock, for security purposes.
In the afternoon, Savannah Guthrie issued a plea for the public's assistance, saying the family is "at an hour of desperation and we need your help."
"Law enforcement is working tirelessly around the clock trying to bring her home, trying to find her," Savannah said of her mom. "She was taken and we don't know where, and we need your help." She asked the public, "even if you're far from Tucson," if someone sees or hears anything, or "if there's anything at all that seems strange to you," to report it to law enforcement.
The FBI reiterated that the agency has not identified a suspect or person of interest in the case so far.
Anyone with possible information on Nancy Guthrie's disappearance is asked to call 520-882-7463.
FBI Director Kash PateI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department in Arizona posted surveillance images and video of a subject in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, showing a masked person wearing a backpack and gloves at her door.
The FBI said law enforcement agencies were able to recover data of the previously inaccessible images from the home security camera system.
The images show an armed individual appearing to tamper with the camera at her front door on the morning Guthrie went missing. A 27-second video shows the person approaching the front door and raising a gloved hand to the camera before walking away. A 14-second video shows the person facing the camera and holding a flashlight in their mouth before covering the camera lens with some vegetation.
Two law enforcement sources told CBS News the man in the images is considered a subject that they were seeking to identify.
Savannah Guthrie reacted to the images, writing on social media: "We believe she is still alive. Bring her home."
Hours later, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said a subject had been detained during a traffic stop south of Tucson and was being questioned in connection with Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.
The person was taken into custody following a traffic stop in Rio Rico, Arizona, a small community located just north of the Mexican border, two sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News. Pima County Sheriff's investigators, with the assistance of the FBI, were searching the Rio Rico residence of the person of interest, the sources said.
The sheriff's department did not specify if the person detained was the same person seen in the videos.
A man who says he was the person of interest being questioned in the kidnapping has been released. The man, who only wanted to be identified as Carlos, spoke with reporters outside his home in Rio Rico, Arizona, saying he was shocked when he got pulled over, and doesn't know who Guthrie is or why law enforcement thought he might be connected to her disappearance.
"I didn't do anything. ... I'm innocent," he said.
Authorities haven't confirmed Carlos was the person of interest or that the person of interest has been released.
Meanwhile, a woman in Rio Rico, Josefina Maddox, told reporters her son-in-law was the person of interest but had "nothing to do with it." There was no confirmation of her assertions.
Maddox also told reporters outside a home authorities were searching that the home is hers. She said "they're just invading my property" and that "we're not hiding anything. ... You won't find anything because we don't have nothing to hide."
Angelica Carrillo, a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff's Department, told CBS News early in the day that Nancy Guthrie still hasn't been found.
Authorities released the first physical description of a male suspect wanted in connection with Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. The suspect is described as having an average build and an approximate height of 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10, the FBI said.
He was carrying black-colored 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, which could be seen in the doorbell camera video from Nancy Guthrie's home, the FBI said.
The FBI said it also doubled its reward to $100,000 for information leading to either the location of Nancy Guthrie, and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
Earlier, a pair of black gloves was found as investigators continued their search of the area, sources close to the investigation confirmed to CBS News. The gloves will be tested for DNA.
Video from the New York Post shows investigators picking up one of the gloves from the side of a road, reportedly about a mile and a half from Nancy Guthrie's home in Arizona. The glove appears to resemble those worn by the person who was captured on security video outside Guthrie's home.
Law enforcement agencies, including a Pima County Sheriff SWAT team, descended on a residence less than 2 miles from Nancy Guthrie's home the night of Feb. 13.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told CBS affiliate KOLD that the activity was the result of following up on "a lead that led to a search warrant and no arrest."
Nanos told KOLD that a traffic stop was made on a person of interest and that the individual was cooperative and later released.
The black glove found near Guthrie's home contains DNA evidence and appears to match the gloves worn by the suspect seen in a doorbell camera video, the FBI said.
The FBI said it received preliminary results of DNA testing on Feb. 15, and was waiting on confirmation before putting what it called "the unknown male profile" into CoDIS, the FBI's national database for matching DNA profiles — a process it said usually takes about 24 hours.
It was one of approximately 16 gloves collected by investigators in various areas near the house, but most of those gloves belonged to searchers who discarded them while working the area, according to the FBI.
"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 in a statement.
All members of the Guthrie family and their spouses have been cleared as suspects in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.
"The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case," he said, and suggesting otherwise "is not only wrong, it is cruel."
In other developments, investigators believe the clothing and face mask worn by a suspect seen in home security video footage were likely bought at Walmart, either at a brick-and-mortar store or online, Nanos told CBS News.
Walmart sells a mask that looks very similar to the mask worn by the man in the doorbell camera video. 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 previously 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. Nanos called the backpack "one of the most promising leads" in the case.
Investigators have been reviewing surveillance video footage from local Walmart locations, Nanos said. The company has provided authorities with records of all Ozark Trail Hiker purchases from the past several months, according to the sheriff.
A spokesperson for Walmart declined to comment.
Investigators have also deployed a device that could detect signals emitted from Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
The high-tech tracking tool, called a "signal sniffer," has been mounted on a helicopter and may help detectives pinpoint her location, the sources said. Signal sniffers are often used in missing person cases because they can detect low-power electronic signals, such as those emitted by a pacemaker.
The DNA profile of an unknown male that was recovered from gloves found about 2 miles from Nancy Guthrie's home did not return a match from a national database maintained by the FBI, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said. The glove appeared to match the ones a suspect was seen wearing in video captured by Nancy Guthrie's Nest doorbell camera.
The profile was submitted to the database known as CoDIS, or Combined DNA Index System. The sheriff's department said in a statement that there have been no confirmed CoDIS matches in the investigation at this point. The DNA database could have provided a match if the individual had a previous arrest for certain crimes and supplied a DNA sample that put him into the system.
Additional DNA evidence that was found at Guthrie's home was also being analyzed, the sheriff's department said.
CBS News also learned that the FBI is probing gun purchases in the Tucson area. According to the owner of an area gun store, an agent came in about a week or so earlier and showed him several images with faces and names on them. Agents inquired about purchases in the last year. The owner said there were several names and images on the sheets, but doesn't remember a specific number of people listed. CBS News agreed not to name the store owner due to privacy concerns.
Investigators have not ruled out that an accomplice aided the suspected kidnapper seen in the doorbell camera video outside Nancy Guthrie's home.
The video recovered from Nancy Guthrie's Google Nest doorbell camera was the only video that Google had been able to recover from the cameras at Guthrie's home as of Feb. 18, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. There are additional cameras from the property that engineers were still working through as they try to recover usable video. Investigators were hopeful that tech companies working on the videos would uncover more, according to the sheriff's department.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told CBS News partner network BBC News in an interview that he believes Guthrie is being held close to her home.
In Mexico, the nonprofit Madres Buscadoras de Sonora, which helps locate missing people in the northwestern state that borders Arizona, said it had been contacted by a family member of Nancy Guthrie, who asked the organization to help in the search.
The country's federal security agency and the prosecutor's office and public security agency in Sonora told CBS News they have not been contacted to assist in the investigation.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News that the FBI has been in touch with the Mexican government and Mexican law enforcement regarding the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie; however, officials said they have no evidence to suggest she is there.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said there was no indication Guthrie was taken into Mexico, but noted that doesn't necessarily mean that an investigation in the area has not been launched.
Attorney General of the State of Sonora Gustavo Rómulo Salas Chávez said, "We have no information to suggest that this person is in Mexican territory, specifically in Sonora."
Carlos Flores, the commissioner general of Mexico's Criminal Investigation Agency, said "The FBI informed us that they currently have no leads to suggest that this person could be in Mexico."
The masked suspect seen in the doorbell camera video appears to have been at Nany Guthri's front door earlier than Feb. 1, the night police believe she was kidnapped, a law enforcement source confirmed to CBS News.
One of the images the FBI released of the suspect outside the 84-year-old's front door shows him without a backpack. That image was captured by Guthrie's Nest doorbell camera sometime prior to the date of the suspected abduction. It was unclear how many days before Feb. 1 the video of the man without a backpack may have been taken.
The Pima County Sheriff's Office said in a statement, "There is no date or time stamp associated with these images. Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative."
Savannah Guthrie announced that the family is offering an additional reward of up to $1 million for any information leading to Nancy Guthrie's whereabouts.
In a video posted to Instagram, she said they "still believe in a miracle" and hold out hope their mother will be found, but also acknowledged that she "may be lost."
"She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves," Guthrie said.
"Someone out there knows something that can bring her home," she said in the video. "Somebody knows, and we are begging you to please come forward now."
The FBI is moving its command post in the Nancy Guthrie investigation from Tucson, Arizona, to Phoenix, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CBS News.
The transition is being done because the large Phoenix command post will be able to operate more efficiently for the long term and most of the agents who have been working on the investigation in Tucson are based in Phoenix, the source said.
The investigative squads, evidence recovery teams and SWAT teams will all remain in Tucson as they are assigned to the FBI's Tucson office, which is a large satellite office.
The investigation is still running at full speed, the source said.
DNA from gloves found about 2 miles away from Nancy Gunthrie's Arizona home was traced back to a local restaurant worker who has no connection to the investigation, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said March 4.
"Sheriff [Chris] Nanos stated in a recent interview that the black gloves found approximately 2 miles away from Nancy Guthrie's home were traced back via DNA analysis to a person who works at a restaurant in the area. That person is not considered part of this investigation," a department spokesperson told CBS News in a statement. "Lab analysis remains underway on other DNA evidence."
A black glove was found near Nancy Guthrie's home on Feb. 11, and days later, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said a DNA profile from the gloves that were submitted to a national database maintained by the FBI didn't come back with any matches. The FBI said at the time that the suspect seen in the doorbell camera video appeared to be wearing similar gloves.
Savannah Guthrie made a tearful plea for someone "to do the right thing" in her first interview about her mom's disappearance.
"We are in agony. We are in agony," an emotional Guthrie told her former "Today" show co-host Hoda Kotb in a clip of the interview. "It is unbearable, and to think of what she went through, I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night, and in the darkness, I imagine her terror, and it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought."
The Guthrie family has urged people in southern Arizona to review camera footage, journal notes and text messages for any possible leads in the case. In the interview, Savannah Guthrie renewed her plea for anyone with information about her mom to step forward.
"Someone needs to do the right thing," she said through tears. She also said, "I will not hide my face, but she needs to come home now."
Savannah Guthrie said in her interview with "Today" show co-host Hoda Kotb that she plans to return to the show "because it's my family."
"It's hard to imagine doing it because it's such a place of joy and lightness and I can't come back and try to be something that I'm not," she said. "But I can't not come back, because it's my family. I think it's part of my purpose right now."
After the interview, Kotb announced that Guthrie will be back at the anchor desk starting Monday, April 6.
Kiki Intarasuwan, Pat Milton, Alex Sundby and Brian Dakss contributed to this report.
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