Investigators probing the mysterious disappearance of Nancy Guthrie are now focusing on a pinky ring they believe was worn by her suspected abductor, who is seen in disturbing doorbell camera footage captured shortly before the 84-year-old grandmother vanished.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said on Tuesday that investigators noticed that the unidentified man captured on the porch of Nancy’s home in Tucson, Arizona, appeared to have a ring on his finger, visible beneath the black gloves he was wearing. “I look at the same photo you look at and I get it, I see it,” Nanos told NBC News, referring to the mysterious figure who was seen in the clip.
New Angle of Investigation
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“I’m going to give that to my team. They’ll look at that. They’ll analyze it and we’ll see. Maybe, maybe it is,” he added. Meanwhile, TMZ said Wednesday that it has received a new, more “sophisticated” ransom note tied to the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie.
“We have received yet another ransom demand—this one is sophisticated and puts the media right in the middle of it,” TMZ wrote in an Instagram post.
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According to the outlet, the latest message calls for another large amount of money, this time in a different form of cryptocurrency rather than the previously demanded $6 million in bitcoin. The email also reportedly “graphically describes the consequences if the ransom isn’t paid,” adding to the disturbing nature of the case.
The message reportedly included a new cryptocurrency account number, different from the one provided in the original demand.
The outlet also reported that the FBI has reached out to authorities in Mexico as part of the investigation. So far, however, widening the probe has not led to any new breakthroughs.
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The investigation took another turn after officials revealed that a glove found about two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home did not match any DNA evidence recovered from her property.
Nanos said the glove ultimately led nowhere, as the DNA failed to match records in Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the national database that stores DNA profiles from arrestees across the country.
The single glove was found on Sunday and was briefly considered a promising clue in the three-week-old case. However, it has since been ruled out as a useful lead.
Still Clueless
Investigators have chased down multiple tips and pieces of potential evidence, but none have held up so far. Several people of interest were questioned and later released, and multiple ransom notes have surfaced — including several sent to TMZ — yet the case remains unsolved.
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Nancy was last seen on the evening of January 31 after spending time at her eldest daughter’s home for dinner and a game night.
Later that night, her daughter Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, drove her back to her house, just a few miles away. Cioni later told police he watched his mother-in-law walk into her garage before leaving.
Several hours later, at about 2:12 a.m., activity was picked up on Nancy’s Nest doorbell camera, showing an unknown person outside her home. Then, around 2:30 a.m., her Apple Watch and iPhone stopped syncing with her pacemaker — the last known digital sign of her activity.
Around 11 a.m., friends from her local church raised concerns when Nancy failed to show up for services. They contacted her family, who went to check on her house. When they were unable to find her, relatives called 911 to report her missing.
Nancy has not been seen or heard from since.
