Nancy Guthrie has been missing for nearly two months, and attributable to the shortage of considerable leads within the investigation, many have used the stagnant developments to push their very own conspiracy theories.
One recent rumor has prompted local authorities to directly address it, as the invention of a girl’s dead body has sparked online speculation it might be the missing 84-year-old.
Police Address Rumors That Woman’s Dead Body Found Is Nancy Guthrie
On Friday, March 28, the Scottsdale Police Department shared an announcement on X, formerly often called Twitter, regarding the invention of an unidentified woman’s body in an Arizona canal about 100 miles from Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home.
“A death investigation is underway after an adult woman’s body was recovered from a canal near Indian Bend and Hayden Roads on March twenty eighth,” the statement began. “Police and fire personnel were first called to the world around 8 a.m. after someone walking along the canal saw the body within the water.”
“Scottsdale detectives and crime scene specialists responded to the scene to gather evidence and thoroughly document the scene,” the statement continued.
Authorities also shared the condition of the body and confirmed they’re working to find out the identity of the dead woman.
“Attributable to the condition of the body, investigators are initially unable to substantiate if there are traumatic injuries present. The investigation remains to be within the early stages as detectives work to substantiate the identity of the person and the way they ended up within the canal,” the statement read.
When an X user asked if the unidentified body was connected to Guthrie’s disappearance, the Scottsdale Police Department responded that it was “not related” to Guthrie’s disappearance, which is being led by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
Retired FBI Agent Shared That Guthrie Investigation Is ‘Much Harder’ As Case Lingers On
On March 17, CBS News spoke with retired FBI supervisory special agent Lance Leising, who told the outlet that it can be difficult to maintain the investigation going with none latest leads.
“The shortage of meaningful leads. That’s the initial thing it says to me,” Leising said of the investigation seemingly being at a standstill. “It becomes much harder to maintain the investigation going, keep it current, and fight for brand new leads.”
Nonetheless, he did note that the shortage of leads doesn’t mean that each one hope is lost find Guthrie because the method “takes some time.”
“Perhaps you’ve got multiple people throughout the same DNA family that might potentially be suspects. You’ve got to analyze each considered one of those independently,” he said.
“I’d prefer to be hopeful that — and I’m sure the family is incredibly hopeful — that the silence is because they’re on to something,” Leising continued. “They simply need to analyze harder.”
Dates Of Two Surveillance Videos Have Taken Guthrie Investigation In Latest Direction
In keeping with PEOPLE, investigators at the moment are paying close attention to video footage from the weeks before Guthrie disappeared, specifically on January 11 and January 24.
Neighbors in her Tucson community say authorities have recently asked about surveillance footage tied to those dates, suggesting they might be the important thing to determining what led as much as Guthrie’s disappearance.
The January 11 footage was previously requested by authorities, specifically between 9 p.m. and midnight, pointing to a precise window they imagine could contain relevant activity.
Moreover, footage from January 31 between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. was also requested, which was the day before Guthrie was last seen.
The renewed attention follows previously released footage showing a masked individual at Guthrie’s front door within the early hours of February 1, who was described as having a median construct, carrying a backpack, and appearing to be armed.
Pima County Sheriff Reveals Authorities ‘Know Why’ Nancy Guthrie Was Abducted
Sheriff Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department shared in an interview with NBC News that he and other members of the sheriff’s department imagine they “know why” Guthrie was kidnapped from her home.
“We imagine we all know why [the kidnapper] did this and we imagine that it was targeted, but we’re not 100% sure of that,” Nanos said on March 12. “So it’d be silly to inform people, ‘Don’t worry about it. You’re not his goal.’ You could possibly be. Don’t think for a minute that since it happened to the Guthrie family, you’re secure. No. Keep your wits about you.”
Speaking about the main points of a possible motive, Sheriff Nanos stopped in need of sharing them publicly.
“I feel it’s come out from day one,” he told NBC News. “I feel day one, we had some strong beliefs about what happened, and people beliefs haven’t diminished. I’m not going to get into those theories. We’ve got our beliefs. Everybody else has theirs.”
Savannah Guthrie Announced Her Official Return To The ‘Today’ Show
On Friday, March 27, Hoda Kotb, who conducted Savannah Guthrie’s first sit-down interview since her mother’s disappearance, shared on the “Today” show that she would officially make her return to the show on Monday, April 6.
Within the third a part of the interview, Savannah explained her decision to return to the show as her mother, who disappeared on February 1, stays missing.
“It’s hard to assume doing it since it’s such a spot of joy and lightness and I can’t come back and take a look at to be something that I’m not,” she said of returning to her co-anchor spot. “But I can’t not come back since it’s my family. I feel it’s a part of my purpose at once. I need to smile.”
“And once I do, it can be real. And my joy shall be my protest. My joy shall be my answer,” she continued. “And being there’s joyful. And when it’s not, I’ll say so. I actually have been so grateful to have this family. I consider this my family, my greater family, and when times are hard, you need to be together with your family. And I need to be with my family.”
Savannah admitted how difficult it can be to return to airwaves within the midst of such an extreme personal tragedy.
“I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would love to try. I would love to try. I’m not gonna be the identical, but possibly it’s like that old poem, more beautiful within the broken places,” she told Kotb.