Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos gave an update on the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s abduction as the search reaches 40 days.
During an interview on NBC Nightly News on Thursday, March 12, correspondent Liz Kreutz asked Nanos whether the suspect “could strike again.”
“Absolutely. We believe we know why he did this, and we believe that it was targeted, but we’re not 100 percent sure of that, so it’d be silly to tell people, ‘Yeah, don’t worry about it. You’re not his target,’” the sheriff said. “Don’t think for a moment because it happened to the Guthrie family you’re safe. Keep your wits about you.”
Pressed further on what the suspect’s motive might be, Nanos was coy.
“I think it’s come out from day one. From day one, we had some strong beliefs about what happened, and those beliefs haven’t diminished,” he said.
Kreutz noted in her report that the sheriff’s department is “intentionally withholding their theory and other details in the case, citing the integrity of the investigation.”
Kreutz said that Nanos confirmed that investigators are looking into a reported internet outage in the area surrounding Nancy’s home in the Catalina Foothills of Arizona on the night of her abduction and whether a Wi-Fi jamming device could have been used.
Nancy, 84, was reported missing on February 1. Local police and the FBI are investigating her disappearance as an abduction. Nancy, the mother of Today show cohost Savannah Guthrie, was last seen by family members on the evening of January 31 when she was dropped off at her house following a family dinner with her daughter Annie Guthrie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni.
Nanos previously told NBC News that he believes investigators are getting closer to identifying a suspect in the case.
“I think that investigators are definitely closer,” the sheriff told Kreutz during a Today show interview that aired on March 3. “Now it’s time to just go to work.”
At the time, Nanos confirmed that investigators were reviewing footage of a car spotted driving by near Nancy’s home on the night of her disappearance. “We’re aware of it, and we’re looking into it, just like any other piece of evidence,” he said.
In February, the FBI released surveillance images of a potential suspect spotted outside Nancy’s home in the early hours of February 1. The masked individual was described as a man who is 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10 inches tall with an average build. He was seen carrying a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail backpack.
Savannah, 54, visited colleagues the Today show studios in New York City earlier this month for the first time since her mother’s disappearance.
“Savannah Guthrie stopped by the studio this morning to be with and thank her Today colleagues,” NBC said in a March 5 statement. “While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home.”
In late February, Savannah and her family increased their personal reward for Nancy’s return to $1 million.
In an emotional Instagram video, the Today show cohost said that her family was still “blowing on the embers of hope” amid her mom’s disappearance, though they realized she may no longer be alive.
“We also know that she may be lost. She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in heaven with her mom and her dad and with her beloved brother, Pierce, and with our daddy, and if this is what is to be, then we will accept it,” she said. “But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.”
