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In a bid to solve the Nancy Guthrie case, investigators are employing advanced technology previously used to apprehend Bryan Kohberger, a convicted murderer.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department announced on February 17, as reported by Oxygen, their intention to explore “additional investigative genealogy options for DNA evidence” to identify the genetic material found on a pair of gloves located near the Guthrie crime scene.
DNA was successfully extracted from these gloves, which were found in a field approximately two miles from Nancy’s residence. However, the sheriff’s department revealed that this DNA profile does not correspond to any entries in CODIS, the national database utilized by law enforcement to cross-reference crime scene evidence.
The gloves are considered potentially pivotal to the investigation. An FBI statement dated February 15 indicated that they resemble those worn by an individual captured on video disabling Nancy’s doorbell camera on the morning she vanished.
Given the absence of a match in CODIS, investigators are now turning to genetic genealogy techniques. This method mirrors the approach used to connect Kohberger to the 2022 homicides of four University of Idaho students.
With no match in CODIS, investigators now plan to turn now to genetic genealogy options—a similar strategy to that used by authorities to link Kohberger to the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho college students.
In genetic genealogy, authorities upload a DNA sample to public ancestral databases like GEDmatch, then compare it to the family trees of people the suspect shares DNA with until they are able to identify potential culprits, according to previous reporting from Oxygen.
“It sometimes can only narrow it down so far, and then you turn it over to the investigators,” CeCe Moore, head of genetic genealogy at Parabon NanoLabs, told Oxygen in 2019. “We’re really just a lead generator. We’re trying to get tips, and then investigators have to determine whether that’s a viable tip or not.”
Genetic Genealogy Was Used to Identify Bryan Kohberger
In Kohberger’s case, investigators discovered a single source of male DNA on a leather knife sheath left behind on the bed of one of the victims, according to a probable cause affidavit released in the case.
That DNA sample was then loaded into public genealogy sites, per court documents obtained by CNN, in an attempt to identify the suspect.
As prosecutors explained in the court records, “the FBI went to work building family trees of the genetic relatives to the suspect DNA left at the crime scene in an attempt to identify the contributor of the unknown DNA.”
Through that process, they were able to tell investigators to take a closer look at Kohberger. After cell phone data put the doctoral student in criminology in the area at the time of the murders, authorities collected trash outside his family’s home in Pennsylvania and compared it to the DNA found at the crime scene, concluding that the DNA found in the trash belonged to the biological father of their suspect, per CNN.
Kohberger was arrested and pleaded guilty to the four murders in July 2025.
Guthrie Investigators Search For Pacemaker, Analyze Doorbell Footage
Investigators are now hoping a similar strategy will help them catch a break in Nancy’s disappearance.
As the sheriff’s department noted, “Investigators are currently looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches.”
They added that the gloves recovered have been sent to a lab in Florida for further testing.
The DNA profile recovered from the gloves “did not match” other DNA found at Nancy’s property, they shared in a statement to Oxygen, adding “the DNA found at the property is being analyzed and further testing needs to be done as part of the investigation.”
It isn’t the only strategy currently being deployed to try to find the mother of Today cohost Savannah Guthrie.
Investigators are also working with the manufacturer of Nancy’s pacemaker and “other experts in the field” to try to locate the medical device, per the Feb. 17 statement from the sheriff’s department.
They are also continuing to analyze surveillance footage captured by a doorbell camera that showed an armed subject, wearing black gloves and a ski mask disabling the camera on Feb. 1, the same morning Nancy disappeared.
Investigators discovered her blood on the porch of the home, suggesting that the 84-year-old had been taken from the home against her will.
Anyone with information in the case is urged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI, 520-351-4900, 88-CRIME (882-7463), or go to tips.fbi.gov.