LAS VEGAS — The FBI is reportedly considering the use of advanced technological tools in the ongoing investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s case, as revealed to News Media by insiders over the weekend.
While specific details were not disclosed, the introduction of cutting-edge technology is anticipated to play a crucial role in the investigation.
Morgan Wright, the CEO and founder of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, speculated that these tools might target three primary areas. “I believe the breakthrough in this case will likely stem from a technical innovation in data analysis,” Wright shared with News Media. “This could involve video forensics, signals analysis, or even blockchain technology.”
Meanwhile, FBI agents continue their efforts on the ground, canvassing the neighborhood around Annie Guthrie’s residence in Tucson, Arizona. The search for her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie, remains active as of February 10, 2026.
FBI investigators canvass the neighborhood around Annie Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 10, 2026, as the search continues into the disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie. (DWS for News Media)
Video forensics could include technology that enhances publicly known or unknown video to help identify either the suspect or his vehicle. Signal analysis could include cell-site or ad-tech data analysis. And the blockchain could expose whoever was behind the ransom and extortion attempts, whether they were legitimate or not.
“If I’m going to put it into three buckets, I’d say it’s going to come out of one of those three buckets,” Wright, the editor and host of the “Crime: Reconstructed” Substack and podcast, added.
Investigators search brush near Nancy Guthrie’s house in Arizona as her photo is shown in an overlay. The image is courtesy of NBC and News Media. (News Media; Courtesy of NBC)
Investigative genetic genealogy could still provide a major breakthrough, he said, but that’s not new tech.
He said he believes the publicly known evidence shows there was only one kidnapper involved, in part because only one person appears on video, and no one has come forward to claim the reward of over $1.2 million.
“I don’t know that there’s anything else to indicate a second person,” he said.
That’s likely why the suspect was seen struggling to obscure the camera and eventually took it with him, he added. Not to hide his face, which was already covered, but to mask the suspect vehicle.
“The blood trail stops at the edge of the driveway,” he said. “So we know there was a car.”
The investigation, which kicked off four months ago Monday after Guthrie’s suspected abduction from her home in Tucson, has already involved the use of state-of-the-art Bluetooth detection deployed over the neighborhood in a helicopter and the groundbreaking recovery of Nest doorbell camera video.
An armed individual appears to tamper with a Google Nest camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 1, 2026, the morning of her disappearance. (FBI)
The Bluetooth “sniffer” was flown around the area in the hope that it could pick up signs from Guthrie’s pacemaker device.
She did not have a cloud subscription for her cameras, and the physical device itself was missing before police arrived to investigate her disappearance. But the FBI and Google teamed up to recover images that show a masked man on her doorstep on the night of her abduction as well as several weeks earlier.
FBI agents canvass homes near Nancy Guthrie’s residence in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 6, 2026, as the investigation into her disappearance continues. (Kat Ramirez for News Media)
The Guthrie family is urging anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI. There is a combined reward of more than $1.2 million for information that breaks the case.
Anonymous tips can also be sent to Tucson’s Crime Stoppers affiliate, 88-Crime, at 1-520-882-7463.