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In Tucson, Arizona, a community-driven search effort is underway as volunteers channel their frustration into a determined quest to find Nancy Guthrie. With hopes of uncovering any leads, they have turned their attention to the areas surrounding her home, including desert ditches cluttered with trash and nearby homeless camps.
On Sunday, their dedication seemed to yield potential progress. A black backpack was discovered a mere two miles from Nancy’s residence, sparking a glimmer of hope among those involved in the search.
Present at the scene during the discovery, The Post witnessed the moment when the tattered Swiss Gear backpack was uncovered in a storm drain that also serves as a makeshift shelter for the homeless.
This significant find took place a short drive from the home of 84-year-old Nancy, located in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood, north of Tucson. The backpack was found by volunteer Catherine Lopez around 11 a.m. inside a tunnel just off West Orange Grove Road, near State Route 77.
Volunteer Catherine Lopez found the backpack at around 11 a.m. in the tunnel just off West Orange Grove Road, close to State Route 77.
She rang the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, and a deputy arrived around 15 minutes later.
A picture from the scene shows Lopez holding the backpack on a large stick while on the phone with the sheriff’s office.
Another photograph shows an officer wearing gloves gingerly picking up the closed backpack.
Two homeless people were in the storm drain at the time of the discovery, but the arrival of the authorities reportedly spooked them, and they fled the scene.
It doesn’t appear to be the same backpack as the masked perp wore in surveillance footage from Nancy’s Nest camera earlier this month.
This week, investigators identified the backpack as a black Ozark Trail Hiker, sold exclusively at Walmart.
Yet another glove was also found nearby on Sunday, just off North First Avenue.
It comes as Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos faces accusations that his ego is derailing the hunt for Nancy, whose daughter, “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, 54, flew out to Arizona at the start of the month to aid the search.
With no suspects or persons of interest identified, more than three weeks after Nancy was reported missing on Feb. 1, authorities are set to scale back the search in the coming days.