The FBI released identifying details of the suspect in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie and doubled the reward for information leading to an arrest.
FBI officials described the suspect as a man 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10-inches tall with an average build, based on a forensic analysis of surveillance video footage released Tuesday from Guthrie's front door camera.
He was wearing a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, the FBI added in a Thursday afternoon post on X.
A masked man who disabled a security camera at the front door of Nancy Guthrie's Tucson home wore a backpack like this one, the FBI says.
"We hope this updated description will help concentrate the public tips we are receiving," the FBI stated in the X post, which said the agency has collected more than 13,000 tips since Guthrie, the mother of NBC "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, was taken from her Catalina Foothills home on Feb. 1.
The post also announced that the reward is jumping to $100,000 from $50,000 for information that leads to Guthrie's location and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
The FBI statement came hours after the Pima County Sheriff's Department announced it is asking residents living near Guthrie's home for video surveillance footage going back weeks before she went missing in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
Law enforcement officers walk the neighborhood around Nancy Guthrie’s home on Wednesday. Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie disappeared on Feb. 1.
Investigators want residents living within a two-mile radius of East Skyline Drive and North Campbell Avenue to submit video footage of "anything out of the ordinary" from Jan. 1 to Feb. 2.
That could include vehicles and vehicle traffic, people and "anything neighbors deem out of the ordinary or important to our investigation," the department said in a news update.
The sheriff's department has set up a portal for residents to submit the video at pimasheriff.evidence.com/axon/community-request/public/nancy-guthrie.
Investigators also are using the Neighbors App to reach out to residents with home surveillance cameras. Those requests will come from "Pima County Sheriff's Department" accompanied by a blue checkmark.
Several pieces of potential evidence, including a pair of gloves, have been recovered and are being analyzed, the sheriff's department said.
This image provided by the FBI shows surveillance images at the home of Nancy Guthrie the night she went missing in Tucson.
The Reuters news agency reported Thursday that "a U.S. law enforcement official with knowledge of the case" said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is blocking FBI access to key evidence, "impairing its ability to assist in the probe."
The unnamed source told Reuters the FBI asked Nanos for physical evidence in the case, including a glove, as well as DNA from Nancy Guthrie's home, to be processed at the FBI's national crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. Nanos has instead used a private lab in Florida. That is delaying the FBI's ability to assist in the case, the official told Reuters.
The Pima County sheriff has primary jurisdiction over the case, and FBI assistance must be officially requested by the county, Reuters said.
A member of the Pima County Sheriff's Department stands in front of the house of Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, on Tuesday.
KOLD News anchor Mary Coleman received a response from Nanos late Thursday:
"He tells me there has been no evidence blocked in this case, but says the (sheriff's) department did want all evidence submitted to the same lab versus multiple labs," Coleman wrote in a post on X.
'"He says (that) in a meeting with the FBI today (Thursday), one of the agents said, 'we do not want the media to divide us,'" Coleman wrote.
"The Sheriff said there is still no sign of Nancy, but they have 'good leads,'" she reported.
Around Nancy Guthrie’s house her neighbors are leaving yellow flowers to honor the missing 84-year-old. Neighbor Nicollette Daily was bringing flowers when she stopped to talk to members of the media. Catalina Foothills HOA sent out an email for neighbors to bring yellow flowers as the color yellow represents hope.
Video by Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star
On Instagram Thursday, Savannah Guthrie shared a vintage home video of her mom.
"We will never give up on her. Thank you for your prayers and hope," she wrote in her Instagram post.
