HORROR AT HOME: Missing Woman Found Dead as Cops Seal Off Property
Law enforcement is preparing to turn Nancy Guthrie’s Arizona home back over to her family, sources say, as the search for her is in its fourth week.
Guthrie, 84, the mother of “TODAY” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing on Feb. 1.
For weeks her home in the Tucson area has been the center of a flurry of law enforcement activity — including the recovery of DNA evidence. Activity seen Wednesday is related to efforts to turn the home back over the Guthrie family, two federal law enforcement sources told NBC News.
Officials acknowledged that law enforcement no longer sees the need to seal the premises as a crime scene or restrict the family from entering.
It was not immediately clear what the FBI or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department was doing inside the home Wednesday. It did not appear that they were engaged in activities outside the home that were seen on previous visits, which included testing or retracing their steps.
More than 23,000 calls have been made to the FBI tip line since Guthrie was taken, 750 of which came in the first 12 hours after Savannah Guthrie offered a $1 million reward Tuesday on Instagram, a senior official familiar with the investigation told NBC News.
Guthrie was last seen around 9:45 p.m. Jan. 31 after dinner at her daughter Annie’s home, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. She was reported missing the next day when she did not show up to watch a virtual church service with friends.
Authorities have not identified a suspect in her possible abduction.
The FBI on Feb. 10 released photos taken from Guthrie’s Google Nest camera that showed a masked, armed man later described as a suspect outside her home the morning she vanished. In that clip, the person appeared to tamper with the camera.
Most of those images showed a masked person with a backpack. But one did not, showing the person in dark clothing with a mask and gloves without a backpack.
On Monday, two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said that the image without the backpack was captured earlier, not the morning of her disappearance.
The FBI declined to comment on possible dates tied to the image. The sheriff’s department said Monday that there was no date or timestamp associated with that image and that any suggestion that it was taken on a different day is “purely speculative.”
Nanos said officials believe the majority of those images were from Feb. 1 only because they show the doorbell being disconnected.
The sheriff’s department and the FBI continue to actively pursue “all viable leads,” the department said Tuesday evening.
DNA evidence has been collected from Guthrie’s home and related search locations and submitted for forensic analysis, the sheriff’s department has said. Testing thus far has yielded no results.
Nanos has said mixed DNA was recovered from her home, meaning a DNA sample that contains genetic information from at least two people, but there have been challenges with those samples.
Stanton Defeats Democratic Socialist Challenger In Arizona Primary
One of the Democratic Party’s most closely watched primary battles has ended with a decisive victory for an incumbent congressman, despite an aggressive challenge from the party’s progressive wing.
The race had drawn national attention as another test of whether candidates running on an anti-Israel platform could unseat more established Democrats.
Rep. Greg Stanton easily defeated democratic socialist challenger Kai Newkirk in Arizona’s Democratic primary Tuesday, securing the nomination for another term in Congress with a commanding margin.
With nearly all votes counted, Stanton received about 68.1% of the vote compared with Newkirk’s 31.9%, according to multiple media outlets.
The victory sends Stanton, a former Phoenix mayor first elected to Congress in 2018, into November’s general election, where he is expected to face Republican Zuhdi Jasser.
Following the race, Stanton described the outcome as a choice about the future direction of the Democratic Party.
“This campaign presented voters with a real choice about how Democrats should lead,” Stanton said in a statement posted to his campaign page.
“Tonight, the voters chose proven leadership that fights back, delivers real results, and brings our party together.”
Throughout the campaign, Newkirk attempted to make U.S. support for Israel the defining issue in the race.
He repeatedly criticized Stanton for receiving support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, commonly known as AIPAC, and accused the organization of wielding too much influence in American politics.
Newkirk also pointed to a multimillion-dollar public messaging campaign promoting Israel as evidence of what he characterized as outside influence in U.S. elections.
Among his policy positions, Newkirk called for ending U.S. military aid to Israel and imposing an arms embargo on the country.
He also sharply criticized Stanton after the congressman voted against an amendment offered by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that would have reduced military assistance to Israel.
“Greg Stanton has taken over $300K from AIPAC,” Newkirk wrote during the campaign.
Stanton defended his vote, arguing that reducing military assistance would weaken America’s ability to counter threats from Iran while also acknowledging that changes in Israeli leadership and policy would be necessary as the current U.S.-Israel security agreement approaches its 2028 expiration.
Although Stanton has supported continued military assistance to Israel, he has also publicly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on multiple occasions.
Newkirk received endorsements from several progressive organizations, including Our Revolution, Progressive Democrats of America and Track AIPAC.
He was also endorsed by The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur.
However, his campaign faced setbacks in its closing weeks.
Earlier this month, the Young Democrats of Arizona withdrew their endorsement, saying they had become aware of “concerning patterns of behavior.”
The organization did not publicly provide additional details.
Newkirk denied any wrongdoing and argued the move was part of a political smear campaign.
Despite his sharp criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, Newkirk also condemned antisemitism and spoke out after two Israeli Embassy employees were killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington last year.
“I stand always with my beloved Jewish siblings against the scourge of antisemitism just as I will never stop in the nonviolent struggle to end the genocide in Gaza, release all hostages, and open the way to just, lasting peace,” he said at the time.
The Arizona contest was closely watched because it reflected broader debates inside the Democratic Party over Israel, foreign policy and the growing influence of democratic socialist candidates.
While several progressive candidates have won Democratic primaries around the country in recent years, Stanton’s decisive victory suggests that message did not resonate with enough Democratic primary voters in Arizona’s 4th Congressional District, Trending Politics reported.
With the primary now decided, Stanton will turn his attention to the general election as Democrats seek to defend the seat in November, while Republicans hope to capitalize on continued ideological divisions within the Democratic Party.
