A human bone discovered near the Tucson, Arizona, home of missing 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie has been determined to be prehistoric and unrelated to her ongoing disappearance investigation, authorities said Thursday.
The Tucson Police Department said the bone was found Thursday at North Craycroft Road and East River Road — roughly 7 miles from Ms. Guthrie’s residence in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood. The department classified the matter as a “prehistoric anthropological investigation” and said it was not criminal in nature. The University of Arizona Department of Anthropology and the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner assisted with the examination.
According to media reports, the discovery was first flagged during online coverage of the case before authorities arrived on scene and made their assessment.
Ms. Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since Jan. 31. Authorities believe she was kidnapped from her Catalina Foothills home by a masked man captured on surveillance footage at her front door in the early morning hours of Feb. 1. She was last seen the previous evening after her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, dropped her off at home following a family dinner — and confirmed she made it safely inside before he left, according to the Pima County Sheriff.
Investigators have previously said Ms. Guthrie’s blood was found outside her home, along with a “mixed DNA” sample — meaning genetic material from more than one person — that has complicated efforts to isolate a suspect profile. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department sent the evidence to a private Florida lab it works with, before transferring a hair sample to the FBI Laboratory for more advanced analysis, according to NewsNation. FBI Director Kash Patel has publicly criticized the decision to use the private lab rather than the bureau’s facility in Quantico, Virginia; Sheriff Chris Nanos has disputed that characterization, saying coordination with the FBI began without delay.
Mr. Nanos has said investigators believe the abduction was targeted.
“We believe we know why [the kidnapper] did this, and we believe that it was targeted, but we’re not 100% sure of that,” he told NBC News in March.
The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to Ms. Guthrie’s recovery or an arrest. Savannah Guthrie and her family have since raised that to $1 million and donated $500,000 to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
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