Nancy Guthrie case new update: Mexican officials find new clue, request family for sample

The search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has entered a critical phase as Mexican authorities have intensified the search.

The most recent effort occurred on June 9, during which more than 50 volunteers, including National Guard soldiers, state troopers, and criminology students, spent eight hours searching the Mariposa region near Nogales.

It was the third significant search effort in the region, instigated by a series of anonymous calls made to the missing person collective Buscando Corazones Nogales. Despite claims by the caller that investigators had “almost got” Guthrie before, he remained unaccounted for.

The Mariposa region has become a grim focal point, with Buscando Corazones uncovering 25 clandestine graves between April and May containing remains of more than 30 people. After an initial forensic search, no one matched Guthrie.

Ramona Guadalupe Ayala Ortiz, the head of the search team, is now asking the Guthrie family to give their DNA sample to the Attorney General's Office in Sonora State. Without having a genetic sample, the Mexican forensic teams will be unable to confirm or exclude the possibility that Guthrie was the unknown skeleton found earlier.

The case has also taken a strange turn as in March the family received ransom messages demanding Bitcoin for Guthrie’s safe return. The investigators remain unsuccessful to verify the identity of the person who delivered the message.

Both rewards of the $1 million from the family and $100,000 from the FBI are still open. The person with any information should call the FBI on the number 1-800-CALL-FBI. At the moment, when five months have already passed since the crime occurred, no one has been arrested yet, and the whereabouts of Guthrie are unknown.