Clock ticking in Guthrie investigation as agents race to process potential evidence
An apparent large-scale operation Friday night tied to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie marks a “significant escalation” in the case, with investigators now racing to canvas neighborhoods and fast-track critical DNA evidence, according to a retired FBI agent.
Acting on a lead, authorities on Friday executed a federal search warrant at a Tucson-area home roughly two miles from Guthrie’s home, and towed a gray Range Rover from a nearby parking lot.
Jason Pack, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, told Fox News Digital the developments have the “hallmarks of agents acting on specific, actionable intelligence.”
While the searches and interviews were ongoing Friday night, Pack said other teams of agents and analysts were likely already planning a full neighborhood canvas around the location that was searched.
Aside from canvassing the area, Pack said the most pressing concern is likely processing new evidence collected from at least two scenes Friday night.
“DNA that doesn’t belong to Nancy Guthrie or anyone close to her has already been identified at her property. Gloves have been recovered. Now you’ve got whatever was inside that Range Rover that warranted agents draping it with a tarp before the cameras could see,” he said. “All of that evidence needs to get to a lab.”
Pack stressed the situation is a race against the clock.
“Do they wait until Monday to commercially ship it to a private lab? In past high-profile cases, I’ve seen FBI aircraft used to immediately shuttle evidence to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico,” he said. “That eliminates days of waiting. In a case involving a vulnerable 84-year-old woman who is without her heart medication, where every hour matters, you don’t wait for FedEx on Monday morning.”
Read the full story from Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and Jon Street here.