An image of the suspect released by the FBI was taken on a day before Nancy Guthrie was abducted, according to ABC News.
WASHINGTON — A masked person who is suspected in the abduction of Nancy Guthrie may have visited her house before her disappearance, ABC News reported on Monday. But the Pima County sheriff investigating her abduction said later in the day it’s unclear when the photo was taken because it didn’t have a timestamp.
An image released by the FBI of a person in a mask without a backpack was captured by Guthrie’s doorbell camera some time before Guthrie vanished, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
The FBI said the images of the masked person with a backpack are from “the morning of her disappearance,” Sunday, Feb. 1.
In a statement, the sheriff’s department called any attempt to determine a timeline from the photo “purely speculative.”
“We are aware that doorbell images released earlier in the investigation depict a suspect in different stages of attire, including with and without a backpack,” the statement reads. “There is no date or time stamp associated with these images. Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”
Guthrie, 84, the mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen at her home just outside Tucson on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities believe she was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will. Drops of her blood were found on the front porch, but authorities haven’t publicly revealed much evidence.
Officials have not identified a suspect in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who is leading the investigation into Guthrie’s disappearance, told 12News last week that he has no reason to believe she won’t be found alive.
“We’re going to go with faith and hope that we find Nancy … safe and sound,” Nanos told the local TEGNA station.
DNA evidence found in and around Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson is being analyzed at a private lab but has yet to produce any significant leads.
On Tuesday, DNA found on a pair of black gloves recovered 2 miles from Guthrie’s home was uploaded into CODIS, a nationwide database. It didn’t trigger any matches.
The gloves haven’t officially been linked to the case, but the FBI previously stated they appear consistent with the gloves a person was seen wearing on Guthrie’s doorbell camera video the night she disappeared.
It remains unclear whether any of the DNA collected in this case belongs to the person who appeared to be tampering with Guthrie’s doorbell camera the night of her disappearance. That video footage was brought to light last week.
“The guy in the video — that’s been our biggest, really great piece of evidence to work from,” Nanos said told 12News.
Gabriella Bachara and The Associated Press contributed to this report.