More than 100 days after Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Tucson-area home, investigators say the DNA evidence in the case was first sent to a private laboratory in Florida before being transferred to the FBI's lab in Quantico, a move that has intensified scrutiny of how the inquiry is being handled.
Sheriff Chris Nanos has insisted key details are being withheld to protect the case, even as critics, including Khloé Kardashian, question why so little has been made public.
Why Investigators Say Nancy Guthrie 'Secrets' Are Necessary
Sheriff Nanos has openly acknowledged that his team is keeping parts of the Nancy Guthrie investigation out of public view. Speaking to Arizona station KOLD, he was asked directly whether there was information that had not been released.
'Yes, absolutely there are,' he replied. 'But it's not done because we got to keep it a secret. It's done because we got to protect our case.'
The sheriff, who is leading the probe into Guthrie's apparent abduction from her Arizona home, pushed back at critics who see the silence as a sign of drift. He insisted that the Pima County Sheriff's Department, working alongside the FBI, is moving closer to an arrest.
'I believe, at some point in time, we will make an arrest on this case,' Nanos said. 'And whoever that individual is, that individual will have a right to a fair and impartial trial. We continue to work with our labs, whether it's on the digital end or the biological end, DNA.'
Officially, investigators say they are processing scientific evidence and digital data and are still actively following up leads. A department spokesperson has stressed that, despite the long timeline, the case remains very much open.
Nancy Guthrie DNA: From Tucson To Florida To Quantico
Beneath the arguments over transparency sits one awkward, technical storyline that has already raised eyebrows among armchair detectives: the handling of DNA from Nancy Guthrie's home.
Sheriff Nanos confirmed in March that multiple DNA samples had been collected from the Tucson‑area property, including material that did not belong to Guthrie or to those close to her. He described that evidence as a mixture that scientists were struggling to separate into individual profiles.
'It's a challenge because we know we have DNA, but now we have to deal with that mixture and how we're going to separate it,' he said, adding that his office was relying on forensic labs and on rapidly evolving technology to improve the odds of success.
What happened next has become one of the more sensitive points in the timeline. According to law enforcement sources cited by NewsNation and ABC News, detectives in Pima County initially sent key biological material from Nancy Guthrie's dwelling to a private laboratory in Florida for analysis.
On 16 April, those sources said, the FBI's own laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, finally received a DNA sample that had been undergoing testing at that private facility.
An FBI official, quoted by ABC, was at pains to stress that the bureau had requested the material much earlier.
'There is no new DNA evidence in the Nancy Guthrie case. The FBI requested this material over two months ago,' the official said. 'The Pima County Sheriff's Office sent it to a private lab in Florida. Eleven weeks later, that lab has now transferred an original hair sample to the FBI Laboratory for testing. We remain fully committed to this investigation.'
The insider accounts say the DNA now in Quantico is not fresh evidence, but rather material extracted from items collected at Guthrie's home in early February. The FBI has indicated it intends to apply new technologies and advanced analysis in the hope of pulling a usable profile that could lead to her alleged kidnappers.
Khloé Kardashian Questions Why Nancy Guthrie Is Still Missing
Into that vacuum of information has stepped Khloé Kardashian, who devoted a recent episode of her podcast Khloé in Wonder Land to the case, alongside Crime Junkie host Ashley Flowers.
'Nancy Guthrie, I mean, is that not heartbreaking?' Kardashian said in the episode, uploaded on 13 May. 'I don't know. I'm just like, this is 2026. There is nothing? That is mind‑blowing.'
She went on to describe aspects of the investigation as 'weird', referencing the reported ransom notes sent to media outlets in the weeks after Guthrie vanished. Those notes have never been publicly authenticated by the sheriff's department or the FBI, although Savannah Guthrie has said she believes at least some of them to be genuine.
'I just can't understand that in 2026 there's not... that's what I don't believe, that there's not one piece of information. They're not telling us,' Kardashian said.
Flowers, who says she has helped solve more than 20 cold cases, offered a more pragmatic view, telling listeners that law enforcement withholding details is 'so common' and not inherently suspicious.
Timeline And Evidence In The Nancy Guthrie Case
Investigators have released only a skeletal public timeline of Nancy Guthrie's last known movements. Nanos outlined the key points at a briefing on 5 February, stressing that times are approximate.
Guthrie went to a family dinner on Saturday 31 January, travelling by Uber at around 5.32pm to a relative's home. She was dropped back at her own house later that night, with garage data suggesting she entered at about 9.48pm and the door closing roughly two minutes later.
In the early hours of Sunday 1 February, her doorbell camera was disconnected at 1.47am, followed by motion detected on another security camera at 2.12am. At 2.28am, data from a pacemaker app indicated that the device had been disconnected from her phone.
She failed to arrive at a friend's home at 11am for a planned church service livestream. By 11.56am, family members checking on her found the house empty. They called 911 at 12.03pm; deputies arrived at 12.14pm.
Police later confirmed that blood on the porch belonged to Nancy Guthrie, and that they had found DNA in the home which did not match her or those close to her.
On 10 February the FBI released doorbell footage of a masked suspect at her front door, described as a man around 5ft 9in to 5ft 10in with an average build, wearing a ski mask, gloves and a backpack.
A set of black gloves found about two miles away initially appeared promising, but DNA on them was eventually traced to a local restaurant worker with no link to the case. They proved to be a dead end.
Meanwhile, the quiet work continues. Nanos says his team, alongside federal agents, are still combing through thousands of tips, digital records, app data and surveillance feeds, searching for the 'one detail that did not fit the first time around'.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing on 1 February after relatives found her home empty, and investigators have since said they believe she was forcibly taken during the night.
The case has drawn national attention not only because she is the mother of Today presenter Savannah Guthrie, but because the investigation has produced fragments of evidence without the one thing everyone keeps waiting for, which is a named suspect.
