Faris Tanyos is a news editor for CBSNews.com, where he writes and edits stories and tracks breaking news. He previously worked as a digital news producer at several local news stations up and down the West Coast.
Authorities on Thursday released the first physical description of a male suspect wanted in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie. The suspect was seen on the front porch camera of Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Arizona, the night she is believed to have been abducted.
The suspect is described as having an average build and an approximate height of 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10, the FBI said in a statement posted to social media. In the Nest doorbell camera video taken at Nancy Guthrie’s home, he was wearing a black-colored 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, the FBI said.
The FBI provided photos of a similar backpack for reference. The new details were based on a “forensic analysis of the doorbell camera footage,” the FBI said.
This marks the first time in the case that officials have described the person seen in the security video as a suspect.
The FBI also said it has increased its reward from $50,000 to $100,000 for information leading to either the location of Nancy Guthrie, and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance. The FBI said it has received over 13,000 tips so far in the case.
The Free Press: How the FBI Is Searching for Nancy Guthrie
The FBI added the case to its “most wanted” listing and released a poster with photos of the suspect from the home security footage and information about the reward.
Earlier Thursday, sources told CBS News that a pair of black gloves had been found during the search for Guthrie. The gloves, seen in images released by the New York Post, resembled those the suspect was wearing in the doorbell video. The gloves are being tested for DNA.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen on Jan. 31. The suspect was seen on security video at her home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
According to a timeline provided by officials, on the night of Jan. 31, Nancy Guthrie had dinner at her daughter Annie’s home. Afterward, she was dropped off at her own home by her son-in-law a little before 10 p.m.
She was reported missing the following day, Feb. 1, after she failed to show up for church.
Law enforcement officials had previously disclosed the Google Nest doorbell camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. on Feb. 1, and the camera detected activity from a person at 2:12 a.m. Guthrie’s pacemaker app disconnected from her phone at 2:28 a.m.
It was not until Tuesday, 10 days after Nancy Guthrie went missing, that the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department released surveillance videos and photos from the doorbell camera showing the masked suspect on Guthrie’s porch in those early morning hours of Feb. 1. They said the images were recovered from “residual data located in backend systems.”
Also Tuesday, a man who later told reporters he was a person of interest in the case, was detained following a traffic stop in Rio Rico, Arizona, a community about 12 miles from the Mexican border. He was released from custody early Wednesday, however, telling reporters that he was innocent.
Authorities have also been investigating ransom demands that have requested payment in bitcoin.
Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings have released several social media videos pleading directly to the abductor or abductors. In one such video released last weekend, the family indicated they were willing to pay for Nancy Guthrie’s safe return.
