Nancy Guthrie Case Using Similar Genetic Testing That Caught Bryan Kohberger

Nancy Guthrie and Bryan KohbergerCourtesy of Savannah Guthrie/Instagram and Kyle Green-Pool/Getty Images

Investigators searching for Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, are turning to similar technology once used to capture convicted murderer Bryan Kohberger.

A press release issued on Tuesday, February 17, by the Pima County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the news after noting that a pair of gloves found two miles away from Nancy’s Arizona home on Thursday, February 12, did not “trigger a match” in the “national CODIS database.” (The database electronically compares DNA profiles.)

“Investigators are currently looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches,” the statement read. (Investigative genetic genealogy — commonly abbreviated to IGG — was utilized in Kohberger’s 2022 arrest in relation to the Idaho college murders.)

According to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, IGG involves “the science of using genetic and genealogical methods to generate leads for law enforcement entities investigating crimes and identifying human remains.”

Tuesday’s statement expanded on the results achieved through the gloves’ testing. “[It] did not match DNA found at the property. The DNA found at the property is being analyzed and further testing needs to be done as part of the investigation.” (Undisclosed DNA evidence was recovered directly from Nancy’s home after she was abducted in the early hours of February 1, per reporting by NBC News, while the glove was found two miles from Nancy’s home more than one week later.)

An article published by CNN in March 2025 reflected on the Kohberger case and how IGG was specifically used to secure crucial evidence against him. Kohberger, 31, was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without parole for the stabbing murders of four University of Idaho students in 2022. He pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.

Nancy Guthrie. Courtesy of Savannah Guthrie/Instagram

The outlet reported that a “knife sheath” contained DNA that “authorities used IGG … to connect that sample to Kohberger’s family. It also noted that subsequent DNA testing, including fingernail clippings taken from one of the victims, found a “statistical match” to the knife sample, which led to Kohberger’s arrest.

Nancy, 84, was first reported missing on February 1 after she failed to attend a virtual church service. She was last seen one night prior by her daughter Annie Guthrie, who dropped the matriarch off at her Catalina Foothills home following a family dinner.

As the ongoing search moved into its second week, FBI Director Kash Patelreleased a series of black-and-white images and video that showed an individual in front of Nancy’s home with what appeared to be a gun held in his waistband. The person was dressed in a full mask and gloves as they attempted to shield Nancy’s home security camera before the camera was entirely dismantled and removed from a wall beside the front door.

Bryan Kohberger. AP Photo/Kyle Green, Pool

The FBI later released a formal description of the individual, detailing that he was likely “a male, approximately 5’9 – 1’10” with an average build,” and noting that he was “wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack” in the recordings.

A subsequent search led by authorities throughout the surrounding areas of Nancy’s home collected “16 gloves in various areas,” according to the FBI and NewsNation senior national correspondent Brian Entin.

“Most of them were searchers’ gloves that they discarded in various areas when they searched the vicinity,” Entin wrote via X on Sunday, February 15. “The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video. The FBI has and will continue to provide assistance on whatever timeline is provided to us.”

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