Sheriff Asks Nancy Guthrie’s Neighbors to Share Security Videos

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A vehicle from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home north of Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday.Credit…Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Day 12: Where Things Stand

Search Continues: The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is asking neighbors of Nancy Guthrie to send home security camera footage of vehicles, traffic, people or anything unusual in the month before Feb. 2, the day after she went missing. Read more ›

Flood of Tips: The release of chilling video showing a masked figure on Ms. Guthrie’s porch the morning she disappeared resulted in more than 1,000 tips over 24 hours to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the agency leading the investigation.

No Known Leads: Investigators appeared no closer to solving the case that has mesmerized much of America since the 84-year-old mother of the “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie vanished early on Feb.

Investigators searching the edges of Nancy Guthrie’s street in the Catalina Foothills in Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday.Credit…Rebecca Noble/Reuters

It was an affecting plea from a face familiar to millions of American households: “We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help.”

The video message from Savannah Guthrie, released more than a week into a largely fruitless search for her 84-year-old mother, was a direct call to action to the far-reaching audience she has built as one of the country’s most-watched morning show hosts.

“I’m coming on just to ask you, not just for your prayers,” she said, “but no matter where you are — even if you’re far from Tucson — if you see anything, if you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement.”

Report they did. The sheriff’s department in Pima County, Ariz., has received about 21,000 calls since Ms. Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, was reported missing on Feb. 1. More than 4,000 came in during the first 24 hours after the F.B.I. released the first images of a masked, armed suspect on Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep on the night she disappeared.

Callers have also inundated 88-CRIME, an anonymous tip line in Pima County, with more than 1,200 calls about Ms. Guthrie, said Fabian Pacheco, who oversees the operation for the Pima County Attorney’s Office. The tip line, which forwards leads to the county sheriff’s department, typically receives no more than a couple of dozen tips a day.

The F.B.I. said that it had received 13,000 tips on the Guthrie case and released a description of the suspect’s height, build and backpack on Thursday evening, saying investigators hope the information would “concentrate” the tips being provided by the public. The bureau also increased its reward to $100,000 from $50,000 for information that leads to Ms. Guthrie’s return or the arrest or conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.

But the calls, despite their staggering volume and the several hundred investigators assigned to sift them, have so far yielded few tangible results.

The first, and so far only, major break in the investigation was the release of black-and-white footage from Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera that showed a person wearing a ski mask, backpack, gloves, and what appeared to be a holstered handgun at the front door of her home near Tucson shortly before she was abducted.

The chilling images reinvigorated public interest. But just two hours after posting them to social media, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department followed up with a message beseeching the public to submit only tips they could act on — not “commentary.”

“The Pima County Sheriff’s Department recognizes that members of the community may have thoughts, opinions, feelings or questions regarding the Nancy Guthrie case,” the department said. “However, 9-1-1 & the PCSD nonemergency line are not the appropriate venue for expressing those views.”

The simple tactic of soliciting tips from the public has led to significant breakthroughs in some criminal cases. In December, it was a tip from Reddit that helped authorities find the gunman in the Brown University shooting nearly a week after he killed two students and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Most law enforcement agencies have adjusted to, if not embraced, the need for dedicated personnel and technology to find patterns in the deluge of tips that a high-profile case elicits, particularly from amateur social media sleuths and true crime aficionados, said Michael Alcazar, a retired New York Police Department detective and an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Though 911 lines need to be left open for emergencies, he said the Pima department should not have dissuaded anyone from calling, no matter how daunting the task might be for investigators.

“Somebody’s going to provide information — this is how this case will be solved,” he said. “Because, whatever Pima County is doing is not working right now.”

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not elaborate on the status of the investigation, and the F.B.I. did not respond to requests for comment.

Callers to the FBI’s general tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI, heard a recorded message warning of “higher than normal call volumes and extended wait times.” The tip line filters calls about cases currently highlighted in the news, asking callers to “press one” if they have information regarding Ms. Guthrie.

One caller to the FBI’s line, spurred by the release of images of the suspect, said he was stymied by long wait times on Tuesday night. The caller, Fred Talbott, a retiree in Virginia Beach, said he waited on hold for an hour, hoping to tell investigators that they should attempt to identify the suspect’s jacket, holster and backpack, and track down any retailers who might have sold them.

It was “common sense” investigative work, Mr. Talbott said. “I’m sure they’ve got great people working on it. But you see, I’m 77 years old, I’m retired. I’m sitting here, I see this thing, I think, ‘Maybe I can help.’”

He eventually wrote a letter to Kash Patel, director of the F.B.I., and dropped it in the mai

The F.B.I. said it had received 13,000 tips from the public since Feb. 1, when Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home near Tucson, Ariz., and that investigators are reviewing every one.

The suspect in Nancy Guthrie’s abduction, who was pictured on her doorbell camera on the night of her disappearance, wore a 25-liter Ozark Trail-brand “Hiker Pack” backpack, the F.B.I. said in a social media post. The suspect is believed to be a man between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10, the agency said.

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Credit…F.B.I. Phoenix

Investigators seeking clues in the disapparance of Nancy Guthrie have found several items, including gloves, while scouring the foothills around her home outside of Tucson, Ariz., the Pima County Sheriff’s Department says in a new update. Doorbell camera footage from Guthrie’s porch on the night of her disappearance show a masked person at her front door wearing gloves.

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Credit…Rebecca Noble/Reuters

Well-wishers have been bringing flowers to a memorial at the driveway near Nancy Guthrie’s house in Tucson, AZ.Credit…Ty Oneil/Associated Press

Investigators from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department have asked neighbors of Nancy Guthrie to provide video footage from their home security cameras of cars, traffic, people or anything out of the ordinary they saw in the month before she went missing.

As the search for Ms. Guthrie, 84, stretched into a 12th day, her daughter, the “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, posted a video on Instagram showing her and sister as children with their mother, who has not been seen by the family since she was dropped off at her home on the night of Jan. 31.

“We will never give up on her,” Savannah wrote. “Thank you for your prayers and hope.”

The authorities have said they are investigating Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance as an abduction. Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have pleaded publicly for whoever is involved to reach out to them, saying they are prepared to listen to ransom demands.

On Thursday morning, investigators briefly returned to Nancy Guthrie’s house north of Tucson, Ariz., and raised a small white tent in front of the main door, shielding themselves while they worked. It was unclear what they were doing.

F.B.I. agents and the local police were also going through thousands of tips they received after publishing a video on Tuesday of a suspect that had been recorded by a Nest doorbell camera at Ms. Guthrie’s home.

Law enforcement agents have scoured roadways in the foothills near Nancy Guthrie’s home, looking for evidence. The sheriff’s department said several items had been found that might provide leads, including gloves. A department spokeswoman said that all evidence is being sent off for analysis.

The doorbell camera footage from Nancy Guthrie’s porch on the night of her disappearance shows a masked person at her front door wearing gloves, a ski mask, and a backpack. The figure appeared to be armed with a pistol in a holster.

Nancy Guthrie’s older daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, were the last people to see her before she vanished. Mr. Cioni drove Nancy Guthrie home from dinner on Jan. 31, the sheriff has said. Hours later, at about 1:47 a.m., the front door camera was disconnected. Investigators believe that she was most likely taken soon after that. Spatters of her blood were later found on the porch.

The sheriff’s department has asked for footage taken between Jan. 1 and Feb. 2 from anyone within a two-mile radius of Nancy Guthrie’s home.