TUCSON, Ariz. — Days before the six-month mark in the unsolved disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, a neighbor in the Catalina Foothills told Fox News Digital she saw FBI personnel back in the area, searching the desert brush behind Guthrie’s home.
A spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said no task force investigators had recently returned to the neighborhood. But the neighbor said the people she saw were familiar from earlier law enforcement activity tied to the case. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The neighbor, who lives only a few doors away from Guthrie’s home, said she watched them comb through the surrounding brush.
Authorities have said Guthrie, the mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, is believed to have been forcibly taken from her home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
Bob Krygier, a retired Pima County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant and former SWAT commander, said investigators may revisit a search area for several reasons, including new information or the possibility that weather has changed the terrain.
“There’s a couple of different reasons that go through my mind first is going to be they got some leads, they got some new tips that are viable, and they’re out there looking for something specific or in an area specific to that, because I’m certain that they’ve searched those areas already,” he told Fox News Digital.
Krygier also said that, with the investigation now six months old, officials could be taking another look with a fresh perspective.
Recent heavy rains may be another factor, he said, noting that storms can shift or uncover evidence that search teams may not have spotted before.
“About a month ago, monsoon season started here in Tucson and a lot of water has come down — a lot of water at once, and it pushes things,” he said. “So it’s moved the environment. Rocks have been pushed away.”
Depending on the area, floodwaters can rise from just a few inches to as much as 12 feet, Krygier said, with enough force to sweep away vehicles, trees, rocks and even people.
“I’m not sure if they found him yet, but there was a report of a man in the wash floating down, being pushed downstream by the water — and the Santa Cruz is what that feeds into, which is, you’re looking at 20, 30 feet deep when it’s at its peak and 50, 60 feet across,” he said. “All that water, it’s rushing fast, and it’s taken not only the people, but it’s taken cars, it’s taken trees, branches, rocks, all of this stuff, and basically turned into a big blender.”
Authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News Digital last week that investigators are still following up on active leads, reviewing “tens of thousands” of videos and do not consider the case cold.
On Friday, his office also released a pair of purported ransom notes in the case, in the hope that someone in the public can help identify the sender’s “unique linguistic style.”
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling 520-88-CRIME.
The combined sum of rewards in the case is over $1.2 million and remains unclaimed.
