Updated February 16, 2026 at 1:50 PM EST
A glove recovered near Nancy Guthrie's house appears to match a pair worn by a masked man caught on video the night Guthrie disappeared in Tucson, Ariz., the FBI says.
The agency says the glove has a man's DNA on it. The FBI received preliminary test results on Saturday and were awaiting confirmation of those tests before cross-referencing the DNA with a national database.
The FBI announced the DNA findings on Sunday, two weeks since Guthrie, the mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing.
"It is never too late to do the right thing," Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video Sunday, as she urged anyone "whoever has her, or knows where she is" to come forward.
The search for Nancy Guthrie is now in its third week. Police say they believe she was taken from her home, but they have not substantiated any of the purported ransom notes that were sent to media outlets.
Glove was found near the road
The FBI says that searchers in the desert landscape around Nancy Guthrie's house found around 16 gloves, most of which were used in the large search effort for Guthrie.
But one glove — found in a field near a road some 2 miles from Guthrie's house — was different, according to the agency. It resembled the gloves seen in the chilling video captured by a doorbell camera from Guthrie's front porch.
The FBI says the masked and gloved figure in the video, who also seemed to be wearing a gun holster, is a man about 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with an average build. The agency identified the backpack he is wearing as a black 25-liter "Hiker Pack" model made by Ozark Trail, a brand owned by Walmart.
After DNA analysis, the search for a match
The FBI's next step is to analyze the DNA found on the glove and run the results through its database of genetic records known as the Combined DNA Index System, or CoDIS. The agency said on Sunday that it received preliminary results from a private lab in Florida, but that it wouldn't enter the DNA profile of the "unknown male" into CoDIS until it confirms the analysis — a process that often takes 24 hours.
"That database contain[s] the names of people primarily that have been convicted and incarcerated in different prisons throughout the United States," said Mary Ellen O'Toole, a retired FBI agent who's now the director of the forensic science program at George Mason University.
"All states contribute their DNA samples" to that federal database, O'Toole added, "which is what makes it so effective."
If the search of DNA from previously convicted people doesn't bring a match, investigators could also turn to genetic genealogy, looking for relatives of the person who left DNA on the glove
Ideally, the DNA evidence would lead investigators to an individual — or help to develop new leads. And, O'Toole says, if a suspect removes a glove, it raises a key question.
"If this offender was taking off gloves, what else did they take off that might also be located out in the desert?"
Potential breakthroughs come after little progress
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31, just four days after she turned 84. She was reported missing on Feb. 1, after she didn't make it to a church service.
Police quickly became convinced that the grandmother, who lives alone in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, did not leave her house voluntarily. Guthrie has mobility issues and takes daily medicines; her blood was found on her porch.
A massive search ensued, but for days, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said it hadn't identified any suspects or vehicles related to the case.
A potential breakthrough emerged last week, when the FBI released images of a masked man that were retrieved from the Nest camera on Guthrie's porch.
Authorities say they executed at least two court-authorized searches related to the Guthrie case last week: one on Tuesday at a property in Rio Rico, near the Mexico border south of Tucson; and another on Friday night, at a home near E. Orange Grove Road and N. First Avenue, a couple of miles from Guthrie's house.
The FBI recently doubled a reward it's offering in Guthrie's case, from $50,000 to $100,000.
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