‘No one ruled out’ in Nancy Guthrie case after her blood was found on porch, says sheriff: Live updates

In this episode of The Trial USA, we bring you everything we know so far about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, who police say was abducted from her home in the middle of the night.

Investigators have confirmed forced entry and blood at the scene, and say this is now being treated as a crime. We speak to senior investigative reporter Steve Helling, who has been covering the case all week, about the timeline, the evidence, the alleged ransom note sent to TMZ – and what police believe may have happened.

Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed that the blood found on the porch at Nancy’s home belongs to her.

‘I think you all know the blood on the porch,’ he told reporters on Thursday.

‘It came back to Nancy, that’s what we know. But there’s still more items that have been submitted.’

Nanos added that they have not identified a suspect in the case.

‘Nobody’s eliminated, but we just really don’t have enough to say this is our suspect,’ he said.

Jenna Bush Hager choked up while reacting to Savannah Guthrie’s plea video on Today With Jenna & Sheinelle this morning.

‘I mean, Savannah writing that. The fact that they could write these beautiful words about their mother, who they love so much, is just remarkable,’ Bush Hager said.

‘And none of us here are stopping looking for her, doing anything we can, praying for her. I know that in hard times, sometimes it’s easy to lose hope, but I think prayer and hope is all that we have.’

She also said that her daughter understands the situation and offered her comfort during a church vigil on Wednesday.

‘As I was watching with Mila, who is old enough to know what’s happening, and my husband, I just had my arm around my little girl, and she kept saying, “It’s gonna be OK, Mommy,”‘ Bush Hager said.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said investigators are fearful for Nancy Guthrie’s life, but believe she is still alive.

“Right now, we believe Nancy is still out there,” he told reporters Thursday. ‘To my knowledge, we’re still looking for Nancy.’

When asked if he believes Nancy is dead, Nanos replied, ‘I’m certainly fearful of that. Until we know, she’s out there, she’s alive.’

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was late to her own media briefing because she and Donald Trump were watching Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos speak.

‘Any requests that are made by state and local officials in the search of Mrs. Guthrie will absolutely be accommodated,’ Leavitt said.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that nobody has been ruled out as a suspect in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

‘We’re actively looking at everybody we come across, in this case, everybody,’ Nanos said. ‘We would be irresponsible if we didn’t talk to everybody.’

He added, ‘It’s really kind of reckless to report that someone is a suspect when they could very well be a victim.’

Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division, said the bureau has deployed additional resources to assist in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

‘We have brought in our critical incident response group from Quantico, Virginia; members from our cellular analysis survey team are here, and they continue to collect and process digital information,’ Janke said.

‘We are actively reviewing and analyzing information from all digital sources, which includes banks, social media companies, phone companies, and any other organizations where a digital footprint could have been captured.

‘All this information provides data points and helps put the picture together, and we will be in the community continuing to conduct a thorough investigation with our partners.’

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said he will not hold another press conference until a major development is made.

‘I have no plans to schedule any further press conferences, unless we have some real evidence or something to bring up to you,’ he said.

‘It’s pretty pointless to just keep hounding the same things over and over.’

FBI Special Agent Heith Janke said that one of the reported ransom notes has a deadline of 5pm today.

He added that the note had a second deadline for next Monday.

‘So we are continuing in a normal kidnapping case; there would be contact by now, trying to discuss that,’ Janke said.

‘But those are the time frames we’re looking at as we move forward.’

‘This is day four or five and we don’t know if she’s getting her medication, and that in itself could prove fatal,’ Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said on Thursday.

Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera disconnected in the dead of night around the time she disappeared in the early hours of Sunday, the sheriff leading the investigation said.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos made the disturbing revelation at a press conference in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday, four days after Savannah Guthrie‘s 84-year-old mother was reported missing from her $1m home.

Sheriff Nanos told reporters that the doorbell camera disconnected at 1:47am, but at 2:12am, a person was detected by the camera’s sensors.