Human Remains Found Near Guthrie Home a Dead End

A possible break in the search for Nancy Guthrie turned out to be something else entirely. Tucson police say a human bone discovered about 7 miles from Guthrie's home is believed to be "prehistoric" and isn't connected to her disappearance, reports USA Today. The bone was found Thursday by a YouTube true-crime streamer who runs the channel A.J.DoubleU News. After consulting with the University of Arizona's anthropology department and the Pima County medical examiner, police said the find will be handled as an anthropological matter, not a criminal case.

Guthrie, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, vanished from her home in the Catalina Foothills, north of Tucson, on Feb. 1, with Us Weekly noting that the time she's been missing is approaching the 100-day mark. The 84-year-old was last seen the night before, when a family member dropped her off, per USA Today. Investigators say blood drops outside her front door were confirmed to be hers, and they early on concluded she was likely taken from the house overnight. DNA found on the property reportedly came from multiple people, complicating efforts to match it through national databases.

One major lead arrived on Feb. 10, when the FBI released video and images of a masked man in black gloves fiddling with Guthrie's doorbell camera. Agents estimated that man is 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10 with an average build and wearing a 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack sold at Walmart. A pair of black gloves located 2 miles from the home in March was later linked by DNA to a restaurant worker unrelated to the case. Sources have also said new evidence, including hair samples from inside the house, is under FBI analysis.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department says the investigation is still ongoing, and DNA work continues in partnership with federal and private labs. Meanwhile, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says that authorities think they know "why [the kidnapper] did this, and we believe that it was targeted, but we're not 100% sure of that," per People.