An Arizona couple reportedly found a pair of gloves, which were stained with blood, along with a rock bearing a dried drop of blood in the desert about a mile from Nancy Guthrie's home, according to a report.
The couple, who chose to stay anonymous, said that they came across the suspicious black blood-soaked gloves lying just about 10 feet apart along Campbell Avenue in the Catalina Foothills on February 11, KVOA reported on Friday. "Sure enough, it was a black glove in the desert. It appeared to have looked like it was ripped. It also appeared to look like it had blood on it," the couple told the outlet.
Mysterious Discovery
"There was two different colors. The blood was more towards the wrist side of the glove and on the pointer finger, it looked like it was ripped," they added. Alarmed by what they had found, the couple contacted authorities, worried the items could be linked to the suspected kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie.
Investigators have since located several gloves scattered throughout the area around the Tucson neighborhood. Authorities believe they may match the gloves worn by the armed person seen outside Guthrie's home on the morning she vanished on January 31.
"It didn't just look like a regular glove. It looked like this was a glove used for something that could've possibly been what they were looking for," the wife told the outlet.
The couple said they were too afraid to touch either glove, fearing they might accidentally contaminate potential evidence.
Instead, they took photos and carefully surveyed the unsettling scene. One of the gloves was resting on a rock that appeared to have at least one visible bloodstain, deepening their concern.
"And also from the glove it looked like a blood drop on a rock underneath the glove was like dried blood or something. We didn't move it or touch it. We immediately were like, we have to do something. So I was like I will call the sheriff department," the husband said.
Investigation Taken Yet Another Turn
Investigators later responded to the scene, where the couple was questioned before being allowed to leave. Authorities remained at the scene until around 2 a.m., according to reports.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department has not said whether the blood-stained gloves were among the items collected for DNA testing, as the search for Nancy Guthrie entered its 20th day on Saturday.
"We cannot confirm at this time. Detectives and agents have collected multiple gloves from the area, and analysis is part of the investigation," the department told the outlet.
Authorities say DNA recovered from other gloves has so far failed to match any profiles in the FBI's database, and no usable DNA evidence has been found inside Nancy Guthrie's home either.
Investigators previously confirmed that the DNA taken from one glove did not match the DNA collected inside the house. Still, officials noted that the black glove appears to be the same type worn by the unidentified masked person seen on surveillance footage.
Despite the ongoing investigation, authorities have yet to name any suspects or persons of interest in Guthrie's disappearance.
