Nancy Guthrie: Cadaver Dogs And Tech Deployed In Hunt For A Body

Hope that Nancy Guthrie might be found alive seems to be fading, and recently, soon after reports arrived that the case took a more technical turn, that tech was came into use. Unfortunately, it wasn’t helping in the detection of a true crime suspect. Instead, it apparently involved hunting around in the desert for a body.

The Scaled Back Search

After the investigation into the case involving the 84-year-old mom of Savannah Guthrie passed the 30-day mark, the huge search scaled back. Many members of the FBI returned to Phoenix in Arizona.

While the Pima County Sheriff assured that detectives remain working on the crime, it seems that it’s a much smaller unit. As the case grows colder, the focus now shifts to technology.

Tech & Dogs

According to a Monday report by Ashleigh Banfield on Drop Dead Serious, law enforcement sources said the Pima County Sheriff’s Department engaged a partner agency. Apparently they used a “signal sniffer” in the neighboring Santa Cruz County.

Remember, that’s near Rio Rico where a potential suspect was detained and then released. Actually, it seems like a rather sad development in the true crime case, as Ashleigh reported that they looked “for a body.”

Notably, they also used cadaver dogs. Apart from a body, it’s thought that they also attempted locating a signal from Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker. While the agency didn’t find Nancy Guthrie at that location, it could perhaps mean that investigators are working on fresh intelligence.

Explaining The Search

Dr. Tracy Sargent, a forensic investigator with a PhD in psychology, joined the conversation. Sargent explained more about how the searches happen. During their chat, she talked about thinking like the suspected killer. With searches for someone suspected of dying, you have to “walk in the shoes of these bad guys.”

For example, at night, people often think they’ve walked a mile into the brush when they’ve really only gone about 40 yards.

Sargent also brought up the role of “human remains detection dogs.” Unlike humans, dogs can tell where someone is not, which helps clear areas quickly.

“Knowing where someone isn’t is just as helpful,” she noted. Interestingly, she also explained that while a live scent might only last a couple of days, the scent of remains can be “absorbed into the environment and last hundreds of years.”

The Family’s Pain

While the tech and the dogs do the work, the human side of the story remains devastating. Recently, Savannah Guthrie and her family visited the memorial at the end of Nancy’s driveway.

There, they left yellow flowers and a card that read, “Mama we miss you so much our hearts are broken.”

The “heart-wrenching” moment wasn’t covered by loads of press and media folks due to parking restrictions. That, coupled with heat and scaling back on searches, led to the disappearance of many reporters. Later, Savannah posted on Instagram, asking people to “please don’t stop praying and hoping with us.”

What’s Next?

The FBI and Pima County now “refocus resources” toward a specific task force. In fact, thousands of hours of video and over 40,000 tips need checking. As Ashleigh mentioned, it took six weeks to find a suspect in the Idaho murders, so there’s still hope that genetic genealogy or a single tip could “break the case wide open.”

What are your thoughts on the new desert coordinate search? Let us know in the comments below, and come back here for all your true crime news and updates. Plus, we do have a crime channel on TikTok that you can follow.