A bone discovered near the Tucson, Arizona, home of Nancy Guthrie predates her disappearance by about 750 years, according to The New York Times. Police confirmed the finding does not bear on the criminal investigation into her abduction.
Alec Wysopal, a livestreamer who has been searching for Guthrie as part of an informal group of online investigators, spotted the bone on a dry riverbank a few miles from her home earlier this month, according to The Times. He called 911, and the find ignited a wave of online chatter, with true crime followers convinced it signaled a major development in the months-long search. Once officers reached the site, a Tucson police spokesman quickly set the record straight: "This will be a prehistoric anthropological investigation. This is not a criminal investigation," he said, according to The Times.
Guthrie, 84 and the mother of "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing on Feb. 1 after she was last seen on Jan. 31, according to The New York Times. Authorities believe she was taken from her home. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has cleared all members of the Guthrie family as suspects in the case.
From early on, the case drew a flood of armchair detectives and internet theorizers whose activity has created headaches for investigators, according to The Times. After baseless accusations targeting Guthrie's children and their partners circulated widely online and in livestreams, Nanos reluctantly went public in February to eliminate them as suspects — a move he had hoped to avoid making before the case was resolved. "I just got tired of it," Nanos told The Times. "I need to step in when my victims are being revictimized by some knuckleheads out there."
