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TUCSON, Ariz. — A neighbor of Nancy Guthrie’s in the Catalina Foothills tells Fox News Digital she saw the FBI return to search the brush behind the missing 84-year-old’s home days before her unsolved disappearance reached the six-month mark.
While a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said that no task force investigators had returned to the area recently, the neighbor said she recognized faces from earlier law enforcement activity in the neighborhood connected to the case. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The neighbor, who lives just a few doors down, reported seeing them combing through the desert brush.
Guthrie, the mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, is believed to have been taken by force from her home in the early hours of Feb. 1, according to authorities.
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Bob Krygier, a retired Pima County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant and former SWAT commander, said there are a few reasons why investigators would return to the area, ranging from new leads to the chance that evidence has been shifted around by recent weather.
“There’s a couple of different reasons that go through my mind first is going to be they got some leads, they got some new tips that are viable, and they’re out there looking for something specific or in an area specific to that, because I’m certain that they’ve searched those areas already,” he told Fox News Digital.
It could also be that, six months into the investigation, authorities are putting a fresh set of eyes on the case, he said.
And heavy rains may also have altered the landscape, potentially exposing or moving evidence investigators hadn’t previously seen, he said.
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“About a month ago, monsoon season started here in Tucson and a lot of water has come down — a lot of water at once, and it pushes things,” he said. “So it’s moved the environment. Rocks have been pushed away.”
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Depending on the area, floodwaters can rise from just a few inches to as much as 12 feet, Krygier said, with enough force to sweep away vehicles, trees, rocks and even people.
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“I’m not sure if they found him yet, but there was a report of a man in the wash floating down, being pushed downstream by the water — and the Santa Cruz is what that feeds into, which is, you’re looking at 20, 30 feet deep when it’s at its peak and 50, 60 feet across,” he said. “All that water, it’s rushing fast, and it’s taken not only the people, but it’s taken cars, it’s taken trees, branches, rocks, all of this stuff, and basically turned into a big blender.”
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Authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News Digital last week that investigators are still following up on active leads, reviewing “tens of thousands” of videos and do not consider the case cold.
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On Friday, his office also released a pair of purported ransom notes in the case, in the hope that someone in the public can help identify the sender’s “unique linguistic style.”
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tipsters can remain anonymous by calling 520-88-CRIME.
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The combined sum of rewards in the case is over $1.2 million and remains unclaimed.
