Nancy Guthrie missing case: Is Tommaso Cioni, the last known person to see her, a suspect?

US television journalist Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy, 84, has been missing for six days. The FBI has joined the investigation amid family's new appeal to the 'kidnappers'

nancy-guthrie-missing-case - 1 (L) This image provided by the Pima County Sheriff's Department shows a missing person alert for Nancy Guthrie. (R) A drone view shows investigators searching the home of Nancy Guthrie | AP, Reuters

US television journalist Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing for six days, and the investigators have yet to locate her. The FBI has now joined the investigation alongside the Pima County Sheriff's Department. 

What happened on the day Nancy went missing

Arizona police shared a detailed timeline of the night Nancy went missing. According to the police officials, Nancy travelled to her daughter's home for dinner on Saturday. She arrived at around 5.32 pm by taking an Uber. Savannah's sister also lives in the area, the police added. 

Nancy was taken back to her home by family members at 9.48 pm, when the garage door opened. The door closes after two minutes. 

On Sunday at around 1.47 am, the doorbell camera at Nancy's home went offline. At around 2.12 am, the system detected a person, but there is no video footage of it. At 2.28 am, data from Guthrie's pacemaker app showed it had disconnected from her phone. 

As Nancy did not attend church on a Sunday, family members became worried. They went to check on her at 11.56 am, but she wasn't home. 

A missing person report was filed at 12.03 pm, and the police arrived at the scene. There was blood found outside the home. 

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that the blood found belonged to Nancy. So far, the police have not revealed any suspect or person of interest. 

Was she kidnapped by a drug cartel? 

After Nancy went missing, several reports came in pointing to kidnapping by drug cartels. However, the police haven't confirmed anything on that front so far. There have also been reports that ransom notes mentioning Nancy were sent to at least three media organisations, but the police haven't confirmed their authenticity. 

The authorities have offered a $50,000 reward for any information regarding Nancy. 

Who is Tommaso Cioni? 

Police believe that Tommaso Cioni might be the last person to see Nancy before been taken from her home. According to NYT, Cioni dropped his mother-in-law at her residence after having dinner with daughter Annie. 

Cioni and Annie reportedly live close to Guthrie’s home near Tucson, Arizona. 

There was a speculation, earlier, that he was a suspect in the case. However, authorities stated that no one has been officially named as a suspect or person of interest in the case. 

Family's appeal

In a short video released on Thursday, Camron Guthrie, brother of Savannah, spoke directly to the people, who he believed were holding their mother. 

"Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven't heard anything directly. We need you to reach out," he said. 

“We have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact," he added. 

Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating the newly surfaced message that is presumed to be related to the kidnapping. 

While assuring the family, President Donald Trump said that there could be answers in the mother's missing case "very soon". 

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