Investigators have obtained aDNAsamplefroma discardedglovethat wasfoundnear NancyGuthrie'sArizonahomeand appears to match the pair worn by a masked prowler seen in video footage caught by her doorbell camera before she wasabducted two weeks ago, theFBIsaid on Sunday.
The preliminary findingsfroma private crime laboratory in Florida were received by theFBIon Saturday and were awaiting "quality control and official confirmation" on Sunday before investigators run the results through a national database of knownDNAprofiles, theFBIsaid in a statement.
The process typically takes 24 hoursfromwhen theFederal Bureau of Investigationreceives aDNAsample.
Theglovewas one of roughly 16 collected by investigators in recent days in a search zone within two miles of the Tucson-area residence of 84-year-oldNancyGuthrie, the mother of US televisionjournalistSavannah Guthrie.
Read morePerson detained, later released by authorities in Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping
Most of the gloves collected by investigators for examination turned out to have been dropped on the ground by searchers in the vicinity, theFBIsaid.
But the one with aDNAprofilerecoveredfromit is "different and appears to match the gloves" worn by the man in a ski mask seen trying to disableGuthrie'sdoor camera in the early morning hours shortly before she was abducted, according to theFBIstatement.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said on Friday that he was certain that the man in the video, who was also wearing a gun in a holster and an over-stuffed backpack, was the primary suspect investigators were looking for to solve the high-profile case.
NancyGuthrie was last seen on January 31 when family dropped her off at herhomenearTucson after she had dined with them, and relatives reported her missing the following day, authorities have said.
Nanos has said the elder Guthrie was extremely limited in her physical mobility and could not have left herhome unassisted, leading investigators to conclude early on that she had been taken against her will.
At least two purported ransom notes have surfaced since she vanished, both of them delivered initially to news media outlets.
Traces of bloodfoundon her front porch were confirmed by DNAtests to have comefromGuthrie, officials said last week.
Law enforcement and family members have described her as being in frail health and in need of daily medication to survive. She also had a pacemaker.
Read moreFamily pleas for information on news anchor's missing mother in case gripping US
The sheriff said on Friday thatDNAfrompeople other than Guthrie or those known to have been in close contact with her had also been collectedfromher property, but there has been no official word on any further findingsfromthose samples.
Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of the popular NBC News morning show "Today," has posted several video messages with her brother Camron Guthrie and sister Annie Guthrie pleading for their mother's return and appealing for the public's help in solving the case. In one video, they expressed a willingness to meet ransom demands.
Nanos told Reuters on Friday that no proof of life has surfaced since the abduction but he was quick to add: "There's not been any proof of death either."
The presumedkidnappinghas drawn intense media attention as well as expressions of sympathy and supportfromPresident Donald Trump.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
Originally published on France24
