TUCSON, Ariz. — A single backpack has become a critical focal point in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, prompting federal authorities to comb through Walmart sales records and store surveillance footage in search of a break.

Investigators are working with Walmart’s corporate security team while agents canvass stores across the Tucson metropolitan area, according to retired Supervisory FBI Agent Jason Pack, who described the strategy as a methodical effort to narrow the universe of possible suspects.

“They’re attacking this issue on several fronts,” Pack told Fox News Digital. “They are working with Walmart corporate security and simultaneously canvassing the stores in metro Tucson. Walmart should be able to trace back all sales of the backpack over a specific period of time. That will create many regional leads as agents track down and account for every single backpack. They’ll also want to recover video from the stores where they were sold.”

Authorities have not publicly detailed how many of the backpacks were sold or over what timeframe they are focusing, but the approach reflects a standard federal investigative technique. Fox News Digital has reached out to Walmart Corp. for additional information.

Former FBI agent John Nantz explained how anything that “ties a subject to the crime is critical in building a case for prosecution.”

Likening the purchase history analysis used in the indictment of Brian Cole Jr., who allegedly planted two live pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, Nantz said Cole’s arrest came after investigators developed critical evidence from his purchase history.

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Large retailers maintain SKU-level sales records that capture the date, time and location of each purchase, along with payment method information. 

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By isolating sales within a defined window, agents can create a list of purchasers and then prioritize leads based on physical descriptors.

Pack said retail forensics can be decisive when combined with other evidence.

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“When you can match a product to a person through both data and video,” he said, “you begin to shrink the suspect pool quickly.”

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Nancy Guthrie disappearance timeline:

Jan. 31, 2026

Between 9:30–9:45 p.m. — Family drops Nancy off at home

9:50 p.m. — Garage door closes (per authorities)

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Feb. 1, 2026

1:47 a.m. — Doorbell camera disconnects

2:12 a.m. — Security camera detects motion

2:28 a.m. — Pacemaker disconnects from phone application

11:56 a.m. — Family checks on Nancy after she misses weekly church livestream gathering

12:03 p.m. — 911 called

12:15 p.m. — Sheriff’s deputies arrive at home

President Donald Trump on Friday commented on why the FBI has not taken over as the lead agency investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie nearly two weeks since she vanished from her Tucson, Arizona, home.

Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC host Savannah Guthrie, went missing from her home Feb. 1, and no suspects or persons of interest have been publicly named by authorities 13 days later.

While speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump explained why the Pima County Sheriff’s Department remains the lead on the investigation. 

“They didn’t want to let go of it, which is fine. It’s up to them. It’s really up to the communities,” Trump told reporters outside the White House Friday afternoon. “But ultimately, when the FBI got involved, I think, you know, progress has been made.”

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had said earlier that FBI Director Kash Patel assured her that the bureau was on the ground in Arizona and is offering local authorities the “full resources” of the federal government.

The president’s comments came after a U.S. law enforcement source told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is blocking the FBI from key evidence.

During an interview Friday with Fox News’ Matt Finn, Nanos defended his department’s partnership with the FBI, saying his office did not find a glove at Guthrie’s property and a private Florida lab, which the sheriff’s department has been contracted with for decades, began receiving evidence at the start of the investigation and that the FBI agreed that evidence should continue to be sent there instead of the FBI’s national crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.

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Nanos added he called the FBI for assistance on the next working day after Guthrie’s disappearance and that it would be “absolutely crazy” to not take advantage of their partnership.

FBI Phoenix on Thursday said new “identifying details” about Guthrie’s potential abductor have been confirmed after a forensic analysis of the doorbell camera footage by the FBI’s Operational Technology Division. 

The suspect is described as a man, roughly 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with an average build.

SEE IT: FBI SCOURS NEIGHBORHOODS NEAR NANCY GUTHRIE’S ARIZONA HOME

Officials also specified the brand of backpack the suspect was seen wearing in a video released Tuesday, confirming it was a black, 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.

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Trump was also asked Friday whether cartels or possibly another “nation state” could be involved in Guthrie’s disappearance.

“You can’t say that yet,” Trump said outside the White House, responding to a question from Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich. “It’s a little bit early.”

“But it’s somebody [who] either knew what they were doing very well, or they were rank amateurs. Either way, it’s not a good situation,” Trump added.

TUCSON, Ariz. — A high-profile forensic genealogy company slammed the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for sending critical evidence in the Nancy Guthrie case to a private lab in Florida instead of directly to the FBI.

“This is so devastating,” said Othram co-founder Kristen Mittelman. “DNA Labs International is a traditional forensic lab that consumes evidence to make an STR [short tandem repeat] profile, so I don’t understand why it didn’t go to Quantico, since they can do this better and faster than anyone, and they have a pipeline to flip it immediately to inferring identity with us.”

Othram is a Texas-based forensic genetic genealogy lab that was instrumental in helping authorities identify infamous murderer Bryan Kohberger, among other high-profile criminals.

According to a report by KOLD, DNA Labs International, located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, is where Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has sent key evidence to be examined. State records confirm that Arizona has a contract with the company for “biological laboratory services” that began in 2022 and runs through March.

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Mittelman stressed that time is “critical” in every case, especially Guthrie’s.

She also said that Othram worked the case of formerly unidentified murder victim Evelyn Colon after DNA Labs International couldn’t crack the case. Colon, previously known as Beth Doe, was murdered in New Jersey in 1976. She was identified in 2021.

A federal law enforcement source told Fox News Digital that the evidence will need to be retested by the FBI anyway.

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“It’s just the FBI developed this method and can do it so much better without destroying the evidence,” the source said. “I’ve seen so many cases go to Florida and be consumed. Also, they are not as fast, and in this case, time matters.”

On Thursday, a federal law enforcement source accused Nanos of blocking the FBI from obtaining the evidence, first reported by Reuters and confirmed by Fox News Digital.

“It risks further slowing a case that grows more urgent by the minute,” the official told Reuters, citing unspecified “earlier setbacks” in the investigation. The official also criticized Nanos for not requesting help from the FBI earlier in the case.

ELITE FBI VIDEO UNIT THAT WORKED KOHBERGER CASE SPOTTED AT NANCY GUTHRIE HOME

Nanos denied those allegations, telling KOLD that the Pima County Sheriff’s Department simply wants all evidence to be examined at the same lab.

The sheriff reiterated that message in an interview with Fox News’ Matt Finn on Friday. He told Finn that investigators have been using the Florida lab from the start of the investigation and that Guthrie family DNA, as well as other DNA, had already been sent there. 

“Why split your evidence to two different labs that could create a conflict, but more importantly, it adds that additional step,” he said. “This lab has this piece, this lab has that piece. Now they’ve got to converge those two pieces to make an elimination or identification. No, just send it to one lab, let’s go. They’re both great labs. They both have great equipment and smart people.”

“We trust the FBI’s crime lab, we’ve used them before, but in this case we started with that lab,” he said. It’s just that simple.”

Nanos also denied the claim that his office delayed contacting the FBI for assistance in the case, saying he has no reason not to partner with the federal law enforcement agency, that it would be “absolutely crazy” not to do so, and that his department and the FBI are working well together. He said he called the FBI on Monday, Feb.2, the first business day after the investigation began. 

He also denied releasing the crime scene at Guthrie’s home too soon. 

Earlier this week, the FBI released doorbell camera footage of a suspect, recorded at Guthrie’s home shortly before authorities believe she was abducted or kidnapped.

The suspect is described as a male between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10, with an average build. He was wearing an Ozark Trail Hiker Pack.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Office did not return a comment request.

DNA Labs International declined to comment.

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Nancy Guthrie disappearance timeline: 
Jan. 31, 2026
• Between 9:30–9:45 p.m. – Family drops Nancy off at home
• 9:50 p.m. – Garage door closes (per authorities)
Feb. 1, 2026
• 1:47 a.m. – Doorbell camera disconnects
• 2:12 a.m. – Security camera detects motion
• 2:28 a.m. – Pacemaker disconnects from phone application
• 11:56 a.m. – Family checks on Nancy after she misses weekly church livestream gathering
• 12:03 p.m. — 911 called
• 12:15 p.m. — Sheriff’s deputies arrive at home