Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Don Arnold
Topics: US News, True crime, Crime
Poppy Bilderbeck
The FBI has confirmed it's turned to Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) in the search for Nancy Guthrie.
In the early hours of February 1, Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, believed to have been taken against her will.
Nancy, 84, is the mother of TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, who has since made a plea for her safe return.
As of Sunday (February 15), the search for Nancy entered its third week. While Nancy's family have been cleared as suspects in the case, police are still yet to name any suspects or persons of interest in the abduction.
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On February 11, video footage was made public, revealing a hooded figure appearing on Nancy's front doorbell camera, with the FBI releasing a description.
Agents later discovered a glove located in a two-mile radius around Nancy's home, and yesterday (February 17), the FBI confirmed to Fox News Digital the latest update in the technology being used on the glove to try and track down the suspected kidnapper.
Around 16 different items are reported as having been collected in the vicinity of Nancy's house, as per the New York Post.
However, speaking to Fox News, a spokesperson for the FBI said: "The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the suspect in the surveillance video."
The FBI subsequently used CODIS - the Combined DNA Index System - on the glove to try and identify a suspect.
The system is the FBI's program of support for criminal justice DNA databases and allows laboratories to compare DNA profiles across jurisdictions to link crimes, offenders and missing persons.
The National DNA Index System (NDIS) is reported as containing over 20 million total profiles as of 2021, the FBI says.
Praised as 'one of the most successful investigative tools available to US law enforcement,' CODIS was used successfully in the identification and arrest of Bryan Kohberger - the man jailed for life without parole after being found guilty of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022.
However, the DNA found on the glove two miles from Nancy's house did not show up any matches in the CODIS database.
Authorities are now set to use Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) on the glove alongside other DNA samples found inside Nancy's house.
IGG 'involves determining relationships between individuals based on their shared DNA,' Forensic Education explains.
The technology is praised for having 'revolutionized the field of cold case investigation' in 'just a few short years'.
Forensic Education added: "When combined with traditional genealogy research, potential identifications of unknown individuals can be made to help in unidentified human remains (UHR) cases or to develop leads in unsolved violent crimes."