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As Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie‘s mom, Nancy Guthrie, remains missing three months after her abduction, a forensic science professor weighed in on the DNA technology being used to analyze evidence—and how it will likely solve the case.
On Wednesday, May 6, The CW aired a special called NewsNation Presents: The Nancy Guthrie Mystery. NewsNation Senior National Correspondent Brian Entin spoke with several experts, including April Stonehouse, a forensic science professor at Arizona State University.
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“We know scientifically that they will leave behind traces of their DNA,” Stonehouse said of the perpetrator in Nancy’s case. “It’s just a matter of locating and finding it.”
She told Entin, “So what I wanted to know is, how many people were there? Because I’m showing you a nice mixture that has two people. These are called simple mixtures. When you get to mixtures of three and four and five people, those are called complex mixtures.”
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When asked if it takes more time to process complex DNA, Stonehouse confirmed that it can. “Or it can take more DNA,” she pointed out. “And so you basically are at the mercy of whatever the suspect left behind.”
Finally, Entin asked, “Do you think it’ll be a DNA that ultimately solves the Nancy Guthrie case?”
Stonehouse replied, “I hope it is. I hope it is. Yes, I do.”
In mid-April, ABC 7 reported that a private Florida lab working with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department sent a DNA evidence, a hair sample, to the FBI for processing. A genetic genealogist, CeCe Moore, agreed with Stonehouse during a conversation with Entin shortly afterward that DNA could be the “Hail Mary” that solves the case. Moore later shared that testing could take months, assuming the sample was a rootless hair.
Nancy was last seen at her Tucson, Ariz., home on the evening of Jan. 31. As of writing, no suspect has been named.
Next: Nancy Guthrie Update: Experts Offer Detailed Profile of Suspect in Savannah’s Mom’s Case