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Laura Coates Live

Genealogy Testing Underway After No DNA Match In FBI Database; Laura Coates And Guests Answer Viewers' Questions; Laura Coates Interviews Gabby Petito's Father. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired February 17, 2026 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:00:00]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The scene was so chaotic with fans swarming both men that the escalator they were on broke causing them to lurch forward. For Jackson, his notoriety was a critical tool to draw attention to the need for greater economic parity between minorities and whites, to push for housing and health care, and even aid for white farmers. It was also something that made him an icon and a beacon of hope to a generation of young Black Americans who, for the very first time, saw themselves in a man like Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS NANOS, SHERIFF, PIMA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We believe that we may have some DNA there. That may be our suspect.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Investigators are looking at genetic genealogy options.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): The DNA on the glove did not match any DNA in the national data bank.

NANOS: I believe it was kidnapping.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Targeted kidnapping?

NANOS: Yes. And whoever did that knew what they were up to.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): The sheriff's office today confirmed the use of tools to detect her pacemaker.

UNKNOWN: And I told the FBI agent, it looks like the guy that was on camera at that house doing the kidnapping.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): They've got names. They've got photos of people who bought that similar backpack.

NANOS: We're working with that pacemaker company. We're working with Walmart management.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Google is still trying to recover more surveillance footage from Nancy's Nest cameras.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): We're going to find Nancy, and we're going to find who did this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good evening and welcome to a special edition of "Laura Coates Live: The Search for Nancy Guthrie." Tonight, investigators are trying a new way to crack the DNA mystery in this case after hitting a wall on a promising lead. That black glove found two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home was not a match in the FBI's national database known as CODIS, either was DNA found inside the house.

So, now, authorities are turning to a technique that has helped crack (INAUDIBLE) cases before, genetic genealogy. It looks for possible family linkage to help point them to a name. It's the same process that tied Bryan Kohberger to the Idaho University murders.

In just a moment, our DNA expert and law enforcement analysts will run us through how it all works and where the investigation goes from here.

But DNA isn't the only lead they're chasing, and 17 days in, anything could turn into the break they need. Officers are now focusing on the suspect's gun and his holster. They're going to local gun shops and showing pictures to the owners in the hope that they may recognize the masked man on Guthrie's front porch.

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PHILLIP MARTIN, CO-OWNER, ARMOR BEARER ARMS: I was able to look at the photos that he was showing me, and I told the FBI agent, I was like, I'm no investigator, but my intuition is telling me, based on how these people's facial hair looks like, it looks like the guy that was on camera at that house doing the kidnapping. He was like, yes, that's why I'm here. He was like, we're to be going to different gun shops, checking to see if any of these names that I'm showing you here, any of these people have purchased a gun in the last year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: You know, we also saw police back at Nancy Guthrie's home today. The sheriff isn't saying why they were at her house, only referring to as a -- "follow-up." And law enforcement, they showed up at a neighbor's house. It looked like they were inspecting a surveillance camera. But the footage that could be the biggest help? Anything that can be salvaged from the other cameras on Nancy Guthrie's own property. The sheriff says he's still working with Google to recover anything from those.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANOS: They call it scratching. It's like -- the way it was described to me is you've got eight layers of paint, and you want to peel down to the sixth layer, but you get to that fifth layer, you might tear the sixth layer. So, it's a delicate operation for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COATES: I want to start with Briana Whitney, a reporter with Arizona 3TV and CBS 5 and host of "True Crime Arizona Live." All right, Briana, there's no DNA hit in the FBI databases. So, then, describe what the sheriff is saying about genealogy testing.

BRIANA WHITNEY, REPORTER, ARIZONA'S FAMILY: Yes, that's the direction that we expected him to go and the FBI to go as well. So, once they don't get that hit, basically, there is no convicted felon that that DNA profile matched to.

We assume they'd go to familial DNA and investigative genetic genealogy, which is basically going back and looking at these markers in a family tree-type setting and almost working backwards. The missing link there would then be the actual profile that you have. But that also requires people uploading their DNA profiles to certain databases online. And you have to hope that maybe there's going to be a match that way. That is if the black glove is even involved at all in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.

COATES: And that's a big if.

[23:05:00]

We have not confirmed that that is, in fact, the case. We're still waiting to figure that out. But if it is, what a huge development. If it's not, has this been a rabbit hole? Well, there's a new focus, of course, a sustained focus, really, Briana, on the gun. What more have you learned about the effort to try and trace that to the suspect?

WHITNEY: So, it seems, in addition to the DNA efforts, the FBI has specifically zeroed in on trying to investigate gun shops in the Tucson area, literally going door to door, talking to gun shop owners about their sales in the last year. So, I mean, you go back and you think a year. That's a long time to go back and look.

But they've seemingly gone into these gun shops with pictures of potential people of interest. Some gun shop owners that are stationed in Tucson talked, too. There was like 18 to 24 different photographs, and they were going through them and through them and through them, and that's when that shop owner was like, yes, this looks a lot like the guy that was on the surveillance video.

So, it seems that a lot of those pictures of people that the FBI is taking is people that have that mustache kind of that facial hair that's recognizable from the surveillance video. But, so far, we don't know anything more about that. It just seems they're trying to trace back where that gun may have come from.

COATES: Briana, any information as to why they were back in Guthrie's neighborhood today?

WHITNEY: Not on the record. I mean, you could see it out there, right? And we can tell that investigators were out there, what looked to be inspecting surveillance cameras on the outside of the neighbors' homes, this is the next-door neighbor, also even looking at some of the floodlights that were out there. So, you have to assume they're looking for extra footage.

A question as to how and why that's happening on day 17. You would obviously think that would happened on day one of her disappearance and getting out there to the scene. But maybe there's something new that they learned, so they wanted to go back and re-review. Maybe there's a Google or a surveillance service that they want to go back and try to retrieve other video there, too. I mean, we just -- we just don't know.

I think something that would definitely help, obviously, is getting the video from Nancy's house, but also any other possible video from that street like a suspect vehicle or anything like that. I hope that they can release more surveillance video from any of that this week.

COATES: Briana Whitney, thank you so much. I want to turn now to Tiffany Roy, a forensic DNA expert who previously worked for the Florida lab that's processing the gloves and other evidence from the Guthrie case. Tiffany, can you first just give us a simple understanding of the genetic genealogy process for evidence?

TIFFANY ROY, FORENSIC DNA EXPERT: So, once we've used our CODIS database to its fullest extent, we move on to sort of a different type of testing. It's a different type of DNA testing that we perform. And then we upload these profiles into direct-to-consumer databases.

And not all direct-to-consumer databases allow law enforcement access. So, I would say ancestry.com and 23andMe, they don't -- they don't let police come up and work. You know, there's no law enforcement access to those databases. But databases like MyHeritage or GEDmatch, GEDmatch is very famous for Golden State Killer.

We're going to develop a profile now that is going to be amenable to those databases, and we're going to start to search in a different way outside of the CODIS federally-controlled database and in way that's going to help us find and access more people, a more breadth of searchable DNA profiles, to try to find relatives of this person who may have left their DNA behind.

COATES: I mean, authorities used genealogy to link the DNA found at the scene to Bryan Kohberger. But I'll note, that took nearly seven weeks. So, how long could this possibly take?

ROY: This is really the question in this case. What separates this case from other cases? And Bryan Kohberger was very special because we've never really used genealogy in a case that was moving in real time. And not only are we moving in real time now, we're moving in real time with someone we hope is alive, we're trying to bring her back alive.

So, these genealogy searches, they are some of the best and smartest people in the world, especially that work with the FBI and that piece together these trees and make these linkages. They are working on this case right now. They are trying to build these trees back. They are going to do different kinds of DNA testing. They are going to try to help us link the DNA to a family name, potentially. So, all of these things are going on in the background, but they do take time. It's not a process that's immediate as CODIS. CODIS is very quick. And when we do familial searching in CODIS and when we do regular searching in CODIS, that can be a very quick process. But this is going to take a little bit more time.

[23:09:58]

And that's what's very stressful in this particular -- in this investigation because I feel from the inside of the investigation. There are people that are nervous that this isn't moving fast enough because the FBI isn't involved enough.

COATES: Well, you know, I wonder, given what you've explained, I've seen cold cases where somebody has been incarcerated for other crimes, and then there is some genealogical connection years, even decades later, to try to solve a cold case. Are we looking at the potential that this could actually run that course?

ROY: I mean, really, we don't know what we're dealing with. This is a whole unknown beast. And I think everyone's goal is to bring Mrs. Guthrie home alive. And so, it's a race against the clock. We're all trying to work together. I really think that that's what the private lab is doing with the FBI and with Pima County. Everybody -- everyone's goal is to try to bring Mrs. Guthrie home alive.

COATES: Yes. Of course.

ROY: And the faster we can do that, the better off we'll all be.

COATES: Tiffany Roy, thank you so much. I want to bring in our investigative experts, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe and former FBI executive assistant director Jacqueline Maguire. Glad to have both of you here.

Let's prioritize for a second what we're knowing because we know that the gloves have not dinged in the national database. But the sheriff said that today, he is more interested in the mystery DNA of what was found inside the house than, say, what's found on the glove. Kind of makes sense given the distance the glove was found, two miles away, compared to the DNA found inside the house. Would you prioritize it similarly?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Absolutely. No question. The DNA from inside the house, if and when we associate that DNA with an individual, we know that that person was in the house.

The glove, by contrast, if and when we identify who was the contributor of DNA to the inside of that glove, we still don't place that person at the scene of the crime. Now, it's still a good lead. You would have an individual who you could go find and you could surveil them, you could bring them in for questioning. In that process, they might inculpate themselves or say something that makes it clear that they were a part of a crime or in the house or what have you. But that's a two-step process, right? Whereas the DNA that you recovered in the house, anybody who contributed that DNA cannot deny being at the scene of the crime.

COATES: A very interesting development has been that we're learning that investigators, Jackie, have been going to local gun shops. And they have some sort of images, whether it's photos and names of people in connection with the holster or otherwise, that they want to ask questions about. Have you seen this person? Having that now universe of information tells you what?

JACQUELINE MAGUIRE, FORMER FBI EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: I think that tells us there's just yet another investigative avenue, right? A lot of different aspects of this investigation, the forensic evidence at the house through the DNA with the glove.

COATES: Why are we seeing that, though?

MAGUIRE: Seeing --

COATES: Why aren't we seeing those images? Explain why that would be --

MAGUIRE: Yes. I think, right now, you know, again, we don't know where those images came from. Are they people who purchased certain items, the backpack, the gun holster? Are they -- where did they get those names? Where did they get those pictures?

I think the concern about casting too wide a net publicly right now is just that, putting out too much information before it's narrowed down. I think it's important that they're out there. They got boots on the ground. They are asking people who may have information about it. They're just not at the point of publicly broadcasting. Maybe they just don't have enough information --

COATES: Yes.

MAGUIRE: -- and aren't certain enough about those names or photos.

COATES: You know, the sheriff was criticized early on for reopening the crime scene. People thought it was premature at best. They have been revisiting the neighborhood, now checking neighbors' cameras again. Clearly, that would be the initial things you would do. But the idea that they're trying to recover or look at neighbors' cameras again, does that strike you as curious?

MCCABE: It's a little odd. It's a little odd. You know, you would expect there to have been a very thorough canvas and gathering of all available surveillance cameras in a perimeter around the crime scene, and they may have actually done that.

What I would guess is driving the repeat returns to neighbors' homes, to Ms. Guthrie's house, to family members' homes. That's more responding to things, information they're developing in the course of the investigation. They are learning about potential subjects. They're learning -- they're stumbling across different leads. You know, we now have seen numbers in the tens, multiple tens of thousands of leads that have come in since the video was released.

So, undoubtedly, some of that information is causing them to go back, to look for things that maybe they weren't looking for the first time they went through. I think that's a fair process.

COATES: You know, Jackie, there -- as you know, there were at least two search warrants executed. Neither has resulted in arrests.

[23:15:00]

But I understand that they are continuing to review evidence collected from those scenes. Is that common?

MAGUIRE: I would say it's not uncommon. You know, they obviously had viable information through those leads that led them to get those search warrants. They had probable cause to obtain those search warrants. Where they might not have had enough information to arrest people based on that, I think, right now, it's what we want to see.

It's them following up on every single lead, every single piece of information, running it to the ground. So, it does make sense in a way that they're following through on that search warrant and making sure that they're clearing all of that information out.

COATES: I have to also think that any judge who's issuing these search warrants based on probable cause is going to want this here. This is not a phishing expedition that they actually have followed every single nook and cranny, but this is a very high-profile case. Thank you both.

We have so much more to talk about when it comes to this. So please stand by because the company that makes Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker, you know, they are helping out to try to find her. And we've got new insight on that very search and perspective from a hacker who has breached medical devices before. Plus, is the masked suspect wearing a ring? A potential new clue emerging tonight as investigators take another look at that now infamous doorbell video.

And later, guess what? We're answering your questions about the case. Send them in at cnn.com/asklaura. My law enforcement experts will join me to answer them live.

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[23:20:00]

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COATES: Investigators tonight are once again pouring over the doorbell video from the home of Nancy Guthrie a week after it was released. They're looking at the man's glove again. Because if you look closely, it looks like something is sticking up. Potentially a ring. Well, the Pima County sheriff acknowledges they're looking into it, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANOS: I look at the same photo you look at. And I get -- I see it. I see -- people have circled and said --

UNKNOWN: Yes.

NANOS: I -- my speculation is -- I'm going to give that to my team. They'll look at that, they'll analyze it, and we'll see. Maybe, maybe it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Now, we said, oh no, if the glove found and analyzed is from the suspect. But the DNA from the glove did not match anyone in the criminal database, neither did the other mystery DNA from inside the home.

Joining me now with a fresh look at the suspect is clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. John Paul Garrison. You may know him as Dr. G on YouTube. Dr. G, thank you for being here. Let's talk about this because if we assume that the DNA that was analyzed is from the suspect, it suggests he's probably not a career criminal. Would that add up with your assessment when you look at the video?

JOHN PAUL GARRISON, CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely. There are so many aspects of this that tell me that this is not somebody who is used to doing at least these kinds of crimes. If he's a criminal, it's not in this way. So, this is not a seasoned burglar or anything like that.

COATES: What makes you draw that conclusion?

GARRISON: Well, there are a lot of odd mistakes that he makes. The way that he handles the Nest door cam. The way that he stumbles around. The way that he doesn't think very quickly on his feet. He grabs flowers instead of dirt or something like that to cover it. There are a million things that he's doing that are peculiar. The way that he wears his gun. So much of what he does says this is not somebody who has done this, at least maybe more than once. I don't think it's somebody who has done this a lot. That's for sure.

COATES: One thing that's curious to people is that he would be careful enough to wear mask, to hide his face, to have clothing that, frankly, has eluded the police and law enforcement for 17 days. But if that is indeed a ring under the glove, he's not careful to remove a potentially identifying clue? Does that tell you something?

GARRISON: It does tell me that he doesn't think he's going to be recognized. He also wasn't that careful about getting his face on the door cam because when he turned around and was looking for something to cover it with, he was more concerned about whether or not somebody was spotting him on the street and see him looking around. I don't think he expected anybody to recognize him. So, that makes me think that this is somebody that the family does not know intimately. I don't think this is someone who has been to the house before.

COATES: The family and, of course, the questions of whether Nancy Guthrie would have recognized him even outside of what her family may have known. Let's talk about the why or the what has happened here. That continues to escape so many, including law enforcement, it seems. The sheriff continues to insist that Nancy Guthrie was likely kidnapped. Now, if that's true, Dr. G, what is your theory on the type of person who may have carried that kidnapping out?

GARRISON: Well, the first thing we have to look at is how strange the choice of victim is, an 84-year-old woman. It's such -- such an unusual choice. So, there has to be some reason she was chosen. And the fact that she has a famous daughter just doesn't really seem like enough. There are plenty of people out there that have plenty of money that could have been kidnapped.

So, to me, it was a crime of opportunity. I believe this is likely somebody that knew something about her medical history, knowing that if they asked for ransom, it would be a situation where they felt rushed. So, maybe somebody that works in healthcare has a boyfriend or girlfriend that works in healthcare or something like that.

COATES: We do draw back to that first video that was provided by the family that talked about the dire need to get her medication and the concern that she would not be able to survive within 24 to 48 hours. And here we are right now, 17 days in, and the law enforcement seems to be scratching their head.

But the video, they keep coming back to -- again, to be fair, they may be keeping a whole lot close to the vest and for good reason. But what is publicly known appears that they do not have very strong leads at all. But is there anything in that video, we keep going back to it, that leads you to believe that this person, whoever it is, was acting alone?

[23:25:03]

GARRISON: I personally do not think this person is acting alone. There's a lot of elements to this video. I don't think there was anybody nearby in this video. The criminal is very sloppy. The backpack is actually open. It's hard to notice, but when walking away, you can actually see it's open, you can see in it a little bit.

So, I think that this likely with somebody that -- I do -- I feel very strongly that they have a partner in this. And I think that it's somebody that helped them think of these bad ideas. I think we have two non-criminals that are doing this. Well, they're criminals now and maybe some petty criminals. I don't think these are people who are seasoned criminals, but I think it's two people who are bouncing bad ideas off of each other. And I think that the way that they got away ultimately is that they probably were picked up by somebody. I've got some theories about that as well.

COATES: Well, explain.

GARRISON: So, when we see the glove, the rubber glove that was found, the nitrile glove that was found, I believe that was when this person was probably pulling their phone out to text to say where to pick them up or -- unless they had their car there, which seems unlikely to me. So, I've thought that somebody would have been waiting around at a gas station, at a waffle house, somewhere that had some traffic, and was waiting to get a text. So, that's -- that's where I've been thinking.

What I was hoping that law enforcement would start to look is -- is there somewhere nearby that would have some traffic, that wouldn't seem unusual? So, I'd be looking at gas stations, see if there's footage of anybody that had been waiting there for an hour or two because I know it took him a while.

COATES: Obviously not carrying an 84-year-old with them. That would obviously be cumbersome, to say the least, and criminal. But I am curious about whether there was anyone to aid in a bet in the aftermath. Dr. G, thank you so much.

GARRISON: You got it. Thank you.

COATES: The search for Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker signal, far more intense, far more involved than we actually knew about. We're going to take you inside that high-tech effort and the device being used in the air and on the ground. And later, the sheriff pressed about whether Nancy Guthrie may have been taken south of the border. We have his new answer tonight and what it suggests about the case.

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[23:30:00]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANOS: The pacemaker, we'd like to find that. And we're working with the pacemaker company and other experts in that field as we speak to explore all ways possible to finding her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Nancy Guthrie's pacemaker, a top priority for the investigators as the high-tech tool known as the "signal sniffer" emerges as a central tactic in the ongoing search. Well, tonight, we're learning that device was first used on February 3rd, two weeks ago, in the hopes of detecting her pacemaker. And you're seeing video of helicopters that were flying pretty low over Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood during that search. We think they were using the device at the time.

We're also learning that its use was not limited to the helicopter. Parsons, the company that produces the device, told us the technology has been used in multiple searches involving vehicles and even people searching on foot.

With me now, security researcher Billy Rios, white hat hacker who successfully broke into a pacemaker to point out security flaws, and missing persons private investigator Steve Fischer, who has firsthand experience with the "signal sniffer" device.

Steve, I'll begin with you. Technology also being used on the ground by first responders and also in cars. How effective is that approach given the range of the pacemaker?

STEVE FISCHER, MISSING PERSONS PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Well, you know, it can be effective if they have a defined area. The problem is the range is very limited, especially when it comes to R.F. signal from the pacemaker. It's longer for cellphones. When I've used it in search and rescue, we're looking for somebody's cellphone signal. And so, it's a little different here. It makes it a -- it makes it a more difficult task, for sure. And also, there's going to be more interference and whatnot on the ground. So --

COATES: Billy, what you do is very intriguing to me. You have hacked into medical devices with the purpose of highlighting security risks. So, what more do you think could be done to try to track this pacemaker?

BILLY RIOS, SECURITY RESEARCHER: Yes, in 2018, a group of us, Dr. Jonathan Butts and Jesse Young, we actually did some pretty deep research into pacemaker technologies, including the way that they communicate. And to be just frank, pacemakers actually do have unique identifiers that you can identify that they are a pacemaker. You can identify the brand of pacemaker. If you have access to the application that the pacemaker is syncing to, you can actually use that information to identify that specific pacemaker if you're looking for it using some of the radio signals that it emits.

COATES: Steve, the BlueFly units, aka "signal sniffers," they were deployed, we're learning, to Arizona two weeks ago. Are you concerned that they've hit some dead ends with the technology or does this just take time?

FISCHER: No, this isn't something that really would -- it's not something that would take time to analyze the data. You're seeing it right away. It's actually transmitting back to a unit. Somebody is filtering out which frequency is watched.

[23:35:00]

This is going to pick up anything that's put on an R.F. signal. So, it tells me that, most likely, they've swept the areas of interest and they probably just did not detect it. This is not something that's built to go sweep a whole city with. It's really a defined area type of situation.

COATES: Well, Billy, the sheriff says they're in talks with the pacemaker company and Apple is actually offering to help. What kind of information could they give investigators?

RIOS: Yes. I have a pretty good idea as to what pacemaker we're dealing with here. I don't think it has been publicly announced. But just based on some clues that I've seen, there is a unique identifier for how this pacemaker communicates. That could definitely be targeted there. There are also some other items as far as how the pacemaker communicates.

So, for example, you know, if you're using a Bluetooth headset, for example, that thing is actually going to be transmitting quite often, but pacemakers don't. They do that in order to save their battery. And so, they won't be broadcasting as often.

Knowing the cadence at which the pacemaker is broadcasting is pretty important. So, details like that, on how the technical piece of the communications happen, are really important.

COATES: Billy, while I have you here, what is your understanding of what more Google could do to try to find the video from inside the home if, say, that footage had been recorded over?

RIOS: Yes. I used to work at Google. And so, they have a really good security team there. If there's any videos that were deleted from the camera, you would need their help to get those videos back. So, it's stored on their servers, it's stored on their disks. And so, they would have to initiate some forensic processes to get those videos back. And so, you would definitely need their help in order to get the deleted videos. But the other videos should be able to be retrieved by anyone who has the credentials.

COATES: My goodness. Billy Rios, Steve Fischer, thank you both so much for your expertise. I got to tell you, there are so many unanswered questions in the Nancy Guthrie case, and I want to bring back Andrew McCabe and Jacqueline Maguire to answer some of yours. And a reminder, if you have a question for our experts, go to cnn.com/asklaura and leave your question there, and we'll try to get to as many as we can.

So, let's begin. I got a question from Phyllis from Youngstown, Ohio. She asks, has law enforcement checked the border near Mexico? Well, the sheriff was asked about that again today. There's no indication that she's in Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANOS: I'm sure the FBI has looked into that as well. But no. I mean, we check all the leads we have. We're like everybody else. We know where Mexico is in relationship to this. It's a possibility. But no, we have nothing to indicate that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Barbara from San Diego asked this question. Would U.S. authorities be able to access the Mexico CODIS version for a possible DNA match? Thoughts?

MCCABE: Sure. So, if the Mexican government has a similar data set, which I'm not sure that they do, but if they do, it's unlikely that U.S. authorities would be able to access it directly. But what they could potentially do is through the FBI agents who work in Mexico. We have a legal adage (ph) program where agents are assigned to the embassy for exactly this purpose. They build liaison relationships with law enforcement counterparts in that country.

And what we do when we have investigative questions is we submit that information through the (INAUDIBLE) to the Mexican officials and ask for assistance. In this case, you could potentially give them, I suppose, the DNA profile and ask them if it matches any of their known profiles on record. I expect, if they had a match, they would let us know, and that would, you know, turn into a whole new process of then trying to get them to do some investigative work for us in terms of targeting whoever that person was.

COATES: My goodness. We have another question. Elizabeth from Chicago asked this question. Is it possible that with modern technology, computers can create a probable portrait of the abductor without the mask? Jackie?

MAGUIRE: I do not know of technology that could do that. We have a lot of great technology. The FBI has, you know, state-of-the-art technology. I think we've seen on social media a lot of people trying to do that. And really, that's just not going to work. I think there's too many unknowns, right? We do know -- maybe we get some measurements of the size of that person's face. It looks like they have some facial hair. But we can't magically remove that mask and know what the person looks like.

MCCABE: Yes.

COATES: I got Rob from Tennessee who asks, why doesn't the FBI just pay the person demanding the money in the ransom notes and see if the person actually provides a name?

[23:39:54]

MCCABE: Well, generally, if we're talking about the ransom notes that were recovered in the early stages of the investigation, which demanded $6 million in bitcoin, refused to interact with the family in any way, refused to engage in two-way negotiations, and notably refused to provide proof of life, under those circumstances, it's unlikely that the FBI would advise the family to pay the ransom because, generally, you would never pay a ransom unless you received proof that the person requesting the ransom actually had your family member and that that person was still alive.

COATES: Mary from California asks, could evidence collected inside Nancy Guthrie's home be considered questionable evidence in court due to the scene being closed off, then reopened, then closed off again? Well, if you're looking down the line to a possible prosecution after a suspect is identified and, of course, then indicted, then yes, it will raise issues whether or not the evidence gathered can directly be attributed to the person if there are multiple different sources of DNA or other evidence.

And, of course, chain of custody, this notion that everything that was there that's used at trial, you know, exactly who touched it when and for how long and where it has been, that's going to raise questions as well. Not that it's just it's all -- all for not but, certainly, you close a crime scene to make sure you don't have evidentiary issues if you do go to trial.

Nancy from New Jersey asks, why isn't the unusual gun and unusual carrying position on the person of interest being investigated further? Never saw a person carry a gun like that. Seems like an identity clue. Jackie?

MAGUIRE: Yes, that is an unusual way to carry a gun. And I think they are tracking that down. We've heard today from at least one gun shop owner that the FBI was out showing names, showing pictures. So, you figure that that is one way they're following up on that potential lead.

COATES: Candace from Falls Church, Virginia asks, how can the police be so sure that there is no threat to the community when they have no idea who did this or why? That's a great question. We've asked many neighbors about this, and they have said it's such a unique and specific crime. It seems so odd that they don't feel afraid necessarily. But there are many others who say, I don't know what happened, I feel afraid.

MCCABE: You know, the police are under a lot of pressure to reassure the community. And there are different ways that you might do that. I think it's probably fair to say that the police aren't aware of a continuing threat involving this kidnapping. However, I think it was Candace. Candace is right. I take her suggestion very seriously. At the end of the day, we have a kidnapper who has taken a woman, Nancy Guthrie, in the middle of the night from her home. We've been unable to recover her yet. And so, sure, that person is still out there. That is still a danger to the community. So, it's -- you know, I think, very realistically, there is a continuing danger.

COATES: Suzanne from Kailua, Hawaii asks, was the man first detained in Rio Rico, Arizona cleared or just released? And he was questioned and released. But police are still processing evidence from that search. But to that point, Jackie, the idea of them still continuing to look at evidence or follow different leads, even though they have released people, does that strike you as odd at all?

MAGUIRE: No. I think that is a good thing. I think it's important that they follow up based on whatever that information that led them there in the first place. Again, they want to run that to ground. So, I think it's what we want to see at this point, that no matter how much time goes by, that they're continuing to thoroughly investigate every tip and every lead.

MCCABE: I couldn't agree more. And I think what you're seeing here is this sense of urgency, right? In a normal case, if there is such a thing, you would see the FBI develop a lead, and then you would take a slower approach. You'd maybe send some agents out to conduct surveillance and you figure out where they lived and who was coming and going from the house, things like that, before you made an approach. They don't have that sort of time to work with here. So, you're going to see, when they develop a person of interest, they're going to go to that person, bring them in, question them, and try to rule them in and out as quickly as possible.

COATES: Only to even exonerate them completely as well.

MCCABE: That's right.

COATES: Andrew, Jacqueline, thank you both so much. Up next, turning tragedy into purpose. Gabby Petito's father joining me live with his reflection on the search for Nancy Guthrie and his efforts to help all the other families looking for their missing loved ones.

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[23:45:00]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, DAUGHTER OF NANCY GUTHRIE, NBC NEWS SHOW HOST: We still have hope. And we still believe it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: The latest message from Savannah Guthrie on Sunday pleading with her mother's abductor to bring her home as her family's nightmare now stretches into its third week. Well, my next guest knows all too well the pain the Guthrie family is currently going through. The search for his daughter, Gabby Petito, gripped the entire nation in 2021 before her remains were ultimately found.

Gabby Petito's father, Joseph Pepito, joins me now. He is also the founder of the Gabby Petito Foundation, which actively supports families searching for missing loved ones. Joe, thank you so much for being here. We all think about your family all the time. I'm glad that you have come tonight because you have been so outspoken about reforming the way that missing persons investigations are even handled. You recently called out the president and called on the president to launch a -- quote -- "federal bureau for missing people." Can you tell me what has this case taught you about what needs to change with the current system?

[23:50:00]

JOSEPH PETITO, GABBY PETITO'S FATHER, FOUNDER OF GABBY PETITO FOUNDATION: It's not just what this case taught me, it's what every case tells me, you know? And that's the number one thing people say they want, resources. You know, unless the federal investigatory body is involved, sometimes, depending on where you live, there's just not a lot of resources for someone when they go missing. And that needs to change.

You know, the administration set a precedent. They made sure that all of the full force of the government is helping, you know, Nancy Guthrie come home safe. And that's amazing. As it should be. But it should be that way for everybody. And that precedent has been set. So, I hope they see that this is something that's much needed and long overdue. And, hopefully, they can do that.

COATES: Hearing that --

PETITO: What's mind-blowing -- what's mind-blowing is, you know, how many people go missing every year, and then how many bodies are found every year that go unclaimed. Right now, you know, there is -- active missing person cases are about 25,000 right now, right? You know. So, like, you can probably knock off 10, 15 percent of that just by creating a grant program for all the DNA that's sitting on shelves, that's too costly to run.

So, there are families that, you know, don't have -- I don't like the word "closure" but, at least, they can start the grieving process properly. You know, that can be solved right now if there was money to fund that DNA research.

COATES: Hearing that from you is so powerful. It's not lost on me, certainly. I hope no one, that a high profile, high national attention case would have more access to resources. But the everyday family does not, and especially when it comes to online. And I wonder what the impact of the national attention even does to a case. Does it make things harder on your family?

PETITO: Yes and no. So, because you ask for that, you want it, you need it. And everybody -- you know, if you ever had someone that's lost or missing, you want everybody's help. So, that's fantastic. But then, if you find yourself getting it, there are others that say, why not me? And that guilt is there, you know. It might not be at the forefront, but it is there, you know. Because -- why not? You know. And that's the age-old question. How do we do it?

So, there's a lot of ways that can help with that sometimes. Obviously, you know, having a celebrity status definitely helps. But for the everyday person, I would suggest not having just a flyer. Maybe share a video where you can hear the person, see their body movements. You know, it tends to keep people's attention when you see someone moving and stuff like that. So, that's another way that you can try to garner some attention.

COATES: So important. I wonder what you would tell the Guthrie family as they now are waiting for answers, waiting for any kind of breakthrough.

PETITO: Just stay focused. Keep the hope, you know. Make sure that you're doing what you feel is best, of course, you know. But when this situation is, you know, hopefully resolved in the most positive way possible, you know, maybe try to draw some attention to other missing people as well because everyone deserves the same amount of attention, you know. And it's very difficult when you see someone knock at it. And how do you help that?

We lead by example. We share as many stories as we can and whatnot. But, hopefully, others can do that. You guys have an amazing site, right? So, on your site, if someone was to scroll all the way to the bottom and see all those links, it'd be amazing if they could see a missing person link to the National Missing Unidentified Person System or to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Maybe local affiliates have their local missing person, you know, or their state missing persons sites there. I think that would be hugely helpful. Or links of where to go. Hugely helpful.

The people that are watching this, unfortunately, sometimes are the ones that go missing. And their families will turn to you, guys. Not just you but all of the news affiliates and say, hey, get this story out there or where's a link that I can send, you know, for someone to use so you can see that this is their missing person, here's their accurate information. When someone is missing, details matter.

COATES: Joseph Petito, to hear you channel your love for your daughter to help so many others, it breaks your heart wide open. Thank you, sir.

PETITO: Thank you.

COATES: We'll be right back.

[23:55:00]

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COATES: Remember what law enforcement has said. A tip from the public could help crack this case wide open. So, if you know anything that could help bring Nancy home, you're urge to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov. You can also call the local sheriff's department at 520-351-4900. The reward stands at $100,000.

And remember, as we just discussed with Joseph Petito, there are thousands of other families who are in need of help to finding their loved ones. You can learn about them and how to help at fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap. Each person has a story and a direct number to call if you have information to help.

That's it for us tonight. I'll see you back here tomorrow. "The Story Is with Elex Michaelson" is next.

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