Sheriff finally clears Nancy Guthrie’s family in kidnap case — but still doesn’t reveal a suspect

 Sheriff finally clears Nancy Guthrie’s family in kidnap case — but still doesn’t reveal a suspect

Nancy Guthrie’s family has been cleared of any suspicion in the search for the missing 84-year-old, according to police.

“The Guthrie family – to include all siblings and spouses – has been cleared as possible suspects in this case,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said Monday.

“The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” he added. “To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple.”

That means Nancy’s kids — “Today” show host Savannah, her sister Annie and brother Camron — have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

It also means Tommaso Cioni – Annie’s husband who was the last person to see Nancy alive on Jan. 31 – is no longer a suspect following speculation that he was somehow involved.

However, Nanos did not say whether investigators have identified a suspect.

The announcement from Nanos came just a day after he told the Daily Mail he did not want Cioni to be wrongly scrutinized just because he was the last person to see Nancy before her disappearance. 

The statement also came hours after law enforcement sources told NBC News that police were “leaning away” from considering family members suspects in the investigation.

Cioni last saw Nancy around 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 31 after she had dinner with him and Annie.

She was reported missing the next day when she failed to arrive at a friend’s house to watch Sunday church the next day.

Early reports suggested Cioni was being eyed as a suspect, something police exacerbated when Nanos refused to rule him out when pressed by reporters.

His and Annie’s home was then searched multiple times in the coming days while search and rescue teams were seen scanning her neighborhood, further fanning the flames of suspicion.

And until Monday’s announcement, Nanos insisted that nobody had been cleared of suspicion.

The clearing of Nancy’s family is one of the first definitive developments police have announced over its grueling two week investigation, with no suspects named even as multiple people have been detained.

Those people – none of whom were family – were all released shortly after being detained for questioning last week.

But despite the clearing of Nancy’s family, sources told NBS that a “myriad of theories” are still being floated among investigators, with no clear theory prevailing.