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Authorities trying to solve the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie<\/a> say they might tap DNA genealogy databases, the same step that police took to unravel a decades-old series of murders in California and the fatal stabbings of four college students in Idaho.<\/p>\n The strategy could be fruitful: If unidentified DNA evidence can be connected to someone \u2014 even a distant relative \u2014 in a common genealogical database, it would give investigators more information and possibly lead to a suspect in Guthrie\u2019s kidnapping in Arizona.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic tool,\u201d said Ruth Ballard, a geneticist in California who specializes in DNA and has testified in hundreds of court cases. \u201cIf it\u2019s a good quality sample and they\u2019re able to get a profile, they could find a hit on that fairly quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n The sheriff’s department in Pima County, Arizona, said DNA collected so far<\/a> in the investigation has not turned up any matches in a national criminal justice database known as CODIS, which has DNA profiles from convicted criminals and, in some states, people arrested for certain crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cInvestigators are currently looking into additional investigative genetic genealogy options for DNA evidence to check for matches. CODIS is one option of many databases that are available,\u201d the sheriff’s department said Tuesday.<\/p>\n The department said Wednesday that biological evidence from Guthrie’s Tucson-area home was being examined and that DNA profiles were at a lab for analysis. <\/p>\n Guthrie, the mother of NBC \u201cToday\u201d co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing from her home since Feb. 1. The FBI said gloves found about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away appeared to match those worn by a masked suspect who was recorded on a porch camera<\/a>. <\/p>\n Genealogical sites Ancestry, 23andMe and MyHeritage say they can be asked to comply with court orders seeking information. Another genealogical site, GEDmatch, said its policy is to ask users if they want to opt-in to allow police to look at their data. The Associated Press e-mailed the companies late Wednesday, asking if they have a role in the Guthrie investigation. <\/p>\n GEDmatch has been credited with helping solve the case of the so-called Golden State Killer<\/a>. Police used DNA from crime scenes to find a distant relative and build a family tree that led to Joseph DeAngelo Jr. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to 13 killings and dozens of rapes in California in the 1970s and ’80s.<\/p>\n