A new development has emerged in the search for missing 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie after anonymous tips pointed volunteer searchers to a remote area in northern Mexico. The reports claimed she may have been buried in a clandestine grave near Nogales, Sonora, just across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Volunteer search group Buscando Corazones Nogales has now searched the same general region twice after receiving the tips. The group said the first message arrived on May 16, and a second tip later led searchers back to the area as they continued looking for any sign of Guthrie.
The location mentioned in the tips is a rural zone known as Mariposa, near the border city of Nogales. According to the group’s leader, Ramona Guadalupe Ayala Ortiz, the anonymous messages were short but specific, claiming that “the lady from the other side” was buried in that area.
Searchers have combed through difficult terrain, including hills and creek areas where hidden graves have previously been discovered in other cases. However, despite the repeated searches, no evidence connected to Guthrie has been found.
Ayala Ortiz said the region has already been the focus of several missing-person searches in recent months. In April, volunteers reported finding multiple unmarked graves in the broader area, but she said the new tips pointed to a different section of land.
The search has been carried out with support from officials connected to the Sonora State Commission for the Search of Missing Persons. After the second tip, teams expanded their efforts beyond earlier search zones, including areas where other graves had previously been located.
Even though nothing has been found so far, the group says it is not finished. Ayala Ortiz said another search is being planned and that coordination with state authorities is already underway to decide the next steps.
One detail mentioned in the anonymous tip was that Guthrie reportedly has a pacemaker, which searchers were told could help with identification if remains are ever found. Still, officials have not confirmed that the tips are accurate, and the case remains unresolved.
Guthrie disappeared from her home in the Catalina Foothills area of Tucson, Arizona, during the early hours of February 1. Investigators believe she may have been abducted, and authorities have said doorbell camera footage showed a masked person entering the home on the night she vanished.
The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department continue to investigate, while officials say forensic testing and evidence review remain ongoing. Despite searches on both sides of the border, Nancy Guthrie has not been found, and authorities continue urging anyone with information to come forward.
