Nancy Guthrie Update: Lawyer Offers Additional $100,000 Reward
The search for Nancy Guthrie continues, with the latest reports indicating that law enforcement has received between 40 and 50,000 tips related to the 84-year-old's disappearance.
On Monday night, a Milwaukee-based lawyer announced he was offering a $100,000 reward on top of the $100,000 already being offered by the FBI for information leading to Guthrie's location or the arrest of her kidnappers.
New reward now on the table
Milwaukee attorney Michael Hupy said in a Facebook post that "having seen no progress" in the Guthrie case, he was now offering a $100,000 reward through Crime Stoppers for the "arrest of the perpetrator."
Hupy, the president of Milwaukee Crime Stoppers, is running the reward through Crime Stoppers Tucson.
"She’s an 84-year-old woman and I don’t like the way the investigation and reward is being handled," Hupy explained to FOX6 Now. "I think it could have been done much better. I think if the $100,000 was put up through crime stoppers – we could be further along."
Hupy added that he believes the FBI's requirement for personal information could deter people from coming forward. Crime Stoppers allows tipsters to remain anonymous, using reference numbers to categorize tips that come in.
FBI reward remains in place
The FBI offered its $100,000 sum last Thursday. In the same message, the bureau published information about the subject seen in the surveillance camera footage outside Nancy Guthrie's home.
The possible suspect is described as a man approximately "5’9” - 5’10” tall, with an average build." He is seen wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack available at Walmart.
Authorities clear Guthrie family
Despite some early reports throwing suspicion on the Guthrie family, they have all been cleared as suspects, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a statement on Monday.
"To be clear … the Guthrie family — to include all siblings and spouses — has been cleared as possible suspects in this case," the statement reads. "The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case.
“To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple… Please, I’m begging you (in the) media to honor your profession and report with sense of compassion and professionalism.”
Nancy Guthrie has three children: daughters Savannah, the co-host of Today, and Annie, and a son Camron.