Nancy Guthrie Update: Sheriff Confirms Family Cleared as Online Sleuth Targets Son-in-Law's Former Band

TUCSON, Ariz. — More than seven months after Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home, authorities say the 84-year-old mother of "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie has still not been located, even as a self-described online investigator has drawn fresh attention to an unrelated detail from her son-in-law's past: a rock band he played in nearly two decades ago.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed in February that the Guthrie family, including all siblings and spouses, had been formally cleared as possible suspects in the case. "To be clear... the Guthrie family — to include all siblings and spouses, has been cleared as possible suspects in this case," Nanos said in a statement at the time. "The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case."

That clearance has not stopped online speculation from continuing to circulate, much of it centered on Tommaso Cioni, who is married to Nancy Guthrie's daughter Annie and was among the last people known to have seen her before she vanished. According to the timeline released by investigators, Guthrie had dinner at Annie's home on the evening of January 31 before Cioni drove her back to her own residence. She was reported missing the following day, February 1, after her family discovered she was not home, and investigators have said they believe she was forcibly taken from the residence during the early hours of that morning.

The latest round of online attention has focused not on the night of Guthrie's disappearance but on Cioni's history playing bass and providing vocals in Early Black, a Tucson rock band formed in April 2007. According to the band's ReverbNation page, its music is categorized as rock, post-punk and shoegaze. Jonathan Lee Riches, a self-described investigator who has been active in promoting theories about the case on social media, drew attention to the band in a series of posts. "Early Black. Band of Tommaso Cioni. Where is Nancy Guthrie?" Riches wrote in one post. In another, he wrote, "Reminder that Tommaso Cioni played in a band that loves murder. Where's Nancy Guthrie?"

That characterization appears to stem from the band's use of the word "murder" in the title of one of its songs, "Life:Love:Love:Murder." The posts prompted a range of reactions online, with some users speculating without evidence that Cioni's former bandmates or family members might somehow be connected to Guthrie's disappearance, while other users pushed back directly against the attempt to draw any inference of criminality from a band's song titles or musical style. That pushback is consistent with the available evidence in the case: there is no public evidence linking Cioni's former band, or its members, to Guthrie's disappearance, and the Pima County Sheriff's Department has not publicly connected Early Black to the investigation in any way.

Investigators have continued to describe the case as active rather than cold. In a statement issued February 16, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said it was working alongside the FBI while continuing to pursue leads, including forensic and video evidence. The FBI has previously released footage showing an armed individual appearing to tamper with a doorbell camera at Guthrie's home around the time of her disappearance, though authorities have not publicly identified a suspect in the case.

The persistence of online theories, including claims scrutinizing Cioni's musical history, his social interactions, and even his reported whereabouts in the months since Guthrie vanished, reflects a pattern that has defined much of the public conversation around the case since it first drew national attention. That attention has been amplified in large part by Savannah Guthrie's profile as a longtime network television anchor, with social media users and amateur investigators tracking developments closely even as official updates from law enforcement have remained limited in scope.

Authorities have repeatedly cautioned against drawing conclusions from unverified claims circulating online while the investigation remains ongoing. No evidence identified in official statements or law enforcement releases has linked Early Black, its music, or any of the band's former members to Guthrie's disappearance. Investigators have said they remain focused on evidence and verified leads rather than public speculation as they work to determine what happened to Guthrie.

Cioni himself has not been named a suspect or person of interest by authorities at any point in the seven months since Guthrie's disappearance was first reported. The Sheriff's Department's February statement clearing the Guthrie family, including Cioni, as possible suspects has not been publicly revised or walked back in any subsequent official communication.

As the investigation continues without a named suspect, online theorizing about the case, including the renewed focus on Cioni's decades-old musical background, appears likely to continue circulating alongside the more substantive forensic and video evidence that investigators have said remains central to their work. For now, authorities have offered no indication that any new evidence, including the resurfaced details about Early Black, has changed the trajectory of an investigation that remains, by law enforcement's own account, actively pursuing leads more than seven months after Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her Tucson-area home.