New twist in Nancy Guthrie case- Elder daughter Annie Guthrie's home searched by police. Is she a suspect?

The missing Nancy Guthrie case has taken a fresh turn as police searched the residence of her elder daughter, Annie, on Sunday.

Nancy, an 84-year-old, is the mother of NBC TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie, who went missing from her home in Catalina, in Arizona's Pima County, in the middle of the night on January 31. According to the police, she is being held for ransom.

Search at Annie Guthrie's home

According to a PEOPLE report, law enforcement officials were seen at the residence of Annie and her husband, Tommaso Cioni, late Saturday evening, February 7.

Annie’s property, which the couple recently purchased for approximately $650,000, is located approximately 10 minutes from her mother’s home in Tucson.

This search came just hours after Annie and her siblings, Savannah and Camron, shared a new video message for their mom’s potential kidnapper. “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly,” the siblings said in the video message.

Talking to the PEOPLE, FBI special agent, Tracy Walder, said that the officials “may have either asked Annie’s permission,” obtained a search warrant or both, before searching the property.

The search at Annie's home lasted over two and a half hours—from about 8 PM to 10:30 PM local time.

Some local reporters have claimed that the investigators opened the septic tank at the house.

A police officer was seen leaving Annie's home with a white suitcase, which Walder said had evidence processing tools, and a brown bag of evidence.

Annie's residence was reportedly searched for a second time on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, police took the couple's car for a probe and removed the security cameras from their house.

“The back and forth is, of course, odd and we don’t see that a lot,” Walder said of the searching parties’ behaviour, which she believed could be attributed to “so many things” such as “reactions to ransom note details, new suspects emerging, request by the family, etc.”

Is Annie a suspect?

Annie Guthrie is not officially a suspect as of now.

On February 8, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) said that there are currently no suspects or persons of interest in the investigation into Nancy’s disappearance.

“The Nancy Guthrie investigation is ongoing. Follow-up continues at multiple locations," the department wrote. “No suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles have been identified.”

PCSD also said that the department would call for a press conference “if any significant developments occur in the case”.

Nancy Guthrie's disappearance

Nancy Guthrie was last seen in the evening of January 31 when her son-in-law, Cioni. He had dropped her off at her house after she had dinner with him and Annie at their home, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos previously told The New York Times.

A trail of what appears to be blood was found on the front steps of Nancy's home that authorities confirmed is hers. Remnants of a Ring camera had also been removed from the front door area, PEOPLE confirmed.

Authorities are investigating an alleged ransom note of 6 million sent to the media. FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Heith Janke said that the note’s sender set a deadline of 5 PM on February 5.

A second deadline has now been set for Monday, February 9.