A bandmate of Nancy Guthrie's son-in-law has said his home was mobbed by social media sleuths who falsely believed he was a suspect in the abduction case.
Dominic Evans, 48, an elementary school teacher and drummer in a band with Tommaso Cioni, said his life was turned upside down when he was incorrectly named online as a person of interest.
He told the New York Times that his family were left fearing for their lives when a mob showed up at his home and demanded he be arrested, despite police sharing no public evidence linking him to the 84-year-old's disappearance.
The only tenuous link appeared to be a picture of an unidentified suspect wearing a mask outside Nancy's home on the night she vanished in the early hours of February 1, which some online claimed matched Evans' eyes.
Evans' arrest in 1999 for stealing a calculator and a watch from a bar was enough to cement him as a suspect on social media, with some claiming he abducted Nancy with Cioni - who has also faced a wave of false allegations that he was involved.
The teacher said his son was with his grandmother when the abuse began on February 10, and the mob outside their home forced the six-year-old to spend his first ever night away from his parents because they were too afraid to leave their home.
'It was all night looking through the window, trying to not let any light out of our home,' Evans' wife added, describing herself as 'scared numb' by the situation.
Evans said he was briefly interviewed by investigators about the disappearance, and the Times said he was often 'near tears' as he recounted the experience of being hounded by social media sleuths.
'I feel like someone's taken my name,' he said. Asked for what reason he was targeted, he responded: 'I don't know - monetary, clickbait, to be relevant, entertainment - but there are innocent people that get hurt.'
Dominic Evans (center), bandmate of Nancy Guthrie's son-in-law Tommaso Cioni (right), says his home was mobbed by social media sleuths who falsely believed he was the suspect who abducted the 84-year-old
Social media sleuths believed they linked Evans to the case primarily through a picture of an unidentified masked suspect outside Nancy's home on the night she vanished, claiming their eyes matched. An example of an accusatory social media post is pictured
Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, vanished from her home in the early hours of February 1, sparking a major ongoing search
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who has come under scrutiny for his handling of the high-profile case, told the outlet that he has been frustrated by the wave of online accusations muddying his investigation.
'He's going through hell, and it is horrible,' Nanos said of Evans.
'And I don't know what to tell him except he probably should be speaking with some attorneys and sue some of these people for libel.'
Nanos said he does not want to publicly rule out anyone besides the Guthrie family, but added: 'I wish I could jump out and defend every single one of them that's been falsely accused.'
Twenty five days into the search, authorities have made no arrests or named any persons of interest - however on Tuesday, investigators were seen back at Nancy's home looking at her front door where blood drops were previously found.
Evans said he met Cioni in 2007 when he responded to a Craigslist ad looking for musicians to join a rock band, and the pair created the band Early Black.
He said they started jamming with a guitarist, and recalls at some point Cioni casually mentioned he was married to the older sister of Today Show star Savannah Guthrie.
Evans said he only met Nancy once in 2011, when he was invited by Tommaso to bring his oldest son to search for Easter eggs at her Tucson home.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said he has been frustrated by the social media accusations muddying his investigation, and said of Evans: 'I wish I could jump out and defend every single one of them that's been falsely accused'
Twenty five days into the search, authorities have made no arrests or named any persons of interest - however on Tuesday, investigators were seen back at Nancy's home looking at her front door where blood drops were previously found
Evans' bandmate Tommaso Cioni, who is married to Savannah Guthrie's older sister Annie, has also faced unfounded allegations that he is responsible for Nancy's disappearance
Recalling the start of his recent nightmare in the spotlight, Evans said he and his wife were putting their two sons to bed when he saw on the news that Nancy was missing, and she was believed to have been abducted.
He said he texted Cioni a message of support and said he was there for him, but within days they were both facing a slew of accusations that they were responsible.
Within days, Evans said his street was filled with cars from journalists and online detectives, who believed they had cracked the case.
He said by the 13th day that Nancy was missing, the situation became unbearable, and he asked his school's principal to hold a meeting where he could address the speculation to other staff.
That same week he said he was interviewed by the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department, who quizzed him on his relationship with Cioni, their band, and his whereabouts on the night that Nancy disappeared.
Soon after, the swarm of media in the Tucson area saw a SWAT van leaving the sheriff's office, which led people on social media to assume Evans was being arrested - and he says his home address was then posted online.
'This one felt really, really, really scary, because it was like everyone was waiting for someone to come to our house,' his wife said.
Evans said he thought he was being 'swatted' - where someone calls in a hoax crime to send a SWAT team to a person's home - but it turned out the SWAT team briefly arrested someone miles from his home before they were released without charge.
As of Tuesday, police have made no arrests in the case, leading Savannah to offer a $1 million reward for information leading to her mother.
Evans said the wave of allegations has only eased in recent days, allowing him to return to teaching - and he says his fears that his fifth-grade students would believe the online claims thankfully did not materialize.