Authorities have identified the woman whose body was found near a canal in Phoenix after it was confirmed that she wasn't tied to the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of TODAY Show anchor Savannah Guthrie.

Alex Fleming, 42, was identified as the woman whose remains were located last Friday (March 6) more than 100 miles from Guthrie's home in Tucson where she was kidnapped five weeks ago. The confirmation came after the Pima County Sheriff's Office told TMZ it has "not been notified of any connection reference that case to the Nancy Guthrie case."

The Phoenix Police Department issued a statement obtained by the California Post confirming it had located a body along a canal.

“Details on the call indicated that an adult female was on the nearby canal bank and was unresponsive,” the Phoenix Police Department said in a statement. “When officers arrived, they located the woman, who was ultimately pronounced deceased on scene.”

Authorities haven't released any information about the located body as of Monday (March 9). The investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance has no clear suspects nor strong leads more than a month after being launched.

Savannah, her sister, Annie Guthrie, and brother-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, carried flowers while being escorted by Pima County Sheriff's Department deputies to the memorial site in front of Nancy's home in a video shared by NewsNation reporter Brian Entin last week. Savannah also shared a photo of flowers at the memorial on her Instagram account on Monday.

"We feel the love and prayers from our neighbors, from the Tucson community and from around the country 💛," Savannah wrote. "Please don’t stop praying and hoping with us. Bring her home."

Mike Jones