Concerns grow over missteps in Nancy Guthrie investigation
Nancy Guthrie had been missing for less than three days, and family members, reporters and even an Amazon delivery driver had been seen wandering around her property, with drops of blood still stained at the front entrance.
It’s been nearly two weeks since “Today” host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother was kidnapped. With no suspects in custody as of Saturday, scrutiny is increasing on how authorities handled the incident.
Some questions focused on Pima County (Ariz.) Sheriff Chris Nanos and his department, who were the first to respond when Guthrie was reported missing from her Tucson home on Feb. 1. Since then, Nanos has become law enforcement’s lead communicator in the investigation, including when reports surfaced of ransom notes demanding millions of dollars in cryptocurrency for Guthrie’s return.
The global spotlight is now on him.
“I’m not used to everyone hanging on my every word and then holding me accountable for what I say,” Nanos said at a news conference early in the investigation. “This is actually pretty new to me.”
Critics noted that a day after Guthrie was reported missing, his department opened the crime scene and sent vital evidence across the country to be analyzed for free, and that the sheriff was seen at a college basketball game over the weekend with a ransom deadline hanging over the family.
Even President Trump weighed in on this issue.
When asked about the case at the White House on Friday, President Trump said, “Originally it was a domestic case and they didn’t want to let it go, and that’s okay too.” “It’s up to them, it’s really up to the community, but ultimately I think progress is being made where the FBI is involved.”
Guthrie was discovered missing when he didn’t show up at a friend’s house to watch a church service. He was taken from his home without any heart medication, and it’s unclear how long he could have survived without those medications.
Although he was initially thought missing, the desire to find Guthrie as soon as possible increased in the early days of media coverage for his heart condition. So it came as a surprise to some observers when Nanos declared the crime scene clean and returned the house to the family just a day after she was reported missing.
Forensic workers examined the ranch-style home for evidence, including DNA and fingerprints, but were unable to recover footage from the Ring camera because the family did not pay a subscription to back up the recordings, Nanos said.
Then, as the house lay unguarded, reporters, photographers and others wandered the property, walking up to the front door and taking video of blood drops on the porch.
The crime scene was sealed off again so the FBI could conduct its own search, and Nanos told reporters that opening the scene for the first time might be premature.
“Monday morning quarterback. Absolutely. I probably could have delayed that,” Nanos said at a news conference flanked by senior FBI agents.
Sheriff’s deputies were eventually stationed outside the home, but even so, a pizza delivery driver walked the meal ordered for someone in the neighborhood to the door of Guthrie’s home. The sheriff’s department said a company arrived Friday to service Guthrie’s backyard pool, and it was done “at the request of the Guthrie family.”
There were intermittent interruptions in the investigation.
After searching the home last week, FBI technicians are examining evidence from inside and around the home. Tests revealed that the drops of blood outside the door belonged to Guthrie.
Then, a series of ransom notes arrived in the tip boxes of two Tucson television stations and TMZ, demanding $4 million and $6 million in bitcoin and containing details about Guthrie’s home.
Adam Bercovici, who worked on numerous kidnappings as the former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department’s special investigations unit, said law enforcement’s announcement of Guthrie’s disappearance and subsequent public credence to reports that he was being held for ransom put authorities at a disadvantage.
“This is a fiasco,” he said. “This kidnapping is one of the worst cases of incompetence I have ever seen.”
Bercovici said it would be difficult to verify a legitimate ransom demand with so much information floating around. In fact, shortly after news of the ransom notes broke, authorities said a man in Hawthorne sent a fake demand to the Guthries. He was charged with a federal crime.
Much is still unknown about the details of the investigation and exactly what evidence detectives collected. Therefore, it will take time to fully evaluate their tactics and truly understand the complexity of the case.
The first major breakthrough in the case came Tuesday, when the FBI released surveillance video of someone approaching Guthrie’s door with a holstered gun, a ski mask and a backpack. The videos recovered by Google engineers provided the first look at Guthrie’s kidnapper and lasted less than a minute. More than 4,000 tips poured in to law enforcement in the 24 hours after the footage was released.
The next evening, sheriff’s investigators were taking a 36-year-old man into custody following a traffic stop south of Tucson. Sheriff’s officials announced they had obtained a court-approved search warrant for his Rio Rico home, immediately raising expectations among those following the case closely.
But these hopes soon faded.
Surrounded by a crowd of cameras and reporters, investigators and FBI forensic technicians descended on the man’s home. Under the glare of camera lights, her mother-in-law declared her innocent, saying she did not know who Savannah Guthrie was, and told them “you won’t find anything here, we have nothing to hide.”
The next morning the man was released and his house was cleared of investigators. The Times is not naming him because he was not arrested or charged with any crime.
“I hope they catch the suspect because it’s not me,” the man told reporters. “And they better do their job and find the suspect who did this so they can clear my name.”
On Friday night, authorities executed a search warrant at a Tucson home and attacked a parked Range Rover. In the end, authorities said no arrests were made.
Investigators are casting an even wider net to find photos, video and other clues. Nanos told local station KOLD that others in the area should also wait to be detained and questioned.
On Thursday, authorities uncovered a series of images of men with backpacks in the dark near cars and homes. About two miles from Guthrie’s home, investigators found a glove on the ground and then several more gloves from the home, the sheriff’s department said Friday. They will all be analyzed for DNA in the hope of finding the 84-year-old grandmother. Other DNA found in the home did not match Guthrie or anyone who had close contact with him, and investigators were working to determine who it belonged to, the department said.
Meanwhile, the FBI this week doubled the reward for information to $100,000 and released a description of the person seen at his front door.
“The suspect is described as a male of average build, approximately 5’9″ – 5’10” tall. He is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack in the video,” the bureau said. More than 13,000 tips flooded into the office.
The sheriff’s department on Friday sought to dispel rumors that there was a standoff between local and federal investigators over how the evidence should be handled and which lab it should be sent to.
“Our strong partnership is critical and we remain fully committed to this collaborative investigation. To ensure consistency and facilitate testing, evidence requiring forensic analysis is being sent to the same out-of-state laboratory used since the beginning of this case,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. “This decision was discussed and agreed upon with local FBI leadership.”
But Nanos himself expressed disappointment with the pace of the research.
“These ups and downs are exhausting. But we will keep moving forward,” he said to NNew York Times. “Maybe an hour from now. Maybe weeks, months, or years. But we won’t give up. We’ll find Nancy. We’ll find this man.”
