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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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An attorney said “mistakes” made by authorities investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie may have hindered the solving of the case.
“It is very sad, but unfortunately due to mistakes made from the very beginning, the investigation or lack thereof has not led to anything fruitful or helpful to find Nancy Guthrie or the perpetrator of this horrible crime,” Lindsay Richards, a former prosecutor and partner at Cofer & Connelly, a law firm based in Austin, Texas, told Newsweek. “The more time that passes the harder it gets.”
Newsweek has contacted the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for comment via email.
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The Context
Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, has been missing for more than a month. She was last seen at her home on January 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities believe she was kidnapped and said drops of her blood were found on the front porch.
Since the first days of her disappearance, authorities have expressed concern about her health because she needs vital daily medication.
The FBI on February 10 released video from a doorbell camera showing a man wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket, gloves and a handgun holster on Nancy Guthrie’s porch on the night she disappeared.
Authorities have not publicly identified the person, whom they called a suspect, but the FBI described the person as a male about 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10 with an average build and said he was carrying a 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.
What To Know
Richards said the Pima County Sheriff’s Department “seems to have been out of their depth from the beginning.”
She said the sheriff’s department “did not properly secure” the crime scene and that it should have requested the assistance of the FBI from the start of the investigation.
Critics have questioned the decision to release the crime scene early, only for investigators to put up crime scene tape again days later as they returned to recover additional evidence. In the meantime, several reporters had been able to walk up to Nancy Guthrie’s front door before private security guards arrived, the Arizona Republic reported.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has acknowledged missteps in the early stages of the investigation. At a press conference on February 5, Nanos said he would have preserved the crime scene longer if he had the chance for a do-over.
“We got what we thought was complete,” he said. “My team did that. I have to have all the faith and trust in their abilities and their skills.”
He added: “Monday morning quarterback, absolutely. I probably could have held off on that.”
Nanos also said that he could have called in the FBI sooner.
“It was a search and rescue mission the first few hours and we transitioned that over to a criminal investigation. With that, brought in our partners from the FBI and others,” he said.
Richards also said the sheriff’s department “waited too long” to get security camera footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home and from neighbors. Almost two weeks after Nancy Guthrie was reported missing, investigators sent an alert to homes within a 2-mile radius of her residence, asking for surveillance camera footage from the month before she disappeared.
But she acknowledged that her views are from the “outside looking in” and she is hopeful that “there were things done that the public was not privy to.”
Authorities have released little information about the case in recent days, but Nanos told NBC News a week ago that investigators were "definitely closer" to tracking down the suspect.
In that interview, Nanos said investigators had not identified any of the clothing that the suspect in the surveillance video was wearing but that they were looking into the possibility the suspect's backpack, which is sold exclusively at Walmart, may have been purchased online.
Nanos also said that investigators were still facing challenges processing mixed DNA found at Nancy Guthrie's home that did not belong to her or those in close contact with her. The sheriff suggested that the mixture could contain DNA from several people. The sheriff's department said investigators would seek to use investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG, in the investigation.
The sheriff's department confirmed that DNA from black gloves that were recovered about 2 miles from Nancy Guthrie's home had been traced to a local restaurant employee who was "not part of this investigation."
The FBI had earlier said the gloves appeared to match those worn by the masked person seen in the surveillance footage. Authorities said last month that DNA from the gloves did not match any entries in CODIS, the FBI's national database.
Nanos said earlier that members of Nancy Guthrie’s family, including siblings and spouses, are not suspects.
Nancy Guthrie’s family is offering a $1 million reward for information that leads to her recovery. A separate reward of more than $200,000 is being offered for information about her whereabouts or that could lead to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
What People Are Saying
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC News on March 2: "There's so much that everybody wants to know, but I would be very neglectful, irresponsible as a police, law enforcement leader, to share that with everybody.
"We have information on this case that we think is going to hopefully lead us to solving this case. But it takes time."
The Pima County Sheriff's Department, in a statement on February 27: "This remains an active investigation and will continue until Nancy Guthrie is located or all leads have been exhausted. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is refocusing resources to detectives specifically assigned to this case. As leads are developed and resolved, resource allocation may fluctuate. PCSD will maintain a patrol presence in the Guthrie neighborhood."
Savannah Guthrie, on Instagram on March 2: "We feel the love and prayers from our neighbors, from the Tucson community and from around the country. ... Please don't stop praying and hoping with us. bring her home."
What Happens Next
Anyone with information is urged to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), 520-351-4900 or 88-CRIME or visit tips.fbi.gov.
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