Initial Nancy Guthrie investigative team was inexperienced: Source

Brian Entin

The Hill

0
02.04.2026

Initial Nancy Guthrie investigative team was inexperienced: Source

(NewsNation) — The Pima County Sheriff’s team assigned to investigate Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance was lacking experience in homicide cases and made mistakes early in the investigation, an insider in the law enforcement community told NewsNation.

NewsNation’s Brian Entin spoke with the insider under the condition of anonymity to protect their identity and avoid losing their job.

“From what I understand, that the people that were there on the scene were not tenured homicide detectives,” the insider said, “They didn’t have a lot of experience in homicide at that point, to include the supervisor who, from my understanding, never investigated a homicide before being installed as the supervisor for the homicide unit.”

They added that inexperience led to decisions made early on during the investigation that have left the case unsolved to this day.

“Well, see, you have decisions made by people that will install friends and people that can do stuff for them, opposed to people that are there under merit,” the insider said.

Union demands Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos resign

An Arizona union representing more than 300 deputies in the Pima County Sheriff’s Office is calling for Sheriff Chris Nanos to resign after a unanimous no-confidence vote earlier this year.

According to the union, 241 members voted for a “No Confidence & Resign” option while 65 abstained and none chose “Confidence & Continue.”

“Sheriff Nanos should resign immediately to restore trust, accountability and operational effectiveness to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department,” the statement said. “Continued leadership under these circumstances jeopardizes public safety, departmental morale and the credibility of law enforcement in Pima County.”

The union’s no-confidence vote is related to recent revelations about Nanos’ extensive disciplinary history with the El Paso Police Department, which the union said the sheriff failed to disclose to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and the public for more than 40 years. The union called the vote a “resounding rejection of Sheriff Nanos’ leadership” in a statement posted to the union’s Facebook page.

Back doors propped open at Guthrie’s home

In her first interview since her 84-year-old mother was found missing, “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie shared a seemingly new piece of evidence about the kidnapping.

“We thought that she must have had some kind of medical episode in the night and that somehow the paramedics had come,” the NBC journalist said. “Because the back doors were propped open, you know, and that didn’t make any sense.”

NewsNation used drone footage to get another look at the doors in the back of the home in Tucson, Ariz.

There are two doors on the back of the home, and they were apparently propped open when family members went to check on Guthrie and discovered she was missing.

What is the evidence collected in the Nancy Guthrie case?

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31, leaving a family dinner and heading back to her Tucson, Arizona home. The investigation into her disappearance, led by the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, determined a masked, armed individual likely forcibly took her from the home overnight on Feb. 1.

More than a month in, the search has found signs of forced entry, blood on the front porch and multiple ransom notes — but no trace of her current whereabouts.

A Ring camera mounted at the front of Guthrie’s home appears to have been removed, a detail investigators are now examining, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.

The FBI released surveillance video of a masked person who appears to tamper with a camera at the front of the house, but no suspects have been named in the case.

The camera recorded a “person on camera” alert at 2:12 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 1. However, authorities say it is unclear whether the alert was triggered by an actual person, an animal or another cause.

Authorities also said Guthrie’s pacemaker stopped syncing with her Apple devices at 2:28 a.m. Sunday.

Where’s Nancy Guthrie? Investigation continues

Authorities are treating Guthrie’s case as an abduction, saying they believe she was taken from her home in the late night or early morning hours before she was reported missing.

The Guthrie family is offering up to a $1 million reward for information leading to her recovery, and the FBI’s $100,000 reward remains active as well.

Anyone with “actionable information” is asked to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department nonemergency line at 520-351-4900.

NewsNation’s Anna Kutz, Safia Samee Ali, Jeff Arnold and Marty Hobe contributed to this reporting.

NewsNation’s Brian Entin has learned exclusive new information about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the search for a suspect and law enforcement’s alleged rush to judgment in the case. Tune in to Katie Pavlich Tonight for his full report at 10p/9C.

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Initial Nancy Guthrie investigative team was inexperienced: Source

Brian Entin

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