Behind the scenes stalemate that’s holding up Nancy Guthrie search as insiders turn on ‘ego-driven’ sheriff

A behind-the-scenes stalemate is said to be delaying the search for Nancy Guthrie as insiders point fingers at the ‘ego-driven’ sheriff. 

Federal law enforcement is growing antsy to take over the investigation into the 84-year-old’s disappearance, but they will not be able to until the grandmother’s children, including Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, request it. 

‘Over two whole weeks into this, the police have made no leads, no progress,’ a federal source familiar with the case told The New York Post. 

‘The press conferences are not going well. Giving press conferences without saying anything. It’s not helpful.’ 

Nancy is said to have been taken from her Arizona home on February 1 against her will and her three children have been begging her captors to return the grandmother, who is in ill health, safely. 

Many law enforcement sources told The Post that they believe Sheriff Chris Nanos is to blame for the poorly executed search.  

Sergeant Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization, believes the FBI should have gained control over the investigation within the first few days. 

‘We have been treating this as a kidnapping, and the FBI is the premier agency to deal with kidnappings in the world,’ he told the outlet. 

‘The FBI has way more resources than that, way more personnel. They should have taken the lead, in my opinion, and the opinion of many. We should have gone through a supporting role.’ 

Previously, Nanos had said there were ‘no egos here,’ but many disagreed. 

‘This is all about finding Nancy,’ the sheriff said after being questioned about claims his department wasn’t working with federal law enforcement. 

‘That’s absolutely crazy. Why would we be reluctant to get all the partners who have great resources and offer them to us?’ 

Cross said Nanos’s team has gotten ‘lucky’ throughout the investigation, including finding surveillance footage that showed a masked suspect. 

‘Authorities happened to get lucky with the surveillance video, because there was no video backup. The FBI is trying to backtrack, and it’s tricky,’ an FBI source told The Post. 

And despite the attention the case is getting, it does not allow the federal agency to declare control over the investigation. 

‘Believe me, they would if they could,’ a law enforcement source told The Post. 

Sources have accused Nanos of not passing the lead responsibility to the FBI, as he reportedly holds anger toward the agency because it may have cost him a reelection in 2016. 

‘It is widely believed he thinks the FBI cost him his election,’ Cross told the outlet. 

The FBI began investigating the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in 2015 for misuse of civil asset forfeiture funds. 

In a 2016 interview with KGUN 9, he appeared irritated while discussing the FBI investigation, claiming the agency had spoken to a journalist and disclosed information he did not know. 

‘At that time, the conversation was so benign that he led me to believe there wasn’t an investigation,’ Nanos said at the time. 

Cross said: ‘You can just see him seething with rage against the FBI. 

‘That’s the real Sheriff Nanos – the angry, vindictive guy. That’s who we experience inside the department. The “aw shucks” kind of persona that he portrays is kind of the character that he puts on.’ 

He won reelection in 2020 and again in 2024 by a slim margin. 

Sources have also criticized Nanos’s work on the glove that was sent to Florida for DNA testing and releasing the crime scene too early. 

A glove was found two miles from Nancy’s house and sent to Florida for testing. If the FBI had been leading the case, it would have been sent to their laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. 

‘If I were the sheriff and had no forensic capability, I’d use the FBI,’ an agency source told The Post. 

Nancy’s house was also cleared as a crime scene just days into the investigation, allowing journalists to access the grounds. 

‘Every reporter I’ve spoken with that’s here on the ground could not believe that they were allowed to walk up to the door the next day,’ Cross told the outlet. 

‘It looks unprofessional. It looks amateurish to have to repeatedly go out there. It doesn’t look good for our department when we’ve had reporters walking up and essentially contaminating the scene.’ 

Nanos has defended his decision, telling Green Valley News: ‘First of all, we didn’t release the crime scene too early. We finished. We completed our crime scene. Done. Ask my investigators. I don’t go out there and do that. They did it, and they felt confident they retrieved everything.’ 

Cross also criticized Nanos for not deploying an aircraft at the start of the search. The holdup was due to staff shortages, but Cross said it showed a ‘self-imposed weakness that Nanos created.’ 

Nanos’s team had taken in a person of interest, but has since released the man. He was taken into custody near the Mexican border.  

His detainment came after federal authorities released Nest doorbell footage of a masked man from the night she was abducted. 

Since then, the sheriff’s department has not taken in any other person of interest, and Nancy still remains missing. 

Earlier this week, her daughter, Savannah Guthrie, continued to plead with her captors. 

‘And I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it’s never too late, and you’re not lost or alone, and it is never too late to do the right thing,’ the television host said on Instagram. 

‘We are here, and we believe, and we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, and it’s never too late.’  

The Daily Mail has reached out to Nanos for comment.