A local sheriff is impeding FBI access to key evidence in the Nancy Guthrie abduction probe, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case says.
Guthrie, the mother of TV journalist Savannah Guthrie, went missing on February 1 from her residence in Arizona’s Catalina Foothills.
The official says the FBI asked Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos for physical evidence, including a glove and DNA from the home, to be processed at the FBI’s national crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.
However, Nanos has instead insisted on using a private Florida lab, effectively denying the FBI access to crucial evidence, the official said.
A spokesperson for the sheriff did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
In a daily press update released earlier in the day, the sheriff’s department said investigators had “recovered several items of evidence, including gloves,” adding that all viable evidence is submitted for analysis.
The agency did not elaborate.
The Pima County sheriff has primary jurisdiction over the case, and FBI assistance must be officially requested by the county, otherwise the FBI is legally precluded from taking part in the investigation. The official said that the county has spent some $200,000 so far to send evidence in the Guthrie case to the the Florida lab.
“It risks further slowing a case that grows more urgent by the minute,” the official said, citing unspecified “earlier setbacks” in the investigation.
The official also criticized the sheriff for not seeking FBI assistance in the investigation sooner.
“It’s clear the fastest path to answers is leveraging federal resources and technology. Anything less only prolongs the Guthrie family’s grief and the community’s wait for justice,” the official said.
Signs of friction between the FBI and sheriff’s department emerged as the search for Nancy Guthrie stretched into its 12th day, as investigators intensified their search for clues in the presumed kidnapping for ransom.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31 when family dropped her off at her home following an evening dinner with them, and relatives reported her missing the following day, authorities said.
The sheriff has said the elder Guthrie had extremely limited mobility and could not have wandered off far from home unassisted, leading investigators to conclude early on that she had been abducted by force.
