Kash Patel, Arizona sheriff clash over handling of investigation into Nancy Guthrie disappearance
Savannah and Nancy Guthrie | MGN
FBI Director Kash Patel is criticizing local officials over their handling of the Nancy Guthrie case — but the Pima County sheriff said some of Patel’s comments are not accurate.
Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared more than three months ago from her Tucson, Arizona, home. She was last seen on Jan. 31 and was reported missing on Feb. 1 after a friend called the family to tell them she wasn’t at church.
In a podcast interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Patel said the Pima County Sheriff’s Department waited too long to get the FBI involved.
“For four days we were kept out of the investigation,” Patel claimed.
But Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is disputing what Patel said. The sheriff’s department posted a statement from Nanos on X that said a member of the FBI task force was on the scene the night Guthrie was first reported missing.
“While the FBI director was not on scene, coordination with the bureau began without delay,” the statement read in part.
Two days later, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department held a news conference with the FBI.
Patel said he spoke with Google leadership and within days received the chilling images of a suspect, described as a man of average build with an approximate height of 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10, outside Guthrie’s home.
Two images of a masked man seen on Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera, at left without a backpack, and at right with a backpack on Feb. 1, the night of her suspected abduction.FBI
The man was wearing a face mask in images taken from Guthrie’s doorbell camera video and had gloves and a black Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack, the FBI said.
Patel also criticized local officials for not using the FBI’s lab in Quantico to analyze DNA evidence.
“I had a fixed-wing aircraft on the ground ready to move it immediately through the night,” Patel said. “And they say we’re sending it to Florida.”
In his X post, Nanos wrote the department’s decisions regarding evidence processing “were made on scene based on operational needs.”
“The laboratory utilized by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI Laboratory in Quantico have worked in close partnership from the outset and continue to collaborate in the analysis of evidence,” Nanos said in his statement.
As the search for answers continues, Guthrie’s family has been cleared of any involvement in her disappearance, according to investigators.
