Nancy Guthrie
Lilly inLondon/X

The FBI has publicly criticised local investigators over delays in testing crucial DNA in the Nancy Guthrie case, as federal prosecutors set a June trial date in Tucson for a man accused of sending hoax ransom demands linked to the high-profile kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie's mother.

FBI Rebukes Sheriff Over Nancy Guthrie DNA Handling

The sharpest tension has emerged over how key DNA evidence from Nancy Guthrie's house was handled. According to federal officials, the Pima County Sheriff's Department initially chose to send material recovered from the scene to a private laboratory it regularly works with instead of immediately handing it to the FBI.

It was only after roughly eleven weeks that the DNA was transferred to the bureau. Ben Williamson, the FBI's assistant director of public affairs, made his frustration plain, saying agents had requested the evidence two months earlier and had long had the technology needed to process it.

In his words, the FBI had asked to test the DNA with the 'same technology we've always had', yet the local sheriff 'instead sent it to a private lab.'

As of this reporting, officials in Pima County have not offered their own detailed explanation or timetable for the original lab decision.

Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore told Fox News Digital that similar DNA-driven cases can take months, even when prioritised. She stressed that success often depends on persistence and luck, with investigators sometimes forced to make 'multiple attempts before they get the DNA' they need.

First Federal Charge Tied To Nancy Guthrie Ransom Messages

While the core kidnapping remains unsolved, the investigation has already produced its first criminal charge, and it concerns those unsettling ransom communications that flooded in as the family begged for Nancy's safe return.

When Guthrie vanished, multiple ransom notes and messages were sent to local media outlets and to TMZ. Both police and the family say they believe the majority were hoaxes. Savannah Guthrie herself has indicated her family thinks only two of the notes were probably genuine, with the rest considered fakes by those closest to the case.

One alleged hoaxer is now heading to trial. Derrick Callella, described as a Los Angeles-area resident, was arrested four days after Nancy's disappearance for texting members of the Guthrie family about a ransom note that will be paid via Bitcoin. KGUN 9 in Tucson reports that a federal jury trial has been scheduled at the courthouse in Tucson for 23 June.

According to the station, a grand jury indictment sets out how Callella allegedly sent two text messages on 4 February to two family members, asking: 'Did you get the 12 bitcoin? We're waiting on our end for the transaction.' Investigators say they later discovered he was acting as an imposter rather than any genuine intermediary.

The FBI has charged Callella via a criminal complaint with transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce and failing to disclose his identity, allegedly using a telecommunications device 'with the intent to abuse, threaten, or harass a person.'

In a pointed warning, FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Heith Janke said: 'To those imposters who are trying to take advantage and profit from this situation – we will investigate and ensure you are held accountable for your actions.'

Media Spotlight Keeps Nancy Guthrie Case Alive

Away from the legal filings, former FBI officials argue that something else is quietly reshaping the dynamics of the hunt for Nancy Guthrie: the fact that her daughter sits on a national television sofa every weekday morning.

Former FBI agent Jason Pack told Page Six that Savannah Guthrie's return to the Today show increases pressure on whoever is behind the abduction.

In his view, 'every day that passes the pressure builds', and the effort of keeping a secret of this magnitude is 'exhausting' for those involved. He contrasted the Guthrie case with more typical kidnappings, where perpetrators 'count on the media moving on' and families fading from public view.

'This case is different,' he said. 'Savannah has a national platform and she shows up on it every single day. Every time a viewer sees her face, they think about her mother.'

Pack also pointed to the more than $1 million (£740,385) reward on offer and the 'full weight of FBI resources' focused on the case, describing a situation in which 'the walls are not just closing, but they are closing from every direction at once.'

'At some point, someone is going to have the courage to make that call,' he said. 'One phone call from someone who decides the reward money matters more than their silence is all it takes to bring law enforcement directly to their front door.'

Public Anger And Hope Keep Nancy Guthrie In View

As the search for Nancy Guthrie moved into day 88 on Wednesday 29 April, the official picture remained sparse. The vacuum has been filled, in part, by ordinary people who have adopted Guthrie's case as a kind of touchstone for their own frustration with unsolved disappearances.

On X, formerly Twitter, users shared a mix of anger, bewilderment and prayer.

One wrote that they wondered where Nancy was 'at about least once a week.' Another urged followers to 'say a prayer for Nancy Guthrie who we think is alive somewhere because we feel her living', asking God to 'free Nancy Guthrie so that we can see her again.'

Others were blunter with officials. When the Pima County Sheriff's Department posted routine updates about a road closure after a three-vehicle collision, replies quickly turned back to the missing 84-year-old.

'Yet no Nancy Guthrie... You guys need to get your ... together,' one account wrote. Another admitted they had 'really hoped for a Nancy Guthrie update' when they saw a fresh post from the department.

Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home near Tucson, Arizona, overnight between 31 January and 1 February. Nearly three months on, there is still no confirmed suspect, no publicly stated motive and no clear account of what happened to her in those missing hours.

The case has generated a stream of ransom notes, media speculation and forensic discussion without producing many firm answers about what happened between the night of 31 January and the following morning.

Investigators believe at least some of the messages sent after Guthrie vanished were fake, and the only criminal charge so far relates not to the alleged kidnapping itself but to an alleged attempt to exploit it.

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