FBI Director Claims Local Cops 'Kept Bureau Out' of Nancy Guthrie Search as Case Passes 100 Days

FBI Director Kash Patel has accused local investigators of keeping the bureau out of the early stages of the Nancy Guthrie case, as the 100-day mark passed with no public arrest, and Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said the investigation is still active.

The news came after Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen on 31 January at her Catalina Foothills home near Tucson, with family members reporting her missing the next day. Since then, the search has become a frustrating, highly visible tug-of-war, with federal and local authorities trading accounts of how the first days unfolded.

FBI Director Says Nancy Guthrie Case Was Closed To Agents At First

Speaking on the Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast on 6 May, Patel said his team was effectively shut out just when federal support could have mattered most.

'The first 48 hours of anyone's disappearance are the most critical,' he told host Sean Hannity. 'What we, the FBI, do is say, "Hey, we're here to help. What do you need? What can we do?" And for four days, we were kept out of the investigation.'

Patel framed his criticism around speed and access, arguing that early involvement often allows the bureau to secure digital records and physical evidence before they are lost. He highlighted his own role in liaising with tech companies, saying he personally called senior figures at Google to secure footage from Guthrie's Ring doorbell camera.

The video, released on 10 February, showed a figure in a mask and gloves, carrying a backpack, walking up to Guthrie's front door in the early hours of the morning she disappeared. Patel told Hannity 'that's why you have that image, because the FBI worked with Google to put that image out.'

He also questioned, albeit indirectly, the decision by Pima County detectives to send DNA samples gathered from Guthrie's home to a private laboratory in Florida rather than the FBI's own facility in Quantico, Virginia.

While he acknowledged it was a 'state and local matter, so it's their call,' he added that 'our lab's just better than any other private lab out there, and we didn't get the chance to do that.'

Patel suggested the FBI could have 'analysed it within days and maybe gotten better information or more information.'

Sheriff Chris Nanos Insists FBI Was 'Day One' On Nancy Guthrie

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has pushed back hard. In a written statement responding to Patel's comments, and in subsequent local interviews, he flatly rejected the suggestion that his office blocked the bureau.

Nanos said he responded to Guthrie's house on the night after she vanished and notified a member of the FBI task force at that point. 'The FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family,' his statement read. 'While the FBI Director was not on scene, coordination with the Bureau began without delay.'

In a separate television appearance, he was even more blunt. 'Day one, the FBI was involved in this case,' he told Tucson station KOLD, adding that agents 'continue to be involved in this case. Every single day.'

On the DNA issue, Nanos said the decision to use a private Florida laboratory was taken 'based on operational needs', and insisted it was not an either‑or choice.

According to his statement, the private lab and the FBI's facility 'have worked in close partnership from the outset and continue to collaborate' on the samples.

Nanos also defended the immediate response on the ground. He said aerial search operations began straight away. 'The plane was started immediately,' he told one interviewer. Search‑and‑rescue teams at the house, he added, found blood and 'realised it seemed suspicious. They did exactly what they were supposed to do.'

The sheriff has acknowledged public concern, but maintains that criticism of his detectives misunderstands how a complex case is put together. 'The sheriff doesn't do the investigation, his team does,' he said. 'There are several people dedicated to this team and they are the talent. Criticising those who are actually out there touching it, smelling it, handling it, doing the work — that's just absolutely shameful.'

Nancy Guthrie Search Turns On Video Clues And DNA

Away from the institutional spat, the search for Nancy Guthrie has become a grinding exercise in digital forensics and patient DNA work. Nanos describes 'thousands and thousands' of videos pulled from junction cameras, businesses and home security systems across the Tucson area. His detectives are cataloguing vehicles, routes and timestamps in the hope that, once a suspect is identified, they can work back through that archive.

'Maybe it's all the white trucks are over here, all the red sedans are over here,' he explained to People magazine. 'When you do find a suspect... "Oh, he drives a white truck. Were there any white trucks in the area at that time?" "Oh, John Doe has this cellphone number." You back up to those pieces of evidence that you gathered early on to try to make your case.'

Inside Guthrie's home, investigators collected mixed DNA that specialists are still trying to separate and attribute. 'We continue to work with our labs, whether it's on the digital end or the biological end, DNA,' Nanos said, accepting that the process 'moves at a snail's pace' for outsiders but insisting it is progressing 'exactly' as his team needs.

He has framed that caution as a safeguard against wrongful arrests. 'Nobody wants to make a false arrest. Nobody wants to falsely accuse somebody,' he told People. 'At some point in time, someday we may have somebody in a courtroom that deserves his or her right to have a fair and impartial trial. The way you get that is through a fair and impartial investigation.'

Savannah Guthrie's Plea For Answers As Nancy Case Drags On

For Savannah Guthrie and her family, patience is proving costly. On the first Mother's Day since her mother vanished, the Today host posted an emotional Instagram reel stitched from family photographs and clips, including one brief moment of Nancy Guthrie looking at the camera and saying, 'Miss you.'

In a March interview on Today, Savannah tried to balance respect for the detectives with the raw need for closure. 'People have worked tirelessly — tirelessly — and we see that,' she said. 'But we need answers. We cannot be at peace without knowing.'

Back in February, the FBI said it had already logged more than 13,000 tips linked to the case. Nanos says that flow continues, more than 100 days on, as callers report anything from odd behaviour in a neighbourhood to long‑delayed memories. 'We still get calls, we still get tips,' he said. 'We know somebody out there knows what happened here.'

At this stage, there is still no publicly named suspect, no charges and no clear account of what happened inside Nancy Guthrie's home, so much of the speculation swirling online remains unverified.

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today co‑host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen at about 9.45 p.m. on 31 January, when a family member dropped her back at her house in the Catalina Foothills after dinner. She was reported missing around midday the next day.

Investigators believe she was taken from her home against her will and, on 10 February, the FBI released doorbell footage of a masked, armed individual approaching her front door. No suspect or motive has been named, but a combined reward of about $1.2 million is on offer for information leading to her recovery.