More than 60 days have passed since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie has disappeared from her home in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills in the early morning hours of February 1. Authorities believe she was abducted, but there has been no major breakthrough.
Early missteps and inexperience raises concerns in the investigation
In an interview with NewsNation’s senior national correspondent Brian Entin, a source familiar with the investigation revealed that officers at the scene made a critical early error that they assumed Nancy had simply wandered off rather than treating the situation as a potential crime.
“Speaking with some people that actually know the intimate knowledge of this investigation, told me that there was a rush to judgment of what was happening at that scene, and it was that Nancy had somehow wandered off,” the source told Entin.
“So they rushed to that judgment, stayed with that judgment, and then ran this investigation as if it were a search-and-rescue issue, as opposed to a possible criminal issue,” the source added.
Also Read: Nancy Guthrie update: Pima County’s Chris Nanos faces fresh accusations; ‘not tenured’
The source also raised concerns about the experience of those leading the investigation.
According to them, the officers at the scene “were not tenured homicide detectives” and “didn’t have a lot of experience in homicide at that point, to include the supervisor, who, from my understanding, never investigated a homicide before being installed as the supervisor of the homicide unit.”
When Brian Entin asked how someone like that ended up leading the unit, the source said, “Well, see, you have decisions made by people that will install friends and people that can do stuff for them, as opposed to people that are there under merit and can do the job correctly.”
The source also said morale in the department is “extremely low” around Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. They added that there is still “no direct suspect right now… No name on the table.”
Even with these concerns, the source said the team still cares about the case. “Just because we have an incompetent lead doesn’t mean that we don’t care… that we don’t want Nancy to be brought home safely and that we’re not with her in this. We are completely with her and her family on this,” they said.
Also Read: Nancy Guthrie update: Suspect used personal items for ‘evil f***ing plot’; new details emerge
Nancy Grace also raises questions
Speaking on Sean Hannity’s program, legal commentator and true crime broadcaster Nancy Grace strongly criticized the investigation and called for the sheriff to resign. She told Fox News that “By destroying the crime scene and by releasing the crime scene too early, they destroyed a lot of evidence,” she said.
She also pushed back on people using softer terms to describe what happened. “People called them ‘missteps,’ that is certainly putting perfume on the pig, isn’t it? That’s a euphemism, ‘missteps’ — they’re screw-ups. The feds wouldn’t have done that,” she said.
Will the case ever be solved?
Former Orange County prosecutor Matt Murphy said he believes the case will be solved one day but warned that it could take a long time unless someone comes forward with information. Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of Prof Jo Explains, he shared his thoughts.
“I think, eventually, they’re going to catch this guy,” Murphy said. “There’ll be answers. But it may take — I mean, I did cold cases that were 15, 20 years old sometimes, so, it’ll take a while. I think somebody’s gonna have to talk.”
