EXCLUSIVE: Inside Savannah Guthrie's Kidnapping Nightmare — And How Cops Bungled Missing Mom Investigation
Savannah Guthrie tragedy nightmare deepens as cops bungled kidnapping investigation case, new details.
Feb. 27 2026, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
Bumbling Pima County cops botched the investigation into the kidnapping of Today host Savannah Guthrie's elderly mom in Arizona – and mishandled the crime scene so egregiously the culprits may never face justice, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Law enforcement sources said police barricade tape surrounding 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie's home just north of Tucson was put up, taken down and then put up again days later – before finally being removed for good.
Evidence Compromised, Experts Warn
Chicago private eye Paul Huebl alleged Pima County cops mishandled Nancy Guthrie's crime scene.
Amid that chaos, two reporters are believed to have accessed the crime scene, and experts said the area has become "grossly contaminated."
Chicago cop turned Hollywood private eye Paul Huebl told RadarOnline.com, "These guys were really negligent, and it could make evidence admission very difficult at trial.
"And they were extremely slow to ask for outside help from the FBI. That could have made a big difference during the early hours of the case."
When asked on Feb. 5 about the alleged crime scene foul-up, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, a 40-year department veteran, responded: "I'll let the court worry about it."
But that wasn't his only mistake, critics said.
FBI Called in Too Late
Sheriff Chris Nanos said, 'I'll let the court worry about it,' when asked about the investigation.
As Huebl noted, the FBI didn't provide its expertise until Feb. 5 – days after Nancy was reported missing on Feb. 1 and her blood found at her doorstep.
Accounts have emerged alleging that Nanos didn't get an available search plane equipped with high-resolution thermal imaging cameras into the air for three crucial hours on the day she vanished because weeks earlier, he'd butted heads with the only deputy capable of flying the Cessna and had reassigned the officer to street patrol.
"That's, unfortunately, characteristic of what's happened to this entire department across the board under Nanos' leadership," said one fed-up Pima County Sheriff's deputy under the protection of anonymity.
"The most veteran investigator in homicide right now has three years' experience in that department because he keeps bullying people out."
Ex-Lieutenant Blasts Department Leadership
The FBI joined the search days after Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on Feb. 1.
Bob Krygier, a former Pima County Sheriff's lieutenant with 25 years of SWAT experience and one and a half years as the department's full-time SWAT commander, said, "I'm pissed off and sad… This is an organization in which I take pride. I care about its reputation. And I truly hate what it has become."
Nanos was also criticized for taking in a University of Arizona basketball game on Feb. 7 – the same day Savannah and her siblings, Annie and Camron, publicly pleaded for their mom's return.
Hours after the FBI shared photos of a masked man creeping outside Nancy's home, a delivery driver was briefly detained, questioned and released – and has proclaimed he's innocent.
But critics are calling the move another misstep in the heart-wrenching case.
Election Drama Haunts Sheriff
Bob Krygier criticized Chris Nanos as Savannah, Annie and Camron Guthrie pleaded for their mom's return.
Sources said the current controversy isn't the first for Nanos. During the sheriff's 2024 election bid – which he won by a mere 481 votes out of nearly half million ballots – outraged deputies stood on street corners with signs reading: "DEPUTIES DON'T WANT NANOS!"
One of those lawmen, Sgt. Aaron Cross, a department union leader, has sued the county, alleging Nanos suspended him for taking part in the protest while wearing civilian clothing resembling his official uniform.
Nanos also purportedly placed his election opponent, Heather Lappin – a lieutenant and 19-year sheriff's department veteran – on forced leave in the final weeks of the race.
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Department Calls Case 'Catastrophe'
Savannah Guthrie's mother has been missing for nearly a month now.
Lappin has since left the department and slapped the county with legal papers charging Nanos subjected her to a campaign of "torture" in the run-up to the election.
A source inside the Pima County Sheriff's office said the Guthrie case has been "a catastrophe" and a "national embarrassment" for the entire department.
"He's making us look bad," said the source.
"The rank and file hate this guy's guts, and now the whole country sees why – and it's a tragedy that it has to involve, by all accounts, a good and decent 84-year-old woman who happens to have a famous daughter. That's the real horror here."
