Under Fire Sheriff leading Nancy Guthrie Search Hits Back at 'Haters' Accusing him of Botching Investigation and Declares 'Nobody' has been Cleared in Case
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has blasted critics accusing him of botching the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's abduction.
Feb. 16 2026, Published 8:18 a.m. ET
The under fire sheriff leading the search for Nancy Guthrie has hit back at "haters" accusing him of botching the investigation into the 84-year-old's disappearance.
RadarOnline.com can reveal critics of Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos believe the crime scene outside Nancy's porch was released too early.
Standing By Controversial Decision To Release Crime Scene
Nanos is confident he gave cops enough time to sweep Savannah Guthrie's mom's house before releasing it.
The move allowed media crews — including Arizona's Family News — to walk directly to the front door and capture video of what Nanos described as blood droplets before federal investigators had an opportunity to revisit the scene.
Nanos reasons by saying he’s confident his officers made a thorough sweep of Guthrie's home and her yard well before the FBI came and decided to re-seal the home.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, he said: "My officers were there for almost 20 hours, and they processed their scene, got it done, and brought in all the evidence.
"Then the FBI came and did their thing."
Why Abuse Won't Impact Him — And Secret Family Trauma
Nanos admitted he has a thick skin and won't be letting critics get to him.
He then went on to laud his thick skin, revealing that the day after Nancy was reported missing and the media began to descend on Tucson, his own brother died.
Nanos added his brother's death may have been a factor why he was sensitive to a lot of the early allegations and accusations online focusing on Tommaso Cioni, 50, who is married to Nancy's daughter, Annie.
He explained: "People out there can get pretty ugly and mean and nasty and not have the facts.
"I tell my journalists, you guys need to be a little more responsible… because that's just really nasty stuff."
Nanos maintains that "nobody," has been cleared in the case, including workers at Guthrie's home, the people who were recently the subject of two separate SWAT raids — and presumably family members.
Keeping In Close Contact With Savannah
Nanos says he remains in close contact with Savannah in search for her missing mom.
He added: "I stay in touch with them, mostly Savannah. I've not been in touch with Tommaso or Annie too much.
"I have talked to them a little bit, but I know the investigators are in touch with them. But I've really told people, this is a lot of stress.
"If he (Tommaso Cioni) is guilty, if he's the one who did it, and we're able to prove that, then at that time jump on it but don't come out of nowhere with this.
"I understand the pundits are out there. They're gonna say, well, he's the last one to see her alive. We understand that stuff.
"But, my goodness, you're putting a mark on somebody who could be completely innocent. And more important than that, he's family."
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Tommasso Cioni, the husband of Nancy's daughter Annie, was allegedly the last member of family to see missing mom.
It's also why, Nanos said, he will not specify who was with Nancy when she was driven home from Cioni and Annie Guthrie's home after going to their house — which is about 10 minutes away — for dinner and a game night.
Some early reports identified Cioni as the last person to see her when she was dropped off at her home at 9:48pm on January 31.
Nanos admitted that the wording on that aspect of the investigation was changed to just "family," in that "family drove her home" to deflect from the overwhelming rumors online.
"We know who it is, but… when we saw everybody was attacking everybody and saying it's this we just thought, you know what? We'll say it was family."
