Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is reportedly being accused of using the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Today host Savannah Guthrie’s mother to boost his ego.
Critics have reportedly alleged that Nanos has a “vendetta” against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as law enforcement continues searching for the 84-year-old woman who disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, the New York Post reported Thursday.
There are not yet any clear suspects or strong leads in the case, the outlet said, noting FBI officials want to take over the investigation but Guthrie’s family must make that request.
In the early stages of the investigation, Nanos participated in interviews and press briefings but has since been doing interviews with individual journalists, which resulted in conflicting reports and confusion, the Post article stated.
“It is a common belief in this agency that this case has become an ego case for Sheriff Nanos,” Sgt. Aaron Cross, who is president of the Pima County Deputies Organization, stated.
The Post said Nanos was appointed chief of the sheriff’s department in 2015 and not long after, the FBI began probing the department for misuse of civil asset forfeiture funds.
Savannah Guthrie appears on NBC’s “Today” show at Rockefeller Plaza on Thursday, June 15, 2023, in New York. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
“Nanos was never charged, but the sheriff at the time was indicted, and Nanos lost the subsequent 2016 election for sheriff,” the outlet said.
According to Cross, “It is widely believed he thinks the FBI cost him his election.”
In December 2024, Nanos was reelected by a slim margin following a recount, the Arizona Republic reported at the time.
“Nanos, a Democrat, led Republican Heather Lappin by 481 votes, less than 1% of the total votes cast in Pima County,” the outlet said. “The race generated controversy in its final stages after Nanos opted to suspend Lappin and another deputy who supported her. Lappin said it was a key factor.”
In regard to the Guthrie case, Nanos has pushed back on a claim he withheld physical evidence from the FBI, according to Breitbart News.
“The controversy erupted this week when a federal source inside the investigation told Reuters the sheriff blocked the FBI from accessing a glove and DNA found inside Guthrie’s Tucson, Arizona home and sent it for testing to a private lab in Florida instead of the bureau’s state-of-the art lab in Quantico, Virginia,” the outlet reported Friday.
The search for the elderly Guthrie is now in its third week as investigators hope for a break in the case, Yahoo! News reported Thursday.
“Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show cohost Savannah Guthrie, was last seen at around 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 31, when she was dropped off at her home by family members following dinner, police said. She was reported missing around noon the next day after she did not show up at a friend’s house to watch an online church service,” the article read.
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