FBI Director, Arizona Sheriff Dispute Roles in Nancy Guthrie Probe

TUCSON, Arizona — FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday accused Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos of keeping the FBI out of the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, for four days after she vanished from her home in the Tucson area.

Patel made the remarks during an appearance on the podcast 'Hang Out with Sean Hannity,' released on May 5, 2026. What do you need?

What can we do? And for four days, we were kept out of the investigation," Patel stated. Guthrie was reported missing around noon on February 1, 2026, after she failed to appear for virtual church services.

She had last been seen the previous night following dinner at her daughter's home in Tucson. Investigators believe she was targeted in her disappearance, according to Nanos. Patel also faulted the sheriff's department for sending DNA evidence from Guthrie's home to a private lab in Florida rather than the FBI's facility in Quantico, Virginia.

Blood found on her porch matched Guthrie's DNA, while mixed, partial DNA samples discovered inside the home have posed analysis challenges, Nanos has said. The Pima County Sheriff's office turned to genetic genealogy to examine those samples, but the lab reported difficulties. "We would have analyzed it within days and maybe gotten better information or more information.

Our lab’s just better than any other private lab out there," Patel told Hannity. He added that a plane was ready to transport the evidence to Quantico, emphasizing that the first 48 hours in a missing person case are the most critical. Nanos responded that evidence decisions on the scene were based on operational needs.

Once involved, the FBI recovered images from Guthrie's Google Nest doorbell camera depicting an armed, masked man outside her home the morning she disappeared. Guthrie lacked a subscription that would have preserved the video, so agents pulled the images from residual data on backend systems. Patel released the images on February 10, 2026, after working with Google to obtain them.

Patel described deploying hundreds of agents and intelligence staff to Phoenix and Tucson to assist with canvassing and remain on standby for the case, which falls under state and local jurisdiction. Nanos, who responded to the scene the night of Guthrie's disappearance, sat down for an interview in April 2026 to defend his department's handling of the probe.

He has faced criticism for clearing the home as a crime scene too quickly and not deploying resources like a search plane or cadaver dogs.

In a statement issued Tuesday night, May 5, 2026, Nanos disputed Patel's account, noting that a member of the FBI Task Force was notified and present at the scene that night, working alongside local law enforcement. "The FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family," Nanos stated.

He added that his department will continue working with the FBI and remains committed to a thorough, coordinated, and fact-based investigation.

Nanos further explained that the lab used by the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI Laboratory in Quantico have worked closely and continue to collaborate on evidence analysis. As of May 6, 2026, no suspects or persons of interest have been publicly named in the case.

Ninety-three days have passed since Guthrie vanished from her Catalina Foothills home in the early morning hours of February 1.