Chris Nanos; Nancy Guthrie.
NEED TO KNOW
- Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told PEOPLE on Wednesday, May 13, that he believes his department is “doing a good job” handling the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case
- No suspects have been identified, and the 84-year-old’s whereabouts remain unknown more than three months after authorities believe she was taken from her Tucson, Ariz., home against her will
- Nanos also acknowledged that his department still has areas to improve that are unrelated to the Guthrie case after the Pima County Board of Supervisors declined to remove him from office
The Arizona sheriff whose department, along with the FBI, is investigating the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie said he believes his team is “doing a good job” on the case.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has been in the spotlight since the 84-year-old mother of journalist Savannah Guthrie was reported missing on Feb. 1. Authorities believe she was kidnapped from her Tucson, Ariz., home in the early morning hours by a masked man seen in surveillance footage who appeared to be tampering with her doorbell camera.
Though no suspects have been identified more than three months later, and Nancy’s whereabouts remain unknown, Nanos told PEOPLE on Wednesday, May 13, that he remains confident the case will be solved.
“My team, I’ve said all along, they’re gonna solve this,” Nanos said. “I fully, 100% believe that.”
Nanos also addressed the Pima County Board of Supervisors’ decision on Tuesday, May 12, not to remove him from office, saying his department still has areas to improve that are unrelated to the Guthrie case.
“I listened to the board, I agree, and they said the department, it was a mess,” he told PEOPLE. “And sometimes you have to just sit back and listen. That’s my job. I plan to get ahold of my department. It’s just that this has gone on for quite some time.”
Nanos also said the department has been “divided quite a bit” since the previous sheriff’s tenure, adding that he intends to address the internal issues moving forward.
“As the sheriff — it’s my job, not my employees, not my labor groups — it’s my job to find a resolution and, and fix the divisiveness within my department. Nobody else’s. So this week, I’ll sit down with my executive team and we’ll be talking to the labor groups and see what it is we can do to move forward to get beyond this divisiveness.”
As for the Nancy Guthrie case, Nanos said he hopes the “mixed DNA evidence” recovered from the scene — along with existing leads and tips — will help federal investigators identify a suspect, though he acknowledged the challenges of analyzing DNA from more than two people.
“I think we’re getting closer,” he said.
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A $100,000 reward has been offered by the FBI for any information leading to Nancy’s recovery or an arrest in the case. Savannah and her family have since offered an increased $1 million reward.
Anyone with information about Nancy’s disappearance is asked to please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
