Union leader criticizes handling of Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigation
A Pima County deputies union president says the probe into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was hampered by inexperienced detectives, internal friction with the FBI and early family control of the crime scene.
A senior officer of the Pima County Deputies Organization said the investigation into the kidnapping of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mother of television host Savannah Guthrie, was compromised from the outset. The union president, Sgt. Aaron Cross, told a media outlet that the case was assigned to a sergeant who had only recently been promoted and lacked homicide experience, while the two most senior homicide detectives had been transferred out of the division.
Cross said the detectives who remained had three years or less of homicide work, describing them as “novice” murder detectives and noting that assigning such inexperienced staff to a high-profile kidnapping was “almost unheard of.” He also said there was “animosity” toward the FBI within the sheriff’s office, though he credited the federal agency with obtaining door-camera footage that captured an image of a masked suspect, calling it “the best piece of evidence we’ve had so far in this case.”
“Frankly, I’m not sure where we’d be now without it.”
Cross added that, to his knowledge, the investigation has not yielded significant new leads and suggested that Sheriff Chris Nanos and senior staff were attempting to solve the case “from behind a desk.” The Pima County Sheriff’s Office has not responded to requests for comment.