The Arizona sheriff investigating the abduction of NBC Today show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother pushed back Friday on an accusation he had withheld crucial forensic evidence from the FBI, as the search for the missing 84-year-old reached close to two weeks.
Chris Nanos, the Pima county sheriff leading the investigation in Tucson, has been accused of bypassing federal analysts, according to an unnamed source at the FBI who spoke to Reuters.
The sheriff reportedly sent the evidence in question to a private lab in Florida. It included DNA evidence and gloves recovered in a search close to the home just north-east of Tucson from where Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s mother, was reported missing on 1 February.
“It risks further slowing a case that grows more urgent by the minute,” the source said to Reuters, noting that a masked and gloved suspect captured on video and still images at the scene still eluded capture three days after the images were released to the public.
But on Friday, Nanos denied the report of tension between the investigating agencies. He told Tucson NBC News affiliate KVOA that multiple pairs of gloves were found during the search, and that he was trying to expedite the inquiry by sending them to the same facility that was already examining other evidence.
“Actually, the FBI just wanted to send [to their own lab] the one or two [gloves] they found by the crime scene, closest to it, mile, mile and a half,” he told the outlet.
He continued: “I said, ‘No, why do that? Let’s just send them all to where all the DNA exist, all the profiles and the markers exist.’ They agreed, makes sense.”
Splashes of blood on the front porch of the home were identified as matching Nancy Guthrie early on in the mysterious case that has traumatized the famous news anchor and gripped the public in the US and beyond.
The report of agency division, however, reflects growing frustration at the lack of progress in an intriguing investigation that on Friday entered its 13th day. Earlier this week, officials released a delivery driver they detained at a traffic stop about an hour south of Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills area close to Tucson and held for questioning overnight.
On Thursday, the FBI released new details about the man captured by a doorbell camera at the scene, and increased the reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction to $100,000. The suspect has an average build and is approximately 5ft 9in to 5ft 10in tall, according to a forensic analysis. He was seen with a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.
Detectives also turned their focus back to the Guthrie residence, briefly erecting a giant privacy tent over the doorstep where blood traces were found after she was reported missing by family members, ABC News reported on Friday.
The network said agents drove away in unmarked vehicles with a large pelican case labeled “video forensics”, and carried what it said appeared to be a laser measuring device.
In other developments, the Pima county sheriff’s office said on Thursday it had received more than 4,000 tips, from more than 13,000 overall, in the 24 hours since the FBI released the video and photographs of the suspect.
It also made a request for “any video showing vehicles, traffic, pedestrians, or suspicious activity” taken between 1 January and 2 February from an area roughly 2 sq miles in radius from the Guthrie residence.
Investigators have revealed little about a number of uncorroborated ransom notes received by several Arizona television stations, and the celebrity news website TMZ, demanding cryptocurrency for the release of Nancy Guthrie, or information about who kidnapped her.
Savannah Guthrie, who on Saturday said “we will pay”, has posted on social media a succession of videos appealing for help in finding her mother, and speaking of the “desperation” her family was experiencing.
The latest, posted on Thursday, featured clips of old home videos. Guthrie wrote: “Our lovely mom. We will never give up on her. Thank you for your prayers and hope.”
