Federal investigators were reportedly left waiting 11 weeks for key DNA evidence in the Nancy Guthrie case after local police in Arizona did not place a crucial hair sample on an FBI plane bound for the Bureau's lab in Quantico, panellists said at a CrimeCon event in Las Vegas on Saturday. The case, involving the January disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, is now in its fourth month with no arrest.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on 31 January, when a family member dropped her at her home in Tucson's Catalina Foothills after dinner. She was reported missing around midday the following day after failing to arrive at a friend's home to watch a church service online. The Pima County Sheriff's Office has treated the case as a kidnapping, released doorbell footage of a masked, armed figure outside the property and said it expects to make an arrest, but no suspect has been named publicly.
CrimeCon Panel Raises Questions
At CrimeCon, the true crime convention in Las Vegas, Fox News reporter Michael Ruiz told the audience he had received fresh information about the investigation just minutes before taking the stage. He said a federal source had told him officials were now discussing the use of new investigative tools, although he did not specify what those tools might be.
Defence attorney Donna Rotunno, who also appeared on the panel, said she had been told Savannah Guthrie has spent $500,000 (£394,000) of her own money on private investigators. Savannah Guthrie's representatives have not confirmed that figure. Rotunno said it suggested the family was not satisfied with the pace or direction of the official inquiry.
Fox News Digital's Michael Ruiz on the Nancy Guthrie case: Feds are discussing bringing new tech tools into the investigation, according to sources.
— Fox Nation (@foxnation) May 30, 2026
More than 100 days after Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, the search continues. @PaulDMauro @Donnarotunno, @JoshuaRitterESQ, and… pic.twitter.com/QWXCfzctMM
Rotunno argued that investigators initially treated the case as a routine missing person file rather than a likely abduction requiring urgent and careful evidence gathering. She said officers did not approach the scene with the right mindset in the early stages, and that they failed to collect certain items and did not properly secure Nancy's home in the crucial early hours. The Pima County Sheriff's Office has not responded to those specific claims.
Ruiz backed up that account with his own experience, saying he was able to walk right up to the front door. Former NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro said such mistakes could prove damaging if the case ever reaches court, arguing that a poorly controlled scene and delayed evidence collection would give defence lawyers room to challenge the chain of custody and the reliability of forensic findings.
DNA Delay Draws Scrutiny
One alleged misstep drew particular criticism during the panel discussion. Mauro said a hair found inside the home, viewed as a potentially important clue, was kept within the orbit of the Pima County Sheriff's Office and sent to a private lab in Florida for DNA analysis rather than being passed immediately to the FBI laboratory in Quantico.
'It looks to me like they were not cooperating,' Mauro said. 'The DNA should have gone right to the FBI.'
He also said the FBI had dispatched a plane to collect the hair and transport it to Virginia, but that federal agents still did not gain access to the sample for 11 weeks. There has been no full public chronology from either agency explaining exactly when the evidence was seized, moved or tested, so those claims remain unconfirmed.
The Pima County Sheriff's Office has previously defended its evidence handling, saying decisions about where to send material were made on operational grounds. It has also said the FBI was notified early and that federal task force members were working alongside local officers at the scene. The department had not issued a specific response on the hair sample at the time of publication.
Statement from Sheriff Chris Nanos: pic.twitter.com/slujYQbncO
— Pima County Sheriff's Department (@PimaSheriff) May 5, 2026
Ransom Notes Scrutinised
The panel also discussed a series of supposed ransom notes linked to the disappearance, including at least one that emerged through TMZ. Investigator Josh Ritter said he did not believe whoever sent the notes was the genuine kidnapper. He said the involvement of TMZ suggested attention-seeking rather than an authentic ransom demand.
Ritter and the other panellists said the messages lacked the urgency, clear demands and proof-of-life elements usually seen in genuine ransom communications. Law enforcement has not confirmed how many notes it has received, who wrote them or how seriously they are being treated.
More than 100 days after Nancy Guthrie vanished, her family is still funding its own search for answers, local and federal agencies are still contesting the process in public, and one piece of physical evidence reportedly sat in limbo for nearly three months before reaching the country's best-resourced forensic lab.
