The sheriff overseeing the investigation into the suspected abduction of Nancy Guthrie blamed lab work, scientific protocols and the judicial process for delays in the investigation, which entered its fourth month Monday, in an interview with local media this week.
“It’s just not a detective goes out there, talks to somebody, and we can make an arrest,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told the Tucson-based KOLD-TV. “This is a very sensitive case, but what really makes it prolonged is we do rely on labs.”
Detectives have relied on lab work for DNA and digital testing in particular, he said.
Although the interview was published Monday, a spokesperson for Nanos’ office told Fox News Digital he sat down for it “several weeks ago.”
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“This is an active and ongoing investigation,” the spokesperson said. “Forensic analysis of DNA and video evidence remains underway. If and when there is a significant development in this case, it will be shared publicly.”
In a controversial move that stemmed from a public rift with the FBI, 11 weeks after he sent hair samples from Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills to a private genetics lab in Florida, they were forwarded to the bureau’s Quantico lab for more advanced testing. There were also early reports of mixed DNA samples, which are difficult to isolate, and ongoing digital forensic analysis.
“When you’re looking at those labs and the work they do, you have a science there, and science has rules that it has to go by,” Nanos said in his local news interview. “Even though it’s not — DNA they’ll tell you isn’t an exact science — it’s 99% plus. So it’s pretty close, but you still have to follow rules.”
In addition to scientific protocols, there are also rules for the judicial system, he said.
“If I were to say there’s a positive to this, it is that people are working, doing their best to stay within those rules so that they have that understanding that, look, nobody wants to arrest the wrong person,” he said. “We wanna make sure that DNA doesn’t just identify a suspect. It also exonerates those who are innocent.”
NANCY GUTHRIE CASE: SHERIFF NANOS SAYS ‘WE ARE’ CLOSER TO SOLVING 84-YEAR-OLD’S ABDUCTION
Although his office declined to answer questions about who outside the family may have been ruled out or remains a person of interest, Nanos told Fox News Digital last month that detectives were making progress in the case. However, no suspects have been publicly identified, no arrests have been made, and Guthrie’s whereabouts remain unknown.
“The sheriff needs to give us concrete answers on what is going on and what he is doing, not vague platitudes about the scientific process,” said RJ Dreiling, a California criminal defense attorney who is following the case.
“The Guthrie kidnapping has captivated the country — not just because of how well known Ms. Guthrie’s daughter is, but because if this loved and respected woman can be ripped out of her home, and we can’t find the person who did it,” Dreiling told Fox News Digital. “It makes us all wonder how safe are we all really?”
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While Nanos pointed to forensic testing as a reason for the slow pace of the investigation, federal sources familiar with the probe told Fox News Digital over the weekend that the FBI is discussing deploying new technological tools in the case.
Morgan Wright, the CEO and founder of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, said he believes the new tools are likely focused on one of three areas, all of them digital.
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“The solution to this case is going to be, I think, something technical, something that they come up with — new ways of analyzing data,” he told Fox News Digital. “I’m looking at the video, the video forensics, signals analysis, blockchain kind of stuff.”
The investigative genetic genealogy process remains ongoing, and could also crack the case, he said.
Guthrie is the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie.
There is a combined reward of over $1.2 million for information that cracks the case, which remains unclaimed.
The family is asking anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI. Anonymous tips can be called into Tucson’s 88-Crime hotline at 1-520-882-7463.
