One hundred days after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson-area home, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says his investigators believe they are closing in, though he offered no specifics to back the claim and acknowledged that key evidence remains hidden from the public.
Nanos made the comments in a People magazine interview published Wednesday, May 13, as the case passed a grim milestone with no arrest, no named suspect, and no confirmed whereabouts for the elderly mother of "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie. USA Today reported on the sheriff's remarks and the broader state of the investigation.
The question hanging over this case is no longer just what happened to Nancy Guthrie. It is whether the agency leading the search has the competence and credibility to find her.
In the People interview, Nanos pointed to ongoing DNA lab work as a reason for cautious optimism.
"Every day, our DNA labs are working with our investigators, and they're coming up with different ideas and different thoughts of how to help them make this DNA work for us."
He followed that with the line that generated the headline: "How can we do more with what we have? And so that's why I say it is, I think we're getting closer."
Nanos explained that his department's homicide division took the lead early because "they are the investigative unit in charge of missing person," and that search-and-rescue served as the "operational team that helps assist with these issues." He did not describe any breakthrough, name any suspect, or specify what new evidence, if any, supports his belief that progress is being made.
In a separate interview, Fox News reported that Nanos described recent developments as "really great" but again declined to elaborate. Fox News also noted that a private forensic lab in Florida sent a hair sample to the FBI for advanced analysis, a step that could help identify a suspect through DNA profiling or forensic genetic genealogy.
Nanos has been more forthcoming about what investigators are not sharing. In remarks to KOLD, the New York Post reported, the sheriff confirmed that undisclosed evidence exists in the case.
"Yes, absolutely there are. But it's not done because we got [to] keep it secret. It's done because we got to protect our case."
Nanos also told KOLD he believes "at some point in time, we will make an arrest on this case." That is a firm statement, but it comes without a timeline, without a named person of interest, and after more than three months of silence on hard details.
The sheriff's assurances arrive against a backdrop of serious questions about how his department handled the early days of the investigation. FBI Director Kash Patel previously said the Arizona sheriff locked federal agents out of the case for four critical days after Nancy Guthrie's disappearance was reported.
Law enforcement has confirmed several pieces of physical evidence. Blood found on Nancy Guthrie's porch belonged to her. DNA evidence recovered inside her home did not belong to her or anyone close to her. The FBI released images in February showing an armed person at her front door, apparently tampering with a security camera before she vanished.
None of that has produced an arrest. And a separate development on May 7, the discovery of a human bone roughly seven miles from Guthrie's house, turned out to be a dead end. The Tucson Police Department confirmed the bone was "prehistoric" in nature and unrelated to the case.
Nanos went further in comments reported by the Washington Examiner, saying investigators believe they know the motive behind Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping and think the abduction was targeted, though not with certainty.
"We believe we know why he did this. And we believe that it was targeted, but we can't, we're not 100% sure of that."
More alarming was his warning to the broader community: "Don't think for a minute that because it happened to the Guthrie family, you're safe." Nanos said the suspected kidnapper could "absolutely" strike again.
That is a remarkable admission from the lead law enforcement official. If the person responsible remains unidentified and at large, and if investigators believe he could act again, the urgency of the case extends well beyond one missing woman. Residents of the Catalina Foothills neighborhood, directly north of Tucson, are living with that reality every day.
The FBI has collected 10,000 hours of video related to the case, the Washington Examiner reported. The Guthrie family has offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to Nancy Guthrie's recovery.
Nanos is not speaking from a position of unchallenged authority. Pima County supervisors have invoked a removal statute against the sheriff over his handling of the Guthrie case and separate job-history allegations. A recall effort has also gained traction as public frustration has grown.
The friction between Nanos and federal investigators has been a recurring theme. A Pima County official reportedly said the sheriff rebuked her for sharing a case tip with the FBI, raising questions about whether turf battles slowed the search for answers.
Nanos has pushed back against critics before. But the pattern, delayed federal access, withheld evidence, no arrest after 100 days, and a suspect who may pose an ongoing threat, makes his latest round of optimism harder to take at face value.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen January 31. She was reported missing in February. Her daughter, Savannah Guthrie, stepped away from the "Today" show that same month and returned in April. On May 10, Mother's Day, the anchor posted a tribute on Instagram alongside a video compilation of family photos and clips.
"Mother, daughter, sister, Nonie, we miss you with every breath. We will never stop looking for you. We will never be at peace until we find you."
That plea from a daughter speaks louder than any sheriff's press conference. The Guthrie family has done what families in these situations always do: offered money, begged for tips, and waited. Meanwhile, the sheriff who faces a recall effort over his handling of the investigation asks the public to trust that progress is being made, without showing his work.
The case still has more holes than hard facts. No one has publicly identified the armed figure in the FBI-released surveillance images. The source of the unidentified DNA inside Nancy Guthrie's home has not been matched to a known individual. Investigators say they believe they know the motive but will not share it. They say they have evidence they will not disclose. They say they are closer but will not explain how.
At some point, "trust us" stops being a strategy and starts being an evasion. The residents of Pima County, and the Guthrie family, deserve more than optimistic interviews. They deserve results.
A hundred days is a long time for an 84-year-old woman to be missing. It is an even longer time for the people sworn to find her to have nothing public to show for it.
