Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother ofTodayshow host Savannah Guthrie, remains unaccounted for in Arizona nearly 100 days after she vanished from her home in Tucson's Catalina Foothills, as pressure mounts on Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos and local officials publicly demand that the case be handed to the FBI.
Nancy disappeared from her suburban home earlier this year, sparking an intensive local search and a swirl of unanswered questions about who might have taken the 78‑year‑old and where she could be now. Authorities have released few substantive details about the investigation. There has been no confirmed suspect, no clear motive and no indication of where Guthrie might be, leaving both investigators and the community facing what increasingly looks like a stalled case.
That sense of drift has now tipped into open political confrontation. On Thursday 7 May, two members of the five‑person Pima County Board of Supervisors broke ranks with the sheriff in unusually blunt terms, saying they had lost confidence in Nanos's handling of the Nancy investigation and, if necessary, were prepared to try to force him from office.
In a fresh interview, Supervisor Dr. Matt Heinz, a Democrat, and the board's sole Republican, Steve Christy, accused Nanos of failing to cooperate fully with their scrutiny of the case, specifically by not providing testimony under oath when requested.
'He's already failed that request. The timeline for him to provide that is over,' Christy said, arguing that the sheriff had missed his chance to satisfy the board's demands. 'So there's no going back... It's too late for that. So we're into the next phase of if he doesn't resign, then we will move toward, or at least two of us on the board will move toward, vacating his office.'
The language is stark, especially given the context. This is not a routine budget dispute or a partisan quarrel over policy. It is a missing‑person case with national attention because of Savannah's prominence, and a county sheriff being told, effectively, that his job is now on the line.
Beyond the personal clash with Nanos, both Heinz and Christy are pushing for a shift in who leads the hunt for Nancy. Heinz argued that the sheriff should already have invited federal agents to take charge.
Heinz said therefusal so far to bring in the FBIwas 'ridiculous,' suggesting that 'almost every other local jurisdiction would have done so by now.' In his view, major cities with deep investigative resources may hold back, but smaller or mid‑sized jurisdictions often lean on the bureau in complex, high‑profile disappearances.
Human bones found near Nancy Guthrie's home - but police make a quick rulinghttps://t.co/F4dgLauPFlpic.twitter.com/ZiZkA0KLFQ
'Actually, it usually happens within days because then the FBI covers the vast majority of the cost of the investigation instead of the county or city,' he said, adding that outside a handful of the largest US cities, 'any other jurisdiction would have asked for the FBI to take the lead.'
Source: International Business Times UK
