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As questions mount about Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos’ handling of the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, two sources with knowledge of the department say his management decisions initially pulled the most experienced investigators off the case.
Only one detective had more than three years on the homicide squad at the time of Guthrie’s suspected abduction, the sources told Fox News Digital. The other five had less than two. The sergeant supervising them had been put in charge of the unit with only six months of experience as a sergeant and before he’d ever personally worked a homicide case.
There was another homicide detective with less than a year of experience, but he was transferred out.
Meanwhile, at least two seasoned homicide detectives had already been sidelined because they were not “favored” by Nanos’ leadership team, according to one of the sources. They were sent over to the cold case division.
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The sheriff later brought one of them into the Guthrie investigation after it went into a task force phase in late February. The task force, consisting of county detectives and FBI agents, is separate from the initial homicide squad assigned to the case.
Guthrie’s whereabouts remain unknown, and Nanos has publicly maintained optimism that she could still be alive, telling Fox News Digital previously that “anything’s possible.” Homicide detectives, however, have been part of the case since the first week.
The homicide sergeant’s apparent lack of experience is not necessarily a problem, either, according to Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and former professor of criminal justice.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“There are other experienced detectives that should be helping,” Giacalone told Fox News Digital. “But also, [Nanos] has two major cities within striking distance, Phoenix and Tucson, who he could’ve asked for some assistance to come in and share their experience and knowledge with his people.”
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Doing so would’ve been a sign of leadership, he said.
“A lack of experience can be overcome by mentorship and training,” he added.
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At the start of the search for Guthrie, the county deputies union blasted the sheriff for a staffing decision that allegedly delayed the flight of the sheriff’s high-tech search and rescue plane — with its pilot reassigned to regular street patrols.
“You have to understand, he terrorizes the entire department and makes examples out of anyone even perceived to be disloyal,” one of the sources said. “I know that sounds hyperbolic. It is not.”
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Although Guthrie’s whereabouts remain unknown after more than two months, Nanos said early on in the case that homicide detectives were involved in the case.
Separately, the county board of supervisors has hired outside legal counsel to guide them on how to respond to allegations that the sheriff perjured himself during a deposition in a First Amendment lawsuit brought against him by one of his own deputies.
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The board plans to bring Nanos into a hearing and demand he answers questions.
Guthrie is believed to have been taken from her home in the Catalina Foothills in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
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A trail of blood droplets led from her front door to the edge of her driveway, but law enforcement sources said there were no signs of a struggle inside.
Guthrie’s daughter, “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, revealed in her first televised interview since her mom’s disappearance that the back doors were propped open.
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DNA testing has so far not led to a publicly identified suspect or any arrests. Digital forensics recovered jarring surveillance images of a masked man at Guthrie’s front door on the morning of her abduction and overnight on Jan. 11.
The family is asking anyone with information on the case to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.
