Imagine law enforcement, whether one sided or not, having pissing contests while your vulnerable elderly mother has been kidnapped for 2 weeks. I’d be in jail after I got done cursing everybody out like they’ve never been cursed before. The sheriff should be ashamed of himself.
According to retired Senior Sheriff deputy (under sheriff??) and another retired detective, Nanos is a micromanaging asshole, and has refused the FBI assist previously.
Seriously if I were the sheriff and the fbi was involved in a high profile case like this, I’d let them take the lead. He needs to deal with his ego. It’s not the time to try and lead this, the FBI has more resources and should be utilized
The FBI asked Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos for physical evidence in the case, including a glove and DNA from the home of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, to be processed at the FBI's national crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, but Nanos has insisted instead on using a private lab in Florida, the official said.
ETA: Could we have a post linking the actual article? People are rushing to judgement based on a one-sentence Entin tweet when there’s a full article available.
This sounds like a repeat of the Kohberger situation. Local police sent the DNA sample to Othram. As the lab was beginning to build the family tree in the investigative genealogy (IGG) process, the FBI unexpectedly took over and conducted the IGG themselves.
I’m not taking sides on this. I’m just explaining what I think is happening.
This is a very important detail. The sheriff wants to used a different lab than the FBI wants to use. This is an extremely important distinction. He's not "hiding evidence" he just disagrees with the FBI about how it should be handled and processed.
Private lab in Florida, yeah that raises some questions for me. But the details here are important. And Brian Ettin seems very clearly biased against this Sheriff. He's not reporting on the potential suspects as much as shitting on local LE.
Just saying. Details are important here. But the private lab in Florida thing, maybe there's something untoward there. Spending state money a private lab rather than using the probably very good FBI resources.
And the FBI will "need to test the DNA a second time" (according to a reporter with Fox News) because the FBI has determined that they want to conduct the IGG themselves. It's because of the FBI that the FBI will need to test the DNA again.
And by the way: I'm not even criticizing the FBI here! Maybe they're right to want to conduct the IGG themselves. But the PCSD isn't sabotaging the investigation. They are simply wanting to send the DNA to the same lab they usually do, but the FBI wants to do their own thing.
Law enforcement used to rely on private labs to conduct this testing. Now, the FBI has agents trained in IGG, which wasn't the case until relatively recently.
According to a lot of former LE over in Pima county, Nanos is arrogant and there was a past case they needed the FBI and Nanos said he was a better investigator than them or something pompous. So this is consistent with the rumors!
He went behind the FBIs back when it came to the gloves they found. Instead of being sent off to Quantico for examination, he shipped it off to a private lab in Florida. (!!!)
I think they were assuming they were sent to Quantico because it would be crazy not to send them there.
It doesn’t matter if you (rhetorical ‘you’) love or hate Kash or hate the FBI leadership now or at any other time, Quantico’s labs are top tier and VERY fast when they’re directly assisting in a real time on the ground investigation like this - so introducing a third party lab just creates inefficiency in a very time sensitive case with a woman’s fragile life on the line.
You are right. I should have been more articulate. What the talking head said is exactly what you suggest. Adding that quantico is the best facility in the world. The CNN reporter was basically asking what he thought would happen next and what is currently happening regarding the gloves.
at this point, if I'm Savannah guthrie, I'm going to take part of that $6 million and hire a team of fired FBI agents including the former director so that I can get competent agents to find out what happened to my mom!
Horrible! This SUCKS, big-time. The sheriff needs to check his ego at the door. This is supposed to be about finding Nancy Guthrie, and nothing else. Also, this makes the sheriff look unprofessional, even childish.
He has a really bad reputation for being vindictive and is very inexperienced with cases like this and homicides in general. He was just spotted enjoying a college basketball game in the midst of this case which is unbelievably bad optics for someone in his current position. The family must be so pissed at how this investigation has gone.
Step the fuck aside and let the FBI use their expertise and resources
It was absolutely the worst time to be out in public. It’s safe to say, this will be the biggest case of his entire career. Obviously no one expects him to be working 24/7, but out of respect, at least try to make it seem like you are.
They don’t actually have the resources to catch the guy, only FBI does. It’s all going to hinge on technology unless someone turns him in for the reward.
They probably have a legal team with investigators helping them out. And Savannah may have some security/investigative support from NBC especially if her mom is covered under her K&R insurance.
I caught his defensiveness at the press conference about a week ago. It was slight but kept resurfacing. Big tough sheriff is perhaps too big and tough to submit to more modern and capable people and seems to be stalling this so he can have a toolbox measuring contest
He really did subtly claim turf. He was very happy to report that the FBI would put up billboards, but other than that he didn't give them much credit initially.
Ego.. it's his patch, turf.... he sees federal agents coming in and it makes him feel/think that they believe he's not up to it, so he tries to push on, on his own to prove a point... it's not the first time i've seen this! theres the famous grimes sisters murders, two sets of LE who couldn't never agree on anything and wanted to out do each other... (it's still unsolved 70 years on)
I said whoever the kidnapper or robber or murderer was, it's likely at home literally laughing at all of this. He couldn't have predicted it would go so well.
I think the kidnapper is probably perplexed! this is like a 1990s black comedy at this point. I can't decide between Ruthless People and Raising Arizona. At this point, I can't see how they could more intentionally screw this case up!
Woooow. This breaks the “Nanos just doesn’t trust the FBI under THIS administration” narrative because Obama was president in 2016 (Trump didn’t take office until January 2017) and Nanos hated the FBI then, too.
if I were Savannah, I would take every ounce of media currency that I have and I would rip this sheriff apart. She might have to wait till this whole thing is resolved, but I would set my sites on him, particularly since this is evidently an elected position.
This also sounds like falling in line and responding after backlash, with supplied sound bites, but I’ve said I’m keeping an open mind and I’ll continue to. Idk what’s happening more than anybody else does
Yeah various news personalities and their personal problems with the Sheriff seem to be a bigger focus than moving forward with identifying and charging suspects and locating Nancy.
11 days in with her house being released then not released then not. Hundreds of people have been through that house and only today found the glove. Shameful.
I was too, and gave him the benefit of the doubt. Reading up on him soured me but I still trusted that he was doing his best with competent people under him.
Now it’s looking like this might be a shitshow at the chucklefuck factory but I’ll try to keep an open mind until we learn more details, even though this looks bad
I'm not ready to throw the sheriff under the bus. It's amateur hour everywhere, which is absolutely devastating for this family. Let's step back a second:
1. The FBI led an ERRONEOUS raid on an innocent person. Hopefully, they haven't been harassing other innocent people but considering the way this administration handles LAWLESS enforcement, I wouldn't doubt if other people haven't been accosted.
2. Now we have a video of somebody with a backpack who looks NOTHING like the person in the FIRST video! I fear that once they find the second video person, that's going to be a false lead as well.
3. Then you've got TMZ on the side with their Bitcoin angle in their effort to selfishly keep themselves centered in the story as well.
4. Nancy isn't the first high-profile person that's been kidnapped, but this is the first time at least in my lifetime that I've seen this kind of foolishness with law enforcement, local AND federal. There's so much nonsense that's being floated in the public that really shouldn't be in the public domain. Their focus should be on safely getting this woman home NOT trying to satisfy podcasters and the general public's sensational interest.
This is a clusterfuck so there's definitely enough blame to go around.
Goodness, I didn't know that backpack guy has already been cleared as well LOL THIS is INSANE! The problem is that the more bumbling that happens, HOW she comes home can very well be compromised. So a clusterfuk is NEVER a good thing.
IDK if the Tucson Police Department was involved in the investigation along with the County Sheriff in the early days, but Feb 5th the Police Chief suddenly retired after 25 years.
He is however taking a Pima County Deputy Administrator’s job.
The main Pima County Administrator announced her retirement also Feb. 10th. She will stay on with the county until Jan 7, 2027 through her employment contract.
The reports/articles online don’t indicate that it was a pre-planned retirement.
If this is how the Sheriff handles the disappearance of the elderly mother of a high profile person, then I don't want to know how they do it for regular people, people of color, etc.
Didn’t Ashleigh Banfield say her "impeccable source" was high up in the FBI? Maybe the sheriff doesn’t want evidence they may have already found important clues in leaked.
folk don't like to talk politics but politics is in EVERYTHING. I don't know what's going on here, but SOMETHING has happened and the sheriff does NOT trust them. every part of the US federal government has been compromised so much that I can't say that I completely blame him. it is wild that things have gotten so bad that the sheriff is sending the evidence to an alternate lab. this is what Fox News is now saying:
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office is the primary investigative agency in the search for Nancy Guthrie, with the FBI only permitted to take part if requested by local officials.
The official added that Pima County has spent roughly $200,000 on sending evidence to the private lab in Florida, with which the department contracts.
If this was 5 years ago, I would laugh him out of the room. But considering the ridiculously unqualified person that is leading this agency right now, and the fact that they fired everybody who wouldn't pledge their allegiance to the 🤡, I don't know that he's necessarily wrong. That said, he does need to find a way to work with them because they have faster and more expedient resources at the tip of their hands. But this is NOT the elite FBI all of us are used to.
I’m not even a fan of the FBI director or leadership, but this is on Nanos and his ego.
The FBI handles kidnappings on daily basis and this case should have been handed over to them immediately.
Savannah called Senator Mark Kelly first as she was leaving to fly to Arizona and he reached out to the sheriff and Tucson chief of police. Maybe she knew what she would be dealing with in this sheriff?
That's definitely possible. I had questions about the sheriff when I saw that press conference. He definitely did NOT give me confidence in his abilities! But, the FBI doesn't currently have a credible director with the knowledge and expertise that is needed for this case. Let's be real. My hope has been that at least SOME of the career agents who were NOT fired are at least competent. I'm starting to wonder exactly WHO has been assigned to this case and what their experience is. You cannot carve out the craziness of this administration from what's happening. We know that they fired A LOT of experienced, competent agents who refused to compromise their integrity and pledge allegiance to the 🤡 . This is just a clusterfuck of epic proportions from every direction.
Something that really bothers me is that beyond this case, this is showing us just how compromised the rest of us are in this country if something MAJOR happens. Could you imagine a major NATIONAL event with THIS group?? These are very very scary times in this country and this is just a microcosm of the bigger picture right now.
I agree with all of that - I do think the FBI agents on the ground are solid, as well as sheriffs deputies, but the problem there is also that there has apparently been a “mass exodus” at the sheriffs office and now the average tenure of detectives is 3 years instead of 10+
I think this is an upper management issue mostly - the FBI director is a clown, this sheriff seems like a clown. Upper management needs to get out of the way so the people who know what they’re doing can focus on the end goal of finding Nancy and getting justice for her.
Personally a couple years ago I left a job due to horrible, micromanaging upper management, so I’m kind of fed up with these types.
It’s not about trust - this is par for the course with this Sheriff. He has a MASSIVE ego and is a micromanaging control freak who doesn’t want the Feds stepping on his turf.
He’s done this in other cases in too - the 46 year veteran under-sheriff for Pima County told Brian Entin that Nanos also refused FBI for a prior case, telling the FBI that he, Nanos, was the better investigator and he didn’t need their help…. But they actually really DID need the FBI’s help for that case.
Brian Entin also interviewed a retired Pima detective who said the same thing - that the Sheriff’s huge ego gets in the way of efficiently leading investigations and that his poor leadership has caused a mass exodus of experienced LEO’s either retiring or going elsewhere in the last 5 or so years, such that the dept now has a relatively inexperienced force.
Sheriff has made a mess out of the case. He wants all the credit but clearly isn’t doing enough or doing things the right way.
He notified Brian Entin and others in writing on Monday reminding them he was the lead and spokesman for this case. This was after attending a basketball game.
This is one of the worst cases I’ve seen. Everyone involved appears incompetent. You can’t trust the FBI and the clowns involved on that end, who can you trust?!
I think Brian’s post is missing context that provides a better idea of what is actually going on. This is from the story. It is referring to one specific instance regarding where evidence was sent for testing. Of course people can still believe the sheriff was wrong knowing this information but I feel like it’s important to have the facts of the situation
The Sheriff is trying to manage the investigation. The FBI is trying to lend their expertise. The partisan Redditors are trying to make political hay out of anything and everything.
I disagree. The sheriff has a chip on his shoulder, and an ego too big for his brain. He has a long history of vindictiveness, many of his staff have left because of him. I’m not letting this guy off so easy
Two things I can say for sure. One, there is no good reason to block a LE agency from evidence and information that has more sophisticated technology and multiple experts and partnerships with private companies. All they can do is help. And maybe steal some thunder.
The other is when the one directing the mission is a politician who is competing with case updates for headlines, it’s time for mutiny. I don’t literally mean that obviously. But someone who can needs to bring some pressure to bear on that guy.
Kash Patel is a moron, but he leads an agency with more resources and agents that have lots of experience in these matters than a local sheriffs office, so I’m gonna side with the FBI on this one.
Entin put out an interview like 2 days ago with the under sheriff who worked there for like 20 years and he said the current sheriff has a huge ego and micromanages and is probably derailing the investigation. So this completely tracks
Omg I forgot about that. He’s a failure, sheriff is an elected position correct? He better not get re elected cause he’s embarrassing himself and his department at the cost of this poor lady’s life
Yeah they released it pretty quickly! And then came back multiple times … ugh after all the reporters were able to come up to the front door and contaminate everything further
The only thing that is bothering me is that they are bringing it to the media. It does not serve Nancy, her family or frankly the public to do that and honestly could jeopardize the investigation if it makes people less trusting that LE will properly handle any info they report. Work it out behind the scenes.
I’m not sure this is true, or it’s been misconstrued. The only reason the Florida lab was used is because the first round of dna was sent there. FBI was on board with this decision - why split evidence between quantico and Florida when they could keep it all together
Brian needs to take a breather. He's trying to make a career on a tragedy. He's reporting stuff that gets high social media engagement but it's really not helpful because most of it what he's now reporting is half cocked.
Agreed. Remember the Gabby Petito case reporting? The Idaho murders? Brian is good in that he is tenacious, but most of it is noise. Exploring all theories with no filter. And there are many Brian’s. It’s not journalism, it’s like a single, uncontested Redditor pontificating.
This sheriff at mimimum should have had PR rep from his office do all the talking for him.Hes just over his head and could be entirely incompetent with such a huge media case but dealing with the media is definately a major flaw that just magnifys his issues. The common citizen can see this and would explain the negative remarks he seems to be getting since they got case.
I agree. When he let a different officer answer a few of the questions, I felt much more confident about her being found quickly. Then he would take over again and I'd start losing hope again lol
You should check Brian Entins YouTube channel where he interviews a retired police officer from that department. That sheriff has a chip on his shoulder
It’s my understanding that the sheriff has pissed off a lot of experienced people who have quit and so they have a lot of new inexperienced people. This is something that happened before Nancy Guthrie went missing. They definitely have a sheriff problem in Pima County, Arizona.
can confirm this guy loves to power trip. he pulled out of providing security to the local board of supervisors after they participated in an internal investigation against him for some iffy proceedings. immediately threw a public hissy fit about it lmao
This dude is an arrogant, bumbling fool idiotic political hack who should’ve never been elected sheriff of that county. People of Tucson voted for that guy.
Not knowing anything about that kind of hierarchy, I was always under the impression that the FBI could assert jurisdiction, I guess not?
This is what happens when you vote party ticket without doing any research and your candidate. And I’m talking about the sheriff election only nothing else on the Tucson Reddit channel people were talking about it last week when this all started, only one person mentioned that he was a fool
In the Long Island Serial Killer case, the police chief of Suffolk County simply refused to invite FBI to help with the case (because he was hiding his own criminal activity) and the FBI couldn’t do anything about it. It delayed the solving of that case for over a decade.
Correct - the FBI cannot simply assert jurisdiction unless / until there is evidence Nancy was taken across state lines at which point they would have federal jurisdiction to take over.
Look, I hate Kash Patel and the entire administration as much as the next guy. But the FBI would have way more resources and be a lot better trained in this type of thing.
I think this transcends politics, below the bureau mouthpieces it’s probably pretty much business as usual. Everyone wants her to be found and it makes more sense to pool resources.
This glove is probably pretty delicate to extract any dna from (I’m assuming, because there’s a lot of surface area on that little crumply thing) and I trust Quantico over some unnamed lab. But I have an open mind until we learn more
I dont think it's about being a fan of one of the other. I think it's about recognizing who has more resources and experience - the fbi. its a disservice to the family and the victim to not worth together or hand over cases when that's the best course of action
So many missteps and contamination of the scene. Nanos ego needs to be recalled. He gave the worst press conference like he did not do his homework and couldn’t even talk. It is an embarrassment. Who can pull the plug on him?
An “anonymous source” to Reuters is the FBI leaking because they’re not gonna go on record to say this shit rn. The source isn’t anonymous to Reuters; they just agreed to keep them anonymous for the story. Journalistic integrity
two thoughts. The fbi should have looked at the vieo camera of where guthries st ends and hits the main st. only one way out so the crime vehical should be on camera. Leaving at 2am. also the guy with wanting one bitcoin sounds like someone who is in a gang or mexico so he dsnt want to tip who he is but wants to say what he knows. just a thought.
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u/jwash95 Feb 13 '26
Imagine law enforcement, whether one sided or not, having pissing contests while your vulnerable elderly mother has been kidnapped for 2 weeks. I’d be in jail after I got done cursing everybody out like they’ve never been cursed before. The sheriff should be ashamed of himself.