Nancy Guthrie’s eldest daughter Annie Guthrie’s car was towed early in the investigation. While the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has officially ruled out all members of the Guthrie family as suspects in their mother’s disappearance, Annie’s car has yet to be returned.
Questions are being raised as to why the car remains in the custody of authorities.
Former FBI Explains Why Annie Guthrie’s Car Hasn’t Been Returned
“There’s several reasons. I honestly can’t tell you why they haven’t done that already,” former FBI agent Steve Moore told News Nation’s Brian Entin on Thursday, March 12. “Frequently, you’ll get situations where you keep a vehicle for a long time to where the people are just pushing on you and knocking on your door and saying, ‘Where’s my car?’ But I have not had a problem in eventually getting those things back, especially when they are important to the person who is the owner.”
He went on to explain that oftentimes the FBI or investigating team will offer the owners a replacement car for the meantime so they are “not pushing the FBI to return it. So, the FBI is taking their time about it.”
“It takes manpower to go through all the processes of releasing it back to you, and maybe they are more interested in having that manpower working the cases,” he added.
Another option that the former agent floated was that the car has been “disassembled.”
“Maybe parts of it they don’t want to give back. Maybe they took the carpets out and don’t want to return the carpets,” he theorized. “This is not unusual at all. Say they did take the carpets out or a seat out or anything like that, then they would have sent it to the lab in Washington DC. So what’s happening now is maybe half the car’s in Quantico, Virginia.”
He added, “And it’s not just up to the FBI. The FBI can’t release evidence on a case until the United States Attorney’s Office has authorized the release of evidence that they might potentially want someday for trial.”
Nancy Guthrie Investigation Day 41
The 84-year-old mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing on February 1 after missing church. She was last seen the previous night at Annie’s home for a family dinner.
According to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, Guthrie was taken from her home against her will in the early morning hours of February 1.
