Earlier this week, on June 1, marked the fourth month that Nancy Guthrie has been missing. The beloved 84-year-old grandmother is believed to have been abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in the early hours of the morning on February 1.
The public wants answers from law enforcement about what is being done to solve the case, and there has been finger-pointing about who is to blame for the lack of progress in Guthrie’s case.
FBI Director Kash Patel Shares Thoughts on Nancy Guthrie’s Case
GettyFBI Director Kash Patel gave an update in an interview with NewsNation on Thursday, June 4. He opened up about local law enforcement allegedly delaying the FBI’s involvement in the case. “We showed up immediately and offered our assistance. We were not let in for four days. And that’s their choice,” Patel said. “We offered our assistance to go test the DNA. And it’s up to them. They chose to use a private laboratory.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has faced criticism for its handling of the case, and this is not the first time that Patel has made remarks about it. However, in a statement to Us Weekly in May, the department claimed that the FBI was “promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family.”
“Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is aware of FBI Director Kash Patel’s recent interview and statement,” a spokesperson said. “Sheriff Nanos responded to the scene the night of the incident, providing immediate local leadership and oversight.”
They continued, “A member of the FBI Task Force was also notified and present at that scene, working alongside our personnel. The FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family. While the FBI Director was not on scene, coordination with the Bureau began without delay.”
Is Nancy Guthrie’s Case Cold?
GettyThe FBI released footage of the alleged suspect outside Guthrie’s home and urged the public to contact them if they had any information.“What the FBI is great at, what we did when we finally had access to the Ring doorbell camera, for example, we went to our partners at Google and we said, ‘Hey, we know that there wasn’t a paid subscription service, but let’s go look at the metadata and see if we can find a needle in a needle in a needle in a haystack,’” Patel said.
Despite the footage being widely circulated, there have been no major updates on Guthrie’s case in weeks, and some who follow the case are concerned that the trail has gone cold. But is Guthrie’s case cold?
Former FBI special agent Jason Pack answered this question in a June interview with Parade. “Four months in, cases like this don’t go cold; they go quiet,” Pack said. “That’s a very different thing. Investigators are still working, still following threads, and frankly still waiting on someone to make a mistake or a decision to come clean.”
He continued, “At four months, investigators are doing two things simultaneously. They’re going back to the beginning with fresh eyes, reexamining every piece of evidence, every interview, every tip that may have looked insignificant in the first weeks. And they’re watching. Watching finances, watching communications, watching behavior. Because four months is a long time to keep a secret, and people start to crack.”
There is still hope that Guthrie’s case could be solved, and that she could be returned home.
