The investigation into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie continues into the eighth week after she was taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Law enforcement officers have been able to take DNA samples and other physical items into evidence as part of their investigations but have seemingly failed to make meaningful breakthroughs in the case.
According to one expert, the lack of progress in the case may well be due to the harsh environment in the area surrounding Guthrie’s home.
Sheryl McCollum Calls Terrain Around Nancy Guthrie’s Home ‘Unforgiving’
According to crime reporter and cold case investigator Sheryl McCollum, the local area around Nancy Guthrie’s residence may well be hampering the investigation. McCollum, who recently visited the location, explained that this may well be preventing law enforcement agents from being able to locate evidence or clues that might help them track the suspect or the victim.
“I mean, the plants can cut you,” McCollum said on NewsNation’s ‘Jesse Weber Live‘ segment. “There are rattlesnakes. There are bobcats. There are mountain lions. There are black bears. The ground is so hard, it’s like cement. There’s just rocks everywhere. And then you’ve got extreme heat.”
“I think when I looked at the just, it is vast and there’s a lot of danger there,” added McCollum. “But canines would have a limited time they could work. That’s the first thing that I thought about. It’s not like you can take these dogs out there for half a day. They wouldn’t be able to do it. But I think somebody, if they were to ride out in this desert, they could easily dispose of evidence and then get gone. They wouldn’t have to be out of the car more than 30 seconds.”
She continued, “We need boots on the ground. We need somebody to notice something small, maybe a bedroom slipper, maybe jewelry. We need somebody there on the ground looking, not up in a helicopter.”
Legal Expert Says FBI May Have Identified Suspect Several Weeks Ago
GettyLegal analyst Chad D. Cummings recently explained that the FBI may have already identified the suspect in the case. However, they may not have made this information public in order to protect the investigation and not alert the suspect that law enforcement knows who he is.
“This case, to date, has been theater and optics management: The gloves. The thumbnails. The doorbell footage held for a week. The cameras captured people on the property in the days before the abduction,” Cummings said.
He continued, “Each release followed the same pattern: wait for public criticism to crest, then feed the press a development that sounds significant but leads nowhere. The question is why. At least three possibilities exist, in my opinion, and none of them are comforting.”
He added that “the FBI identified the suspect weeks ago and is building a federal case that requires time, grand jury proceedings, and sealed indictments.”
“If so, Nanos is prevaricating when he says no suspect has been identified — though perhaps he is being kept in the dark — and the drip feed of dead-end evidence exists to buy the bureau time without alerting the target. I believe this is the most likely scenario,” explained Cummings.
