Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance has moved into its second week in Arizona, with the sheriff leading the investigation drawing scrutiny over how he communicates with the public as authorities pursue a lead. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has been at news conferences since the 84-year-old woman was taken from her Tucson-area home, trying to provide updates without disclosing investigative details that could help the person responsible, according to the sheriff and others familiar with law enforcement work.
Nanos said he was not accustomed to the level of attention on his every word, telling reporters on the investigation’s third day that he was “not used to everyone hanging onto my every word and then holding me accountable for what I say.” He has described efforts to balance what the public should know with what investigators have to keep back.
As the case entered its second week, Nanos also conceded that the approach sometimes fell short. He acknowledged a misstep involving when authorities released Nancy Guthrie’s home to her family after detectives finished combing through it for evidence. Before authorities resecured the scene, journalists had walked up to the front door to photograph blood droplets that the sheriff said were Guthrie’s, he said.
Nanos has also faced criticism for his own schedule during the investigation. A Democrat who serves on the county’s government board, Dr. Matt Heinz, called the timing of the sheriff’s attendance at a University of Arizona basketball game last weekend while the victim remained missing “does not look good,” saying, “I mean, dude, watch the game at home. Read the room.”
In response, Nanos told the Green Valley News that no one can work around the clock, adding that while he wanted to, he could not and that he had to decompress and step back from his team so he was not always on them. He said he reached a point where he needed to “back away from my team a little bit so I’m not on them all the time,” and that he would have to live with the image because he had to manage his department and his responsibilities.
Investigators say Nancy Guthrie was last seen at home Jan. 31 and reported missing the next day. On Tuesday, authorities released surveillance videos of someone approaching her door wearing a gun holster, ski mask and a backpack, describing the footage as the first significant break in the case. The videos, which investigators said are less than a combined minute in length, showed who was outside the home but did not show what happened to Guthrie or help determine whether she is still alive.
Soon after the video release, authorities detained a man during a traffic stop south of Tucson, questioned him and later released him, according to the account.
Nanos, a native of El Paso, Texas, joined the sheriff’s office as a detention officer in 1984 and moved through the ranks, becoming second-in-command before being appointed sheriff in 2015 after his boss retired. Before taking on the role of sheriff, he helped investigate the 2011 mass shooting outside a grocery store in Tucson that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords; he was quoted in news accounts during the early investigation as authorities pieced together a timeline of the attacker’s movements.
As sheriff, Nanos has said his department would not enforce federal immigration law amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown and that it would focus resources on local crime and other public safety issues. Days before Guthrie’s disappearance, Nanos’ office also helped investigate an exchange of gunfire between federal agents near the U.S.-Mexico border and a man accused of involvement in a smuggling operation; authorities said the man, who was shot, had fired at a federal helicopter.
The criticism of Nanos in the Guthrie probe has unfolded against a backdrop of local politics. Nanos lost the 2016 race to Republican Mark Napier but defeated Napier in 2020, and he won a narrow reelection in 2024, defeating Republican Heather Lappin by 481 votes. Just weeks before Election Day, Lappin was placed on administrative leave, and in a lawsuit she alleged Nanos took the action to undermine her campaign by raising ethical concerns about how she handled a reporter’s request to reimburse inmates for outgoing phone call costs; Lappin denied wrongdoing, according to the report. Heinz, the county board member, said he believes the administrative action likely affected the race’s outcome because of the narrow margin.
Even so, some critics of Nanos’ handling are not coming from within the opposition parties that challenge him electorally. Tom Morrissey, a retired chief U.S. marshal and former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, said he would not criticize Nanos, arguing the challenge is complex when law enforcement is trying to inform the public but also avoid giving information to suspects. “The perpetrator or perpetrators are watching what law enforcement is doing up close and personal, and it does impact their ability to avoid being discovered or arrested,” Morrissey said.
In the investigation itself, Nanos has also confronted questions from reporters about the scope of responsibility between local agencies and federal authorities. In an interview Friday, Nanos acknowledged annoyance with Associated Press reporter questions about a component of the case that he said was the FBI’s responsibility and he questioned whether the reporter was trying to pit him against federal partners. He said he was doing his best to solve the case, and he declined to assess how he has handled it, saying, “I’m going to have people who think I’m doing a good job, and I’m going to have people think I am doing a bad job,” before adding, “But that’s what we have elections for.”