The mysterious disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie has haunted Arizona for nearly six months, and now the sheriff leading the search is firing back at FBI Director Kash Patel over explosive claims that federal agents were locked out of the case.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos didn’t hold back during a fiery appearance on “The Sharpe Exchange,” accusing the FBI director of being flat-out wrong about how the early days of the investigation unfolded.
“The concept or the representation that the FBI was held off… that’s not just even accurate. They were there day one just as my team was,” Nanos said.
The tension traces back to May, when Patel reportedly claimed the FBI was kept out of the investigation for four days — an accusation Nanos strongly disputes.
Nanos insisted his detectives jumped into action immediately after search and rescue teams realized what they had found.
“They immediately contacted the Violent Crime Task Force and their representatives were there. They processed that scene early the next day,” he added.
The sheriff went a step further, suggesting Patel may have been working with outdated or filtered information about the case.
“He certainly doesn’t owe me an explanation or a question or anything. He’s the director of the FBI,” Nanos said. “But when the information is put out there that’s not accurate, I think it hurts the case.”
Patel had earlier sounded off about the investigation during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s podcast, reportedly complaining that local authorities turned down the FBI’s help.
“What we, the FBI, do is say, ‘Hey, we’re here to help. What do you need?'” Patel said.
“What can we do? And for four days, we were kept out of the investigation.”
The FBI director also raised concerns about evidence being sent to a private lab in Florida rather than the FBI’s facility in Quantico, Virginia.
Patel claimed he even had a fixed-wing aircraft ready to move the evidence right away, but investigators chose to send it to Florida instead.
“We would have analyzed it within days and maybe gotten better information or more information. Our lab’s just better than any other private lab out there, and we didn’t get a chance to do that,” Patel said, according to reports.
He stressed that “the first 48 hours of anyone’s disappearance are the most critical.”
For its part, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has maintained that Nanos worked with the FBI “without delay” from the very beginning.
Nearly six months after Guthrie vanished, Nanos insists the case is far from cold.
He revealed that investigators are still combing through a mountain of evidence, including video footage being examined with the help of private corporations, and thousands of tips are still pouring in.
The sheriff also made a promise to Guthrie’s family, saying if they believe the matriarch is still alive, he shares that hope — but he admitted he would “absolutely” disclose it if investigators ever uncovered a burial site.
With tensions between local law enforcement and the FBI still simmering, and a family still waiting for answers, one big question remains: who is right about how this case was handled — and will the truth ever come to light?
