The desperate high-profile hunt for abducted Nancy Guthrie is being handled by a sheriff’s team of just six homicide detectives who lack major case experience, the Daily Mail has been told by an insider.
Leading the assembled unit is an investigator with only two years of homicide time under his belt, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department source has revealed.
Meanwhile, the most experienced homicide sleuth on the team still has only three years working such cases, according to the insider who painted a picture of internal turmoil in the investigation.
The exclusive revelation comes as Sheriff Chris Nanos, who took time off to watch a college basketball game over the weekend revealed in an exclusive Daily Mail photo, is receiving continued criticism eight days after the kidnap of TV star Savannah Guthrie‘s 84-year-old mother from her $1million foothills home in Tucson, Arizona.
A week into the investigation he has not produced any suspects publicly, while two unverified ransom notes demanding millions in Bitcoin have been sent to media outlets.
And in a further sign of heartbreak and desperation around the case, NBC Today show co-host Savannah, 54, resorted to a second gut-wrenching video appeal to her mother’s abductors on Saturday, saying she will agree to pay a ransom.
‘The group that is tasked with this incredibly high-profile and critically urgent investigation is very small,’ said the sheriff’s department insider who is a veteran of the agency.
‘It’s six detectives from homicide – which is part of the violent crime section – and the overall case detective has less than two years in that specialism.
An insider told the Daily Mail that the hunt for kidnapped Nancy Guthrie is being run by a small sheriff’s team of just six homicide detectives with limited experience
A week after Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother was kidnapped from her $1 million Tucson home, Sheriff Chris Nanos faces criticism as no suspects are named and ransom notes demand millions in Bitcoin
Guthrie was abducted from the $1million home she has lived in for more than 50 years
‘They are working with federal agents. But in a well-functioning agency, it would be a very senior, highly experienced detective who would be running things.’
While Nanos is now coming under daily fire for the way he’s handling the case in public, the insider blamed the investigative disorder directly on the top lawman.
‘The irony is that experienced detectives are available to Nanos, but they’ve been thrown out of homicide,’ he said.
‘There are two extremely experienced veteran detectives that were assigned to cold case. And now they are hovering around the outside of this inner group.’
The source also pointed to the relative peace and calm of Tucson as now exposing the lack of experience for a case that is making national news every night.
‘This isn’t Los Angeles or New York, we don’t have hundreds of homicides a year,’ he said. ‘So it takes a long time for a homicide detective here to develop the necessary experience for big cases.
‘Nanos and his inner circle have created the situation where none of these detectives has worked many homicides or similar cases.
‘In fact, the current homicide sergeant has never worked a homicide as a detective in his life.
Pima County Sheriff blocks Nancy’s street as FBI conducts a new search at her home
The current homicide sergeant has never led a murder investigation, leaving the captain to run the case while the FBI takes an increasingly prominent role in the search
‘It’s got to the stage where the captain in charge of all the detectives is essentially steering this case because they don’t have enough experience inside the unit.’
At Friday’s press conference, the FBI played a central and apparently increasing role in answering questions.
Asked if the Feds were now effectively running the race-against-time to bring Nancy home safely, our source said: ‘That’s really hard to say. Everything is being played very close to the vest. It’s very hard to know who’s got their hands on the steering wheel.
‘I wish the Feds would take it over officially. It’s clear our leadership and this unit are way out over their skis on this one.’
Law enforcement has been back to Nancy’s home in the affluent Catalina Hills area three times to probe and remove items, including a wired camera from her roof, a blue Subaru SUV and a broken floodlight.
On Sunday they were seen searching the septic tank in the yard.
On every visit, they cordoned off the property with yellow tape then pulled it down leaving the uninhabited house unprotected each time.
That could have disastrous consequences for a prosecution if the kidnappers are brought to trial, the sheriff’s office insider said.
‘I mean, how many times have we given up the scene,’ he said. ‘They did the search warrant on Friday and then gave the house back.
Blood was spotted on the walkway of Nancy’s Tucson, Arizona home
Nancy’s Ring doorbell camera was also missing, though it is unclear whether it was removed prior to her disappearance
Law enforcement has gone to Nancy’s home three times to gather evidence, including a blue Subaru SUV
‘This means there is no chain of custody. So it’s going to be difficult in court if this ever goes to trial.
‘If you found some smoking gun inside the home on your third search, to say the chain of custody was maintained is impossible. No one is there watching the home.
‘Anyone could have walked up to the property, tampered with things, removed things. That leaves a potential defense counsel with room to navigate when you have repeatedly and consistently given up the scene.’
Savannah was flanked by former fighter pilot brother Camron, 61, and poet sister Annie, 56, during her emotional plea to her mother’s captors on the Saturday night video.
‘We received your message and we understand,’ she said. ‘We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her.
‘This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us and we will pay.’
The star did not offer details of any communication her family has received or demands that she has agreed to pay.
Savannah and her siblings had shared a video last week demanding ‘proof of life’ of their mother after news broke that ransom demands had been sent to TMZ and local TV station KOLD.
Savannah was joined by her brother Camron, 61, a former fighter pilot, and her sister Annie, 56, a poet, during a second emotional plea to her mother’s captors on Saturday night
The first video they released together asked her captors to show ‘proof of life’ for their mother
It is unclear if any proof of life has been made. But the morning co-host appeared to indicate her family believes it has been contacted by Nancy’s legitimate abductors.
Her second plea came as Sheriff Nanos took time off to watch a college basketball game, as revealed in an exclusive Daily Mail photo.
He had choked back tears publicly while saying ‘we’re going to find her’ while heading up the operation to rescue Nancy.
But as his detectives continued to grind through the weekend, he was seen in a khaki hoodie top amid spectators watching number one ranked Arizona Wildcats defeat Oklahoma State 47-84 at the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson.
Another sheriff’s office insider told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s tone deaf while Nancy is still out there’.
‘Everybody deserves, of course, their time off. It’s been a very stressful, hard, long week.
‘But given how hard detectives and search and rescue are working, including all the overtime they’re doing, it’s a poor decision and it doesn’t look good for the agency.
‘It just seems very odd given how emotional he was throughout the week during interviews, saying he believes she’s still alive and how desperate he is to find her.’
Her second plea came as Nanos, who had choked back tears pledging ‘we’re going to find her,’ took time off to watch the Arizona Wildcats basketball team defeat Oklahoma State
The biggest blunder has been failing to get the department’s high-tech two-seater Cessna into the air around Nancy’s home immediately after she was reported missing
A staffing shortage left the department without qualified pilots to fly the plane, a situation insiders directly blame on Sheriff Nanos
Part of Nanos’s problems have been his appearances at press conferences, particularly when he has been forced to walk back some earlier statements about the kidnapping.
In a press conference on Thursday he replied ‘my guesswork is as good as yours’ when asked about possible suspects.
The Daily Mail has already revealed how critical mistakes were made in the crucial first hours of the investigation, including being late to deploy a vital search-and-rescue aircraft.
The biggest bungle has been to get the department’s high-tech Cessna aircraft into the air around Nancy’s home immediately after she was reported missing.
The two-seater plane, equipped with high-resolution thermal imaging cameras capable of scanning vast swaths of desert terrain, remained on the tarmac for roughly half a day, sources close to the sheriff’s department told the Daily Mail.
There was a staffing shortage that left the department without qualified pilots to fly the plane – a shortage people familiar with the situation blamed directly on Nanos.
Nancy was reported missing shortly after 12pm on Sunday. By 12.15pm police arrived at her home, but the aircraft known as Survey 1 was not in the air until around 5pm that evening.
Matt Heinz, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, told the Daily Mail that failing to get the plane airborne may have cost investigators vital opportunities.
Matt Heinz of the Pima County Board of Supervisors told the Daily Mail that delays in getting the plane airborne may have cost investigators vital opportunities.
Sergeant Aaron Cross says transfers left the Air Operations Unit short-staffed, grounding what he calls ‘southern Arizona’s most valuable law enforcement asset’
‘The initial few hours of any kind of search like this are absolutely crucial,’ Heinz said.
Sergeant Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Sheriff’s Deputies Association, said that trained aviators who could have crewed the aircraft had been transferred out of the Air Operations Unit in recent weeks, creating the mess.
He described the plane as ‘the most valuable law enforcement asset in southern Arizona’.
One aviator switched was a 17-year veteran allegedly reassigned for disciplinary reasons the week before Nancy disappeared. Another had been moved out of the unit in November, 2025. Nanos did not fill the positions.