Arizona sheriff blocks FBI access to evidence in Nancy Guthrie abduction, source says

[AZProgressive]

Jana Winter Reuters
Feb. 12, 2026, 8:02 p.m. MT

WASHINGTON — An Arizona sheriff is blocking FBI access to key evidence in the investigation into the abduction of U.S. television journalist Savannah Guthrie's mother, impairing its ability to assist in the probe, a U.S. law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told Reuters on Thursday.

The FBI asked Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos for physical evidence in the case, including a glove and DNA from the home of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, to be processed at the FBI's national crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, but Nanos has insisted instead on using a private lab in Florida, the official said.

Outsourcing forensic analysis to a Florida contractor, effectively denying the access of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to crucial evidence in the case, is delaying the FBI ability to assist in the case, according to the official.

A spokesperson for the sheriff did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request by email seeking comment.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2026/02/12/sheriff-blocks-fbi-access-to-nancy-guthrie-evidence-case/88653839007/

[Tetrachloride]

1. Curious

[mwmisses4289]

2. Well, the fbi brought on themselves with their shenanigans

into the cold blooded murders of Goode and Pretti. Why should any non fbi agency trust them anymore?

[PJMcK]

3. The sheriff is protecting the evidence

He knows— as we all know— that this FBI and its leadership cannot be trusted. This is probably the biggest crime case in Pima County's history and the sheriff wants to protect the investigation. After all, the whole world is watching.

The FBI, under Trump’s control, has demonstrated it is untrustworthy at best and possible criminally culpability. The sheriff probably suspects that if he turns over the evidence they’ll either spoil it making it unusable or it will just disappear.

It’s an embarrassing development that the FBI was one of the best investigatory agencies in the world but Trump has degraded it into a Keystone Kops farce.