The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is disputing claims that the FBI was kept from being involved in the Nancy Guthrie investigation for four days, possibly compromising crucial evidence in the case.
On July 23, FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital that the delay from local authorities may have resulted in the loss of video evidence from Guthrie’s Google Nest home security camera.
Because Guthrie did not have a cloud subscription, footage from her camera was automatically deleted to make space for new surveillance recordings.
Patel said he called leadership at Google to ask if investigators could access the cached video, where footage from Guthrie’s security camera was stored.
Investigators were able to recover some footage and photos which authorities released to the public on Feb. 10, showing a masked suspect at Guthrie’s door.
But if there was any more evidence, Patel said, it was lost before the FBI could gain access to it.
"We were looking for the needle of all needles in all haystacks, because since she didn't pay for [the cloud], they didn't record that data," Patel told Fox. "But there was a chance that it was located in their cache just before it was being deleted."
Patel had previously accused Pima County authorities of delaying the FBI’s involvement in the case on an episode of conservative commentator Sean Hannity’s podcast in May.
In a statement to AZPM, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department stated that the FBI was plugged in the night of Guthrie’s disappearance, and that claiming otherwise is inaccurate.
The Sheriff’s Department also pointed to a press conference that was held the following Monday, Feb. 2, one day after Guthrie was reported missing, in which FBI officials from Tucson and Phoenix were present and spoke.
The 84-year-old mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing on Sunday, Feb. 1. She was [last seen] by her family on Saturday, Jan. 31, after being dropped off at her home in the Catalina Foothills after dinner.
Details from a ransom notes that were sent to media outlets days after Guthrie’s disappearance were publicly disclosed this week by former Arizona Family reporter Briana Whitney on the true crime podcast Crime Junkie.
The FBI declined AZPM’s request for comment regarding any concerns that those details could affect the ongoing investigation or future prosecution.
The investigation into Guthrie’s disappearance remains active and ongoing.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department encourages anyone with credible information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or 88-CRIME.
