Reading Time: 2 minutes
Now that Nancy Guthrie has been missing for more than three months, the hope that she might eventually be found alive is greatly diminished.
And embattled FBI director Kash Patel has taken a lot of criticism for the fact that Nancy remains missing.
But he says it’s not his fault. In fact, Patel is now going scorched-earth on local law enforcement, blasting the Pima County Sheriff’s Department over how the high-profile case has been handled.
During a fiery interview on Sean Hannity’s podcast, Patel took direct aim at the department leading the investigation, making it clear he believes serious mistakes have been made along the way.
According to Patel, the handling of evidence has been a major sticking point — especially when it comes to DNA.
Patel griped that the DNA evidence was shipped to a private lab in Florida instead of to Quantico, which he calls “the best lab in the world.”
“We would have analyzed it within days,” he said.
That tension isn’t exactly coming out of nowhere.
As previously reported, the investigation into the disappearance of Guthrie — the 84-year-old mother of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie — has been plagued by questions about how key evidence has been handled.
Authorities have been working the case since February, after signs pointed to a possible abduction from Nancy’s Arizona home.
At the center of the controversy is the handling of crucial forensic evidence and the question whether those decisions slowed things down.
Patel clearly thinks it did.
In fact, his comments suggest the FBI has been ready and waiting to take a more active role, only to be held up by local decisions.
Meanwhile, the sheriff’s department has maintained that it’s been cooperating and making strategic choices about how to process evidence.
But Patel’s latest remarks signal that whatever coordination exists behind the scenes, it’s far from smooth.
And with no suspect identified and no resolution in sight, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Pima Country Sheriff Chris Nanos has yet to publicly respond to Patel’s allegations.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
