Embattled Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos is under fire for locking down the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s abduction — limiting all decisions to just himself and two senior officers, according to a new report.
Nanos — who has also also faced intense scrutiny for sidelining the FBI — is only allowing Chief Jesus Lopez and Captain Juan Carlos Navarro control over the hunt for “Today” host Savannah Guthrie’s missing 84-year-old mother, law enforcement sources told the Daily Mail.
“He will only let himself or two of his handpicked staffers make decisions on the case,” one insider said.
“Everybody else is being told what to do, no one else has a say so or an opinion. It’s just three men making decisions. It’s incredibly unusual to do that, when you have so many people working together and the FBI are involved,” they added.
“It’s limited to the thought process of three men. They keep everything from the FBI – they just aren’t sharing.”
The source ripped Nanos as “pompous” and said he is more focused on being in the “spotlight” rather than finding Nancy.
Lopez serves as the department’s second-in-command, overseeing daily operations, while Navarro, a senior command officer, supervises major case and investigative strategy, the outlet reported.
A second law enforcement source told the outlet that it is “highly unusual” not to have an experienced detective leading the probe on the ground.
“So no actual detectives are steering this, just command staff. This is highly unusual. Normally an experienced detective would steer it and provide updates through the chain of command,” the insider explained.
“To be fair, it’s typical to keep key details under tight wraps as we saw in the Idaho case. What is unusual is command driving the investigation. It’s the tail wagging the dog.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nancy hasn’t been seen since Jan. 31 around 9:45 p.m., when her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, dropped her off at her Tucson home after a dinner with his wife, Savannah’s sister, Annie.
She was reported missing the next day when she failed to show up for church. Soon after, police launched a criminal investigation.
Authorities have not identified any suspects behind the kidnapping, in which the elderly grandmother seems to have been forced from her home, leaving a trail of blood behind.
The FBI released a description of an armed person caught on Nancy’s Nest camera lurking at her front door.
The suspect is a man, approximately 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall and has an average build, according to the feds.
