Why Nancy Guthrie Cops Searched Searched Septic Tank – SWAT Expert Explains

The search for Savannah Guthrie‘s missing 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, continued on Sunday (February 8), with police searching a septic tank behind Nancy’s house in Tucson, Arizona.

As reported by the New York Post, drone footage captured three investigators opening a manhole cover behind the property on Sunday. The manhole is believed to lead to a septic tank. In the footage, the officers can be seen sticking a long pole into the sewer.

An official reason for the septic tank search hasn’t been provided; however, former SWAT team captain Josh Schirard told The Daily Mail why such a search would be necessary.

“A lot of people forget that having a septic tank means waste water doesn’t go into a city sewer, it goes into the tank,” Schirard explained. “So, somebody may have flushed something thinking that would get rid of it, but instead it would actually just be deposited in the septic tank.”

He continued, “It is a possibility that [investigators] are now trying to make sure that there’s nothing in there that could indicate any kind of guilt.”

Pima County authorities believe Nancy may have been abducted or kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on January 31. When deputies arrived at the residence, they discovered what they described as “concerning evidence,” and they are treating the home as a potential crime scene.

Police are also investigating an alleged ransom note received by TMZ, which offered to return Nancy in exchange for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. According to TMZ, the value of the Bitcoin demanded is in the “millions.”

On Saturday (February 7), Savannah and her siblings, sister Annie Guthrie, and brother Camron Guthrie, posted a new video in which they specifically addressed the potential captor.

“We received your message, and we understand,” Savannah said, adding, “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.”

Earlier on Saturday, officers were seen at Annie’s residence, taking photos inside her garage. Cops were also spotted leaving the property with a silver briefcase, which Schirard told the Daily Mail is a “Cellebrite case.”

“Cellebrite is a company that specializes in recovering digital forensic evidence,” he noted. “So we use Cellebrite pretty extensively to recover digital evidence from phones, devices, tablets, and computers.”

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Last week, former CNN and NewsNation journalist Ashleigh Banfield reported that Savannah’s brother-in-law and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, was a potential suspect. Speaking on her podcast, Drop Dead Serious, Banfield says she was told that authorities had seized a car belonging to Savannah’s sister, Annie.

She added that the source claimed there was some connection between the car and Annie’s husband, Cioni, who the police may be treating as a “prime suspect” in the case. Banfield made it clear that “these are just musings and not evidence,” while also noting that it’s normal for families to be vetted in cases of this nature.

The police have stated that they currently have no suspects or persons of interest identified in the case.