Nancy Guthrie Cops Thought She Had ‘Wandered Off’ & Not Been Abducted

The Nancy Guthrie investigation was seemingly hampered from the start, as inexperienced officers presumed the 84-year-old had simply “wandered off,” it has been claimed.

In an interview with NewsNation’s senior national correspondent Brian Entin, a source said, “Speaking with some people, that actually know the intimate knowledge of this investigation, told me that there was a rush to judgment of what was happening at that scene, and it was that Nancy had somehow wandered off.”

“So they rushed to that judgment, stayed with that judgment, and then ran this investigation as if it were a search-and-rescue issue, as opposed to a possible criminal issue,” the source added.

Nancy, the mother of Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since January 31, when police believe she was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Since then, investigators have released doorbell camera footage of a masked suspect and shared a description of the potential abductor. No suspects have been named.

The supervisor who first responded to Nancy Guthrie’s house had never investigated a homicide, according to an insider close to the investigation.

The full interview airs tonight on @NewsNation at 10pmET. pic.twitter.com/qRLLIib7zh

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) April 2, 2026

The source told Entin that the “people there on the scene were not tenured homicide detectives” and “didn’t have a lot of experience in homicide at that point, to include the supervisor, who, from my understanding, never investigated a homicide before being installed as the supervisor of the homicide unit.”

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When Entin questioned how the supervisor achieved such a position despite the inexperience, the source responded, “Well, see, you have decisions made by people that will install friends and people that can do stuff for them, as opposed to people that are there under merit and can do the job correctly.”

The source reiterated that based on those he’s talked to who are still in the know on this investigation, “there’s no direct suspect right now… No name on the table.” They also claimed there was “extremely low” morale surrounding Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

Entin asked the source what the police department could say to Savannah and her family to reassure them. The source answered, “Just because we have an incompetent lead doesn’t mean that we don’t care… that we don’t want Nancy to be brought home safely and that we’re not with her in this. We are completely with her and her family on this.”