Nancy Guthrie Case: Retired SWAT Commander Explains Why Investigators Would Return to Her Tucson Home

After reports that the FBI recently returned to the Catalina Foothills neighborhood six months after Nancy Guthrie went missing, a retired Pima County Sheriff’s Department lieutenant explained several reasons why investigators would return to the area.

On Thursday (August 6), a neighbor told Fox News Digital that she saw FBI agents return to Nancy’s home to search the desert area surrounding the house. The sighting reportedly happened in late July, just days before the investigation hit its six-month mark on August 1.

A Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said that task force investigators had not returned to the neighborhood recently. However, the neighbor, who lives close to Nancy’s residence, claimed to have recognized faces from earlier law enforcement activity. The FBI has not publicly responded to the report.

Nancy, the 84-year-old mother of Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, went missing on February 1, when police believe she was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Investigators have released doorbell camera footage of a masked suspect and sent DNA for testing at the FBI lab in Quantico, but no suspects have been named publicly.

Bob Krygier, who worked for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and was a former SWAT commander, spoke to Fox News Digital about why investigators might have returned to the scene.

“There’s a couple of different reasons that go through my mind, first is going to be they got some leads, they got some new tips that are viable, and they’re out there looking for something specific or in an area specific to that, because I’m certain that they’ve searched those areas already,” he told the outlet.

Krygier said it could also be that, six months into the investigation, authorities want to put a fresh set of eyes on the case.

Another potential reason is related to the weather, specifically the monsoon season that recently hit Tucson and could have moved or exposed previously unseen evidence.

“About a month ago, monsoon season started here in Tucson, and a lot of water has come down — a lot of water at once, and it pushes things,” Krygier explained. “So it’s moved the environment. Rocks have been pushed away.”

He noted that the floodwaters can reach 12 feet and have enough force to wash away vehicles, trees, and people. “There was a report of a man in the wash floating down, being pushed downstream by the water,” Krygier said. “All that water, it’s rushing fast, and it’s taken not only the people, but it’s taken cars, it’s taken trees, branches, rocks, all of this stuff, and basically turned into a big blender.”

Last month, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos assured people that his department is “working hard every day with all our partners” and reiterated that, “This case is not cold.”