PHOENIX (AP) 鈥� Chris Nanos has had a long career in law enforcement, but he admits he isn’t used to the amount of scrutiny that has come with into the disappearance of 鈥淭oday鈥� show host Savannah Guthrie鈥檚 mother.
At news conferences since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie’s apparent abduction from her Tucson-area home, the soft-spoken sheriff of Pima County, Arizona, has tried to walk the line between keeping the public informed while withholding that only the person who took her would know. He’s acknowledged the approach sometimes falls short.
鈥淚鈥檓 not used to everyone hanging onto my every word and then holding me accountable for what I say,鈥� Nanos told reporters on the investigation’s third day.
With the case now , Nanos has also acknowledged missteps, including that he probably should have waited longer to relinquish Nancy Guthrie’s home to her family after his detectives finished combing through it for evidence. Before authorities resecured the scene, journalists had walked up to the front door to photograph blood droplets that the sheriff said were Guthrie鈥檚.
And critics, including a fellow Democrat, called him out for going to a University of Arizona basketball game last weekend while the victim was still missing.
鈥淭hat does not look good,鈥� said Dr. Matt Heinz, a Democrat who serves on the county鈥檚 government board. 鈥淚 mean, dude, watch the game at home. Read the room.鈥�
Responding to criticism, Nanos told the Green Valley 海角社区app that no one can work around the clock.
鈥滶ven though I want to, I can鈥檛, and to sit back and say, 鈥榃ell, it鈥檚 a bad image,鈥� I guess I鈥檓 going to have to live with that image. Because I got to a point where I needed to decompress a little bit and back away from my team a little bit so I鈥檓 not on them all the time,鈥� Nanos said.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen at home Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day. On Tuesday, authorities released surveillance videos of someone approaching her door wearing a gun holster, ski mask and a backpack, marking the first significant break in the case. The videos 鈥� less than a combined minute in length 鈥� gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside Guthrie鈥檚 home, but they don’t show or help determine whether she is still alive.
Soon after the images were released, authorities during a traffic stop south of Tucson. He was questioned and later released.
Nanos, a native of El Paso, Texas, started with the sheriff鈥檚 office as a detention officer in 1984 and steadily rose through the ranks to become second-in-command before being appointed sheriff in 2015 when his boss retired.
Before becoming sheriff, he took part in the investigation into one of Tucson’s biggest tragedies: the 2011 mass shooting outside of a grocery store that , including then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. At the time, Nanos was leading the agency鈥檚 criminal investigations division and, in the days after the attack, was quoted in news accounts as authorities were piecing together a timeline of the attacker鈥檚 movements.
As sheriff, Nanos has said his department won’t enforce federal immigration law amid and that he will use his limited resources to focus on local crime and other public safety issues.
Even so, days before Guthrie鈥檚 disappearance, Nanos鈥� office helped investigate an exchange of gunfire between federal agents near the U.S.-Mexico border and a man accused of being involved in a smuggling operation. Authorities say the man, who was shot, had fired at a federal helicopter.
After his appointment as sheriff, Nanos lost the 2016 race to Republican Mark Napier but defeated Napier in 2020. He squeaked by in his 2024 reelection campaign, defeating Republican Heather Lappin by 481 votes in a race that wasn’t without controversy.
Just weeks before Election Day, Lappin was placed on administrative leave from her job at the sheriff鈥檚 department. In a lawsuit, she alleged Nanos took the action to undermine her campaign for sheriff by raising ethical concerns about how she handled a reporter鈥檚 request to reimburse inmates for the costs of outgoing calls. Lappin denied wrongdoing.
Heinz, the county board member, said he thinks the late-in-the-campaign administrative action against Lappin likely affected the race’s outcome, given the narrow margin of victory.
As for the Guthrie investigation, Heinz said he understands how law enforcement leaders want to be transparent with the public about investigations. But he also said it鈥檚 鈥渆qually important not to get out there in front of a bunch of cameras and talk when there鈥檚 not really anything actionable or helpful or of interest.鈥�
Others haven’t been so quick to knock Nanos’ handling of the investigation.
Tom Morrissey, a retired chief U.S. marshal and former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, said he wouldn鈥檛 criticize Nanos, saying it can get complicated when trying to inform the public and still trying not to provide information that might help suspects.
鈥淭he perpetrator or perpetrators are watching what law enforcement is doing up close and personal, and it does impact their ability to avoid being discovered or arrested,鈥� Morrissey said.
In an interview Friday, Nanos acknowledged his annoyance with an Associated Press reporter鈥檚 questions about the case, saying he was being asked about an element of the investigation that was the FBI鈥檚 responsibility and questioned whether the journalist was trying to pit him against his federal partners.
He said he鈥檚 doing his best to solve the case and demurred when asked to assess how he has handled it.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to have people who think I鈥檓 doing a good job, and I鈥檓 going to have people think I am doing a bad job,鈥� Nanos said. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 what we have elections for.鈥�
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Associated Press reporter Sejal Govindarao in Tucson contributed to this report.
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