The HUGE Mistakes Allegedly Made During Critical First 12 Hours Of Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance Explained!

Wait a minute…

Could the police have found Savannah Guthrie‘s mom already if these massive errors had not allegedly been made during the crucial early stages of the investigation into her disappearance?

As you know, law enforcement has been desperately searching for Nancy Guthrie ever since she went missing in Arizona on Sunday. Sadly, they have had no luck so far as they have no “solid leads.” And it is getting scarier by the second because the 84-year-old is without her medication, which could be fatal. Authorities also confirmed the blood splatter on her front steps is hers, so she is possibly injured — or worse, we hate to say. The first of the two deadlines in the unverified ransom note has passed, and the family has no way of contacting the alleged kidnapper(s), no matter how hard they try.

Related: Why Savannah’s Video To Mom’s Kidnappers Is So Important — According To Elizabeth Smart’s Dad

It is unimaginable what they are going through right now, and now there are sources who are pointing blame at the way Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has been handling the whole case.

According to Dailymail.com on Friday, multiple insiders alleged Nanos messed up during the critical first 12 hours of the search! For starters, and perhaps most importantly, they claim he did not deploy a vital search-and-rescue aircraft right after Nancy was reported missing by her family on Sunday!

What!?

Sources say there is an aircraft known as Survey 1 equipped with high-resolution thermal imaging cameras that can scan a large area of the desert. Sergeant Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Sheriff’s Deputies Association, told the outlet it is even “the most valuable law enforcement asset in southern Arizona.” So it is super helpful, especially while trying to search for someone who has vanished, right? But insiders claimed it remained on the tarmac for roughly half the day!

Just to give you a brief timeline…

Nancy was abducted from her home at around 2:00 a.m. on Sunday. She was reported missing shortly before noon when she never showed up at church. The aircraft supposedly didn’t take off right away! It remained grounded for almost half of the day after the report! And insiders claim the delay wasn’t due to mechanical issues or weather problems. No, they allege it all came down to staffing shortages that left the police department without qualified pilots to fly the plane – and they claim Nanos is to blame for the lack of people, too!

Cross, along with county GOP chairwoman Kathleen Winn, explained to Dailymail that the trained aviators who could have flown the aircraft were transferred out of the Air Operations Unit in recent weeks. One person was a 17-year veteran pilot who allegedly got reassigned for disciplinary reasons the week before Nancy disappeared. Another left in November 2025. Nanos reportedly never filled the open positions.

So, Survey 1 could not take off until around 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, long after the critical window for locating a missing person. And Winn thinks that if they had taken off sooner, they might have found Nancy already. She said:

“This left the department without a crew to respond to the search due to short staffing. If they had somebody who could fly that plane, they could have probably found her instantly if she was out in the desert. The most important, crucial hours and minutes right after someone is missing – we’ve lost those.”

OMG…

The department did launch a helicopter while waiting for Survey 1, but it lacks the sensors and thermal imaging technology the other aircraft has. Cops ultimately lost out on a lot of vital time by not having the necessary tools handy. Matt Heinz, a member of the Pima County Board of Supervisors and a physician, added:

“The initial few hours of any kind of search like this are absolutely crucial. So, not having every asset at disposal for the search within the first few hours — is that going to have an impact? I cannot be sure, but it certainly doesn’t look or sound good.”

And that wasn’t the only problem…

Other critics say there is a lot of dysfunction within the Pima County Sheriff’s Department due to years of poor leadership, retaliatory discipline, and collapsing morale. Cross claimed more than half of the county’s 195 patrol officers are currently on probation, which is “highly unusual” and indicative of staffing instability. FYI, Dailymail noted they could not verify that figure themselves. But an anonymous former sheriff’s department official echoed the accusations, saying that Nanos “leads by intimidation and coercion.” Yikes. The insider alleged:

“He belittles people. He screams at people. If you render an opinion contrary to his, you might be ostracized or transferred.”

The same official alleged that deputies and detectives have been pushed out or reassigned to unfamiliar units, leaving the department empty-handed when their expertise is desperately needed. Such as the Nancy Guthrie case. Winn shared that sources told her morale is low and staffing gaps in homicide and other investigative units “badly hampered the initial stages of the investigation” into Savannah’s mom’s disappearance.

But one of the most troubling mistakes made, other than the aircraft remaining grounded? The sheriff’s department returned Nancy’s home to the family on Tuesday, only to re-enter it the following day to collect more evidence. Apparently that’s a big no-no. Greg Rogers, a 30-year FBI veteran, warned that any evidence gathered during the second search may not be accepted in court:

“Once you let the family back in, almost anything they discover after that isn’t going to be admissible in court. It causes a real chain-of-custody issue with who touched what. A good defense counsel is going to be able to eviscerate anything.”

Uh oh! Not good!

At this time, Nanos has not addressed the alleged mistakes in the investigation, but he has some explaining to do to the family and the public now. What are your thoughts, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments.

A tip line has been set up: see HERE. The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie, and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.

[Image via Savannah Guthrie/Instagram, MEGA/WENN, The Hill/YouTube]