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FBI Director Kash Patel criticized local authorities for their handling of the Nancy Guthrie missing persons investigation, stating that his agency was initially kept “out of the loop.”
Patel voiced his criticism during an appearance on the “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” podcast that aired Tuesday. He said the FBI was sidelined by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for four days as time was of the essence in the first days of Guthrie’s disappearance.
“What we, the FBI, do is say, ‘Hey, we’re here to help. What do you need?’” Patel told Hannity. “What can we do? And for four days, we were kept out of the investigation.”
Additionally, instead of having DNA evidence taken to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., for testing, Nanos instead elected to have the samples shipped to a private lab in Florida.
ARIZONA SHERIFF BLOCKING FBI FROM KEY EVIDENCE IN ESCALATING GUTHRIE CASE: SOURCE
FBI Director Kash Patel criticized the handling of the Nancy Guthrie missing persons case by local authorities during an appearance on a podcast that aired Tuesday. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
“The first 48 hours of anyone’s disappearance are the most critical,” Patel said, noting that while local authorities had jurisdiction, the delay was costly. “We would have analyzed it within days and maybe gotten better information — more information.”
“Our lab is just better than any other private lab out there, and we didn’t get a chance to do that,” he added.
In response, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said that decisions regarding evidence processing were made on-scene based on operational needs.
FBI HAS RECEIVED DNA DATA FROM NANCY GUTHRIE CASE: SOURCES
Nancy Guthrie is the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie. (Getty Images/Fox News Digital)
“The laboratory utilized by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI Laboratory in Quantico have worked in close partnership from the outset and continue to collaborate in the analysis of evidence,” Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a statement following Patel’s podcast interview.
“A member of the FBI Task Force was also notified and present at that scene working alongside our personnel. The FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family,” the statement added. “While the FBI Director was not on scene, coordination with the Bureau began without delay.”
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos speaks to the media in Catalina, Arizona, on Feb. 3, while answering questions about the search for Nancy Guthrie. ( Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images)
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Once FBI agents were granted access, they worked with Google to pull cached data from a doorbell camera system to recover key footage that might have otherwise been lost.
Guthrie went missing from her Tucson, Arizona, home on Feb. 1. Investigators have followed up on dozens of leads, but she remains missing.