Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says he realised 'something was wrong' with the disappearance of 84‑year‑old Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Arizona, on 1 February when an officer at the scene texted him that the house 'doesn't look right... we're calling homicide,' a chilling message that helped turn a routine check into a full‑scale abduction inquiry.
Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing from her Tucson home in the early hours of 1 February. Deputies first responded to a welfare call, but within hours the case escalated. By about 2 p.m. that day, Sheriff Nanos had been briefed and the investigation was already moving beyond the usual parameters of a missing‑person search.
The Chilling Text That Changed Nancy Guthrie Case
Speaking to People magazine, Nanos described how the tone of the search shifted the moment that message flashed up on his phone. A deputy at Guthrie's home sent word that the scene 'doesn't look right, something is wrong... we're calling homicide,' signalling a level of unease that, in his view, demanded specialist attention.
He later clarified that the term 'homicide' did not mean detectives had concluded Nancy Guthrie had been killed. 'The reason that homicide was called is that they are the investigative unit in charge of missing persons. Search and rescue is their operational team that helps assist with these issues,' Nanos explained.
Sheriff in Nancy Guthrie Case Recalls Discovery That Prompted Homicide Investigation: "Something Is Wrong" https://t.co/09awNZnLKl
— InStyle (@InStyle) May 14, 2026
From that point, the case was treated not simply as an elderly woman who had wandered off, but as a likely abduction. Investigators quickly found blood droplets on Guthrie's front porch. According to Nanos, those drops matched her DNA.
A separate sample collected at the scene, still undergoing analysis, showed characteristics of more than one individual, suggesting someone else had been present, although that finding has not yet been fully interpreted in public.
Nanos said his detectives and forensic staff are working closely together on the DNA trail. 'Every day our DNA labs are working with our investigators, and they're coming up with different ideas and different thoughts of how to help them make this DNA work for us,' he told People. It is a painstaking process, but in his view it is edging them forward.
He admitted to feeling the weight of the search. 'How can we do more with what we have?' he said, adding, 'That's why I say it is, I think we're getting closer.' Despite the time that has passed since Nancy Guthrie was last seen, he insisted his team are 'doing a good job' and stated, 'I fully, 100% believe' the case will be solved.
Pressure On Sheriff As Search For Nancy Guthrie Intensifies
The high‑profile nature of the case has coincided with scrutiny of Nanos's own leadership. On 12 May, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to retain him as sheriff, while criticising the state of the department he leads. Nanos has been unusually candid about that assessment.
'I listened to the board, I agree, and they said the department, it was a mess,' he said. 'Sometimes you have to just sit back and listen. That's my job. I plan to get a hold of my department. It's just that this has gone on for quite some time.'
Sheriff Searching For Nancy Guthrie No Longer In Contact With Her Family https://t.co/mCrPFE2rQl
— The Blast (@TheBlastNews) May 18, 2026
He stressed that responsibility for fixing internal divisions rests with him, not his rank‑and‑file staff. 'As the sheriff, it's my job, not my employees, not my labour groups, it's my job to find a resolution and fix the divisiveness within my department. Nobody else's.'
That frankness comes as detectives work under intense public and personal pressure. The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie is not an abstract case file. For millions of American viewers she is 'Nonie,' the soft‑spoken presence occasionally mentioned by her daughter Savannah on Today. That emotional connection has turned a local Arizona mystery into a national story.
A Daughter's Plea After A Mother Vanishes
Savannah Guthrie has used that platform to keep her mother's name in the headlines. For Mother's Day, she posted a montage of family photographs and home‑video clips, overlaying the images with a stark appeal.
'Mother, daughter, sister, Nonie we miss you with every breath,' she wrote. 'We will never stop looking for you. We will never be at peace until we find you. We need help. Someone knows something that can make a difference. Call 1800CALLFBI. You can be anonymous, and the reward remains available. Please keep praying. Bring her home.'
The FBI tip line she cites underscores the seriousness with which federal and local agencies are treating the case. Yet beyond the carefully released details, the blood on the porch, the DNA still being parsed, the text from a wary deputy, there is still no public indication of who might have taken Nancy Guthrie, or why.
Nanos has framed the investigation as a race to wring as much information as possible from the limited physical evidence they have. Each day, he suggested, brings fresh attempts by laboratory scientists and detectives to find new angles in the samples already collected.
What can be confirmed so far is narrow and sobering. Nancy Guthrie vanished from her own home in the early morning, there are signs she was hurt, and traces of at least one other person were present. Everything else the motives, the route she was taken, whether she is still alive remains unproven.
No suspects have been publicly named in the material provided, and neither Pima County officials nor the FBI have released a fuller narrative of what they believe happened. Until they do, the case sits uncomfortably between forensic grind and family heartbreak, held together by a single early warning from the scene, 'Something is wrong... we're calling homicide.'
Nothing beyond the statements attributed to Sheriff Nanos and the Guthrie family, and the basic forensic findings they have chosen to share, has been officially confirmed.
