Six months after Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Arizona home without a trace, the sheriff is now revealing that two men who were briefly detained and released are far from off the hook. The stunning admission throws a fresh spotlight on an investigation that has gripped the nation.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos made headlines Thursday when he told ABC 15 that just because those men walked free doesn’t mean they’re in the clear.
“We didn’t make an arrest, or released some people, doesn’t mean they’re cleared,” Nanos said. “It just means that we don’t have enough to hold you.”
The comment directly challenges earlier signals from the sheriff’s office that suggested the men, along with three others questioned during a house raid, were no longer under suspicion.
The first man detained was delivery driver Carlos Palazuelos, picked up on February 10 in Rio Rico, about an hour south of Guthrie’s home. He was questioned for eight hours and his residence was searched before he was let go.
Three days later, deputies pulled over an unnamed man near Guthrie’s neighborhood and impounded a gray Range Rover. That same night, authorities raided a home and interviewed the three people inside.
According to Nanos, the evidence that justified those search warrants remains very much alive.
“The evidence we’ve obtained, who knows, maybe a day from now, a month from now, a year from now, somebody might call in and say, ‘Oh you missed this,'” Nanos told the outlet. “And guess what? We’ll go back.”
When pressed on whether detectives are still actively looking into the two men, Nanos declined to answer.
This Saturday marks six months since the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie disappeared from her quiet desert home on February 1. So far, there are no official suspects, despite surveillance footage capturing a masked figure at her door and DNA evidence reportedly recovered inside the residence.
The case has taken an emotional toll on the family. Just days ago, Savannah Guthrie delivered a tearful public plea, begging the abductors to “do the right thing.”
Nanos responded Tuesday with a vow that he remains “still positive” the mystery will be cracked, telling NBC, “We have so much DNA to sort through. We have so much in terms of video evidence to look at. So I’m still positive that we’re going to resolve this case.”
With no arrests, no named suspects, and two men who may still be on investigators’ radar, the question now is what will it take to finally break this case wide open?
