FBI Director Patel Criticizes Arizona Sheriff for Delaying Agency's Role in Guthrie Case

FBI Director Kash Patel criticized local authorities for their handling of the Nancy Guthrie missing persons investigation. He said his agency was initially kept out of the loop.

Patel made the comments during an appearance on the "Hang Out with Sean Hannity" podcast that aired Tuesday. The FBI was sidelined by the Pima County Sheriff's Department for four days, even as time was critical in the early stages 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."

Instead of sending DNA evidence to an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for testing, Sheriff Chris Nanos chose a private lab in Florida.

"The first 48 hours of anyone's disappearance are the most critical," Patel said. He noted that while local authorities had jurisdiction, the delay came at a cost. "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.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department responded that decisions on evidence processing were made on scene based on operational needs.

"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 Nanos said in a statement after 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."

Once FBI agents gained access, they worked with Google to pull cached data from a doorbell camera system. That effort recovered key footage that might otherwise have been lost.