We would be FUMING if we were the Guthrie family. WTF.
The Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has been accused of making some major mistakes in the investigation to find Nancy Guthrie after she was abducted from her home earlier this year. There have been literally countless things he’s been called out for — from opening the scene of the crime too soon to the public to battling with the FBI and SO much more. But this new revelation? It’s pretty hard to defend.
Related: Today Show Break-In Was ‘Incredibly Triggering’ For Savannah Guthrie
In Wednesday’s Crime Junkie podcast episode, reporter Briana Whitney shared new insight into what it was like covering the case while she was still at Arizona’s Family TV — and, specifically, what it was like working with Nanos! Spoiler alert: not great!
She recalled a time incredibly early into the case when her team wanted to clarify where DNA evidence was being sent off to be tested. Ahead of the nightly news broadcast at 10 p.m. in Arizona “within like one or two weeks” since Nancy disappeared — you know, at the height of the case — her team reached out to Nanos for a quick clarification:
“So, we were getting ready for the evening newscast, and this is among where the DNA evidence is going, where are you testing, how are you testing it. My team sent a text to Sheriff Chris Nanos, just trying to clarify what was going on with the DNA evidence so that we could be right before the newscast. So this was around 9:50 that the text was sent to him.”
His response? You aren’t ready for this, y’all!!!
“We immediately received a text back from him that said, ‘Did you happen to notice the time? Give it a rest.'”
WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K.
Give it a rest?! Are you kidding?!?
We hope he wasn’t giving it a rest that early into the investigation and, relatively speaking, that early at night during the case. This wasn’t months or years later — the text was sent during the most pivotal moments of this investigation — when the Guthrie family was most in need of everyone getting ahold of the most accurate information to better inform tips. Obviously, he was being hounded by the media during the high-profile case, but that is to be expected. He did not have to respond. He certainly didn’t have to respond so rudely!
The journalist recalled her shock:
“We looked at that text — I looked at that text — and I was like, ‘You’ve got to be joking.’ First of all, that text took more effort than simply a no or a yes, or don’t respond.”
Yeah, it’s hard to wrap our heads around that shocking response. So unnecessarily cruel given the context. Oof.
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Thoughts?! Can U believe this, Perezcious readers?
