Nearly six months into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the FBI's director is blaming local authorities for investigative delays.
FBI Director Kash Patel, in a July 23 interview with Fox News Digital, suggested that delays in FBI involvement on the case of "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie's missing 84-year-old mother may have resulted in the loss of potentially valuable doorbell camera footage.
"We were looking for the needle of all needles in all haystacks. Because since she didn't pay for it, they didn't record that data," he said of Guthrie's Google Nest camera, which she had installed yet did not have a subscription. "But there was a chance that it was located in their cache just before it was being deleted."
The FBI worked with Google to
recover cached video from Guthrie's camera that was not intended for long-term storage and was close to being deleted, he told the outlet. But he said if there were additional videos, they were lost before the bureau became involved, and the evidential value of any remaining footage is unknown.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff's Department for comment.
Patel has previously criticized local authorities with the Pima County Sheriff's Department, saying on a May 5 episode of Sean Hannity's podcast that the department "kept out" the FBI during the first four days of her disappearance.
The latest in the Nancy Guthrie case
Nancy Guthrie remains missing. Guthrie, the elderly mother of "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen on the evening of Jan. 31, when a family member dropped her off at her Tucson, Arizona, home after dinner. She was reported missing the next morning, and the Pima County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation, with the FBI coming on days later.
On Feb. 10, the FBI released images and video obtained by Google of the sole reported suspect in the case, showing an "armed" man wearing a mask and gloves. Law enforcement has also continued to investigate multiple ransom notes sent to the Guthrie family and media outlets, with the bureau reporting some of the notes may have been legitimate.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nancy Guthrie case – FBI's Patel says local delays may have cost evidence
