Speaker 1 (03:02):
[Inaudible 00:02:00]. All right, let's see if we can get... [inaudible 00:02:14]. Do you mind if that wire is? No, you're good. That wire is going to be lik that this whole time, so I'm just going to clip it on and this is...
Speaker 2 (03:11):
If I move, am I going to [inaudible 00:03:14].
Speaker 1 (03:13):
No, no, you should be fine.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I just don't want to mess up your audio.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
No, that's okay. [Inaudible 00:03:18] No, I apologize if that's how..
Speaker 3 (03:25):
They're going live so if you could not touch it.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Okay. I will not touch nothing.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Okay, cool. Thank you so much. Yes, go ahead. [Inaudible 00:04:15]. He doesn't hear you. Keep talking please.
Jon Edwards (04:23):
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Okay, awesome. Thank you. Okay, you're good.
Jon Edwards (04:24):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Hey Jon, can you keep going with the mic check here? Yeah. Here we go again. I know everybody's good.
Chris Nanos (09:11):
Good morning. I don't know that everybody knows who's here. Of course, I'm Sheriff Chris Nanos. Jon Edwards is the Tucson chief here for the FBI, and he'll have some words for you as well. This is really, for me, pretty new. All the immediate attention, so I apologize to you for sometimes I'm speaking in generalities, and I'm not used to everybody hanging onto my words and then trying to hold me accountable for what I say, but I understand. So, we're going to try our best to be succinct with you in the future. And also more important for you to understand is we have a lot of work in front of us. We have a job to do, and we have someone's life who is in jeopardy.
(10:06)
And so, job number one is we got to find her and we got to work hard to do that. I understand there's great attention on this, and rightfully so. And I appreciate it, and I thank you for it, because it has generated a lot of leads for us. And so, we're tracking those leads, and we're doing things with evidence that you would expect us to be doing. So, having said that, we're going to set this up. I know that a number of you yesterday, you guys drove me crazy. Yesterday I was going from AM to all the way till 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, midnight, answering concerns and questions, and it's just too tough, and it's not fair to the case.
(10:49)
So, what I'm going to tell you is today, we're going to do this similar to what we're doing right now. Here, we'll take questions. It's not really my briefing. It's your briefing. You'll be able to ask us some questions. We'll probably shut you off after a while because I just can't be here all day. We have work to do, but we'll take some questions and then in a couple of days, unless something breaks, we'll do this every couple of days. And we'll set up with you through our PIO teams to give you anything that comes up that might change, but clearly that'll notify you on these, what I call media briefings. So, with that, I'm going to ask Jon to come up.
(11:32)
If you've got a statement to say, Jon, and then we'll take some questions and we'll get back to work.
Jon Edwards (11:43):
Hello, I'm Jon Edwards. My spelling is J-O-N E-D-W-A-R-D-S. I'm the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's office here in Tucson. First, we want the community to know that the FBI is doing everything in our power to bring Nancy Guthrie home to her family. The FBI is working alongside the Pima County Sheriff's Department on this incident. In terms of what the FBI is doing, we are providing the following support. Primarily, it's analytical and technical support in the following ways. We're downloading and analyzing cellphones, obtaining cell tower information, conducting interviews, and providing any and all investigative support that the sheriff's department needs.
(12:30)
We're looking at this from every angle, but we need your help. If you live in the area or saw something on Saturday night, the 31st of January or Sunday morning, the 1st of February, please report it to the Pima County Sheriff's Department or the FBI at 1-800-Call FBI. Every lead and tip is important. We are aggressively pursuing and looking into every single one. Again, please help us bring Nancy Guthrie home. Thank you.
Chris Nanos (13:11):
We'll take some questions.
Speaker 4 (13:12):
Sheriff, Sheriff, Sheriff, Sheriff is there any indication so far as to whether this was a random abduction or targeted?
Chris Nanos (13:19):
It's like I said earlier, we're looking at all the leads and we don't know. We're going to assume both sides of that. We'll look at both sides.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Sheriff, do you have any idea what Nancy Guthrie was wearing or the type of car that she might have left from or any identifiable information that the public could use to help with those tips?
Chris Nanos (13:40):
We do not.
Speaker 11 (13:42):
Sheriff, do you believe that one or more than one person was involved in the kidnapping?
Chris Nanos (13:46):
I just no clue. It could have been one, it could have been more.
Speaker 7 (13:50):
Is there violence? Is there any indication that Nancy Guthrie is still alive? We know the medication played a critical role here. It's been 48 hours. She needs it every single day. Are you looking for someone that is still alive?
Chris Nanos (14:05):
We hope we are. We hope we are.
Speaker 8 (14:07):
Sheriff Nanos, you said earlier that you don't believe there's a wider threat to the public. If you're not sure if it's targeted, why do you believe there's no wider threat to the public?
Chris Nanos (14:15):
Well, we have crime in Tucson all the time, right? Like any city. And so, when you say a threat to the public, is there somebody out there who's kidnapping elderly people in the middle of the night every night? We've not heard that. We don't believe that's the case. We do believe that Nancy was taken from her home against her will, and that's where we're at.
Speaker 9 (14:37):
Sheriff, when you reference violence at the site, can you elaborate on that? And also, was there a sign of force entry, any valuables taken, any bank or ATM cards used after her disappearance?
Chris Nanos (14:49):
We're not getting into that. What I'd tell you is, like any crime scene, we process this crime scene. We gathered all the evidence we could to include looking for what? Fingerprints, DNA, camera images, everything you can imagine and we gathered that out. Those things have been submitted forward to labs, to technological companies to help us, and we're like you. We're waiting for those returns to come back.
Speaker 9 (15:13):
Did you find DNA to not belong in that house?
Speaker 14 (15:16):
The window of time from when she was last seen to when she was reported missing, and I know you guys are asking for help from the public. Is there any way to narrow down what time you might be helpful? I know there was a report about a pacemaker dinging around 2:00 in the morning. Is there any way to indicate to people, "Hey, look around 1:00 AM or 2:00 AM," to help them identify what they might have?
Chris Nanos (15:40):
I really don't want to get into narrowing down the time, because narrowing it down means we can miss some tips and leads. We're working on with the data we've submitted for investigative analysis. We're working to see if that time can be tightened up, but for now, we're going with what we told you earlier. She was dropped off at 9:30 and she was found to be missing at about 11:00 Sunday morning.
Speaker 11 (16:12):
Was DNA of anyone else found in the house besides her?
Chris Nanos (16:13):
We've submitted all kinds of samples for DNA and we've gotten some back, but nothing to indicate any suspects.
Speaker 12 (16:21):
Anybody strange in the neighborhood? I know you're looking at video, different surveillance camera, anything that we should be looking out at different cars.
Chris Nanos (16:26):
I have nothing in that regard.
Speaker 13 (16:31):
Have any demands been made by kidnappers?
Chris Nanos (16:33):
We have all kinds of investigative leads we're working on.
Speaker 14 (16:38):
Sheriff, we noticed that the camera on the front of the house is missing. You believe the perpetrator purposely took the camera?
Chris Nanos (16:45):
Don't know that. We're looking into that as well.
Speaker 15 (16:47):
Does that scene been fully processed now? We saw deputies leave around 6:00 last night. We didn't see tape go up. Amazon driver was able to walk right up to the door. Is that pretty standard for how you handle this?
Chris Nanos (16:57):
The scene is done. We're done with the residents. If we need to go back to get, maybe we want to do something with some other piece of evidence there, we contact the family and let them know. But we have turned that over to the family. I don't have the time, but it was sometime yesterday I believe.
Speaker 16 (17:13):
Are you covering any tire tracks or any footprints around the house?
Chris Nanos (17:16):
No.
Speaker 17 (17:17):
Would you please take us through the timeline that you've established of the events so far and with as much detail as you can?
Chris Nanos (17:24):
9:45, 9:30, 9:45. We were told she was left at her home by the family. At 11 o'clock in the morning, the family got notice from somebody at church that she was not at church. They went to the home, found her to be missing. That's the timeline. From Saturday night, 9:45, we'll say, to Sunday morning, 11:00. Let me get somebody back here, please.
Speaker 18 (17:46):
Have you interviewed the people that reported her missing, the people from the church?
Chris Nanos (17:50):
That's the family. Oh, from the church as well. We're doing all kinds of interviews, yes. I'm sure we have.
Speaker 19 (17:55):
Have you been able to access the footage from the cameras at the house?
Chris Nanos (17:57):
Well, that's all been submitted and we're doing our best with those companies who own those cameras or built those cameras.
Speaker 20 (18:03):
Are there any plans to release those videos from the cameras from the surveillance? Are there any plans to release the video from the cameras, surveillance footage, any of them?
Chris Nanos (18:09):
We don't even have them yet. So, no, not at this time. It's back to the investigation.
Speaker 21 (18:14):
Sir, there's a report of a suspicious man a few doors down last week. Is that anything that you guys are aware of?
Chris Nanos (18:19):
I'm not aware of it. My detectives may be. There's a lot of detective work being done, and I just can't get into those weeds or even discuss with you what they may or may not have learned. Yes mam.
Speaker 22 (18:31):
Report from the board yesterday, are there specific resources that maybe the board has not granted that would have made a difference responding to this case?
Chris Nanos (18:40):
Well, that's getting into my own local politics, I apologize. Yes, the board a few weeks ago denied a request for more cameras, more drones, more AI capabilities with our own body-worn cameras. All those things, you'd have to talk to the board. Yeah. Probably not the right time to go into this. Let me get somebody else here.
Speaker 23 (19:04):
Sheriff, do you believe she's still in this area?
Chris Nanos (19:07):
Do we believe...
Speaker 23 (19:08):
Do you believe she's still in this area or is there somewhere else?
Chris Nanos (19:11):
We don't know where she is. So, like any investigations, we start from the point of where we last saw her and we work out. We are working as far out as we can go.
Speaker 24 (19:28):
Sheriff, can you walkthrough the evidence of force entry at the house, like any broken windows or whatever? Does it seem like people just went in and out the floor?
Chris Nanos (19:32):
There are concerns at the house that concerned us from the early on part of this investigation, and that's all I will tell you. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 25 (19:38):
Sheriff, is there any history with Nancy needing police at her place or concerns where she was worried about somebody following her or in her house?
Chris Nanos (19:49):
Our investigative team has looked into all of those things and that has not been brought to my attention. So, she may have had something like that, but I'm not aware of it.
Speaker 26 (19:58):
What is the extent of collaboration with the federal government? Obviously FBI is here, CBP. Are there other agencies also involved?
Chris Nanos (20:03):
CBP's role in this was in our search and rescue mission where we constantly use them. They have great dogs too. Our dogs aren't tracking dogs for this, theirs are. And so, they came out and did that. Anybody else though that we've asked for help from, whether it's the FBI, I know if we needed help from CBP or DEA or ATF, they would gladly give it. I've heard from leadership from all sorts of agencies, not just at the federal level, but across the state. Every one of them saying, "Sheriff, you need anything? We're here."
Speaker 27 (20:39):
So, you obviously said investigators, when they got on scene, they found suspicious circumstances. When the family called originally to report her missing, did they say anything about the state of the home?
Chris Nanos (20:51):
I don't know that. That, I don't know. Make sure I'm getting some different people here. Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 28 (20:59):
Yeah. So, there was blood that was found inside the house and you're testing it for DNA. How much blood and where was it?
Chris Nanos (21:04):
I'm not saying there's blood inside that house or outside that house. What I'm saying is our team processed a scene like you would. Think of any crime scene. We go in and we process it. We look for things like that, blood, DNA, any kind of physical evidence, fingerprints, anything. And all of that is gathered and submitted to a lab. That lab will report back to us what they find. So far, that what we found from that lab is nothing that would tell us this is who did this.
Speaker 29 (21:34):
We'll take a couple more questions and then the sheriff's got to go.
Speaker 30 (21:37):
Sheriff, can you walk through the evidence that was found at the scene in as much detail as possible?
Chris Nanos (21:41):
No, I cannot.
Speaker 31 (21:42):
What is the bottleneck to the surveillance footage? I know you said some of it is in the cloud, but you've also been reached out to tech companies that are saying they're cooperating. Why you do not have the surveillance footage on yet?
Chris Nanos (21:53):
That's what I tell them. "How come I don't have this? Where's my evidence?" It is a process and I'm sorry, but we're grateful that there's large corporations and companies who have leaned over, bent over backwards to help us to say, "Hey, sheriff, tell us what you need." And so, yeah, I can't slam them and we've asked them. They know the urgency here, but I'm like you, "What do you mean I don't know that now?"
Speaker 32 (22:20):
Answer that you gave earlier, you were asked if there were any...
Speaker 29 (22:25):
Last question, last question.
Speaker 32 (22:26):
You were asked if there was any ransom and you didn't say no, you said we're following all leads. Does that mean a ransom has come in?
Chris Nanos (22:33):
We are following all leads we have. That's all I can tell you. We've got hundreds of leads and it's from you that produce those leads by telling people we need help. And I'm grateful for that. But yeah, I'm not going to get into all that. We have a team designated to deal with all of our leads. They're looking into all of that. We are sharing all of our leads with the FBI. They are helping us in evaluating those leads, how good they are, where their priority should be. Look, I know you guys are doing your job and you're doing a great job, but we have a job to do too.
(23:12)
And I really need to back away from this for a while and we'll see you unless something breaks, unless something breaks, we'll see you Thursday morning. PIO will give you a timeframe, I'm guessing, somewhere around 11:00, 11:30.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
All right, thank you so much for being here today. I need your emails. If you are not on the email list, get with me in the corner. I'll be right by the sheriff's side, okay?