Sheriff Chris Nanos Fires Back at Critics: 'Crazy Stuff'

Pima County, Arizona, Sheriff Chris Nanos is firing back at critics over his handling of the Nancy Guthrie case.

Nanos has been front and center in the case, holding news conferences to provide updates to the media. And he's received some criticism as the case has languished without finding Guthrie, 84, the missing mother of TODAY Show co-host Savannah Guthrie. The FBI and the sheriff previously announced breakthroughs in the case, and the FBI later released surveillance images recovered from Guthrie's front-door camera.

The latest criticism of the sheriff centers on a claim that he isn't fully cooperating with the FBI in the investigation.

Sheriff Chris Nanos Called the Criticism 'Just Crazy Stuff'

In an interview with CNN, Nanos pushed back at accusations that he "blocked the FBI from accessing key evidence in the Nancy Guthrie case and insisted items be sent to a private lab in Florida, despite the FBI asking for the evidence to be tested at the FBI headquarters in Virginia."

The allegation exploded across the media. Reuters had reported that the FBI asked Nanos "for physical evidence in the case, including a glove and DNA from the home of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, to be processed at the FBI's national crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, but Nanos has insisted instead on using a private lab in Florida."

He said that the allegation isn't true.

“Nobody was ever blocked. It’s just crazy stuff,” Nanos told CNN. “We go out, and we work together. All the leads are followed up on. We’re working side by side.”

Nanos told CNN that "investigators in his office and FBI investigators jointly decided to send evidence for DNA analysis to a lab in Florida which has a contract with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department."

The sheriff told KVOA that the accusations were "not even close to the truth."

"Actually the FBI just wanted to send the one or two they found by the crime scene, closest to it – mile, mile and a half . . . I said 'No, why do that? Let’s just send them all to where all the DNA exist, all the profiles and the markers exist.' They agreed, makes sense," Nanos said.

Sheriff Chris Nanos Also Spoke About Some of the Possible Evidence

Nanos has also commented to the news media about reports that gloves were found in the area. The suspect appears to be wearing gloves in the surveillance images released by the FBI.

"We don't even know the true value of these gloves," he told KVOA.

Meanwhile, the FBI released new details gleaned from those videos, including a suspect height estimate and backpack brand.

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