Kash Patel says FBI was shut out of Nancy Guthrie case for first 4 days of investigation

FBI Director Kash Patel.

FBI Director Kash Patel said this week that FBI agents were prevented from joining the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance in the earliest days of the case. Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, vanished late in the evening on Jan. 31 from her Arizona home, and hasn't been seen since.

Patel's remarks came in a podcast interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News. "For four days we were kept out of the investigation," Patel told Hannity. "When we were finally let in, Sean, look what we did. We went in and got the Ring doorbell [video] and we said, 'Hey, is anyone talking to Google?'"

Patel went on to say that through the partnership with Google, FBI agents were able to unearth video footage from Guthrie's Ring doorbell camera, even though she didn't have a subscription service, showing a man who is believed to be the suspect in her kidnapping. The photos and videos recovered from the doorbell camera gave investigators clues about the suspects gloves and bag.

The FBI director also took issue with the handling of DNA evidence, saying he offered access to the lab at FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia. "I had a fixed-wing aircraft on the ground ready to move it immediately through the night," Patel told Hannity. "And they say: we're sending it to Florida."

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who's handling of the case has come under scrutiny, shot back at Patel's claims in a statement posted on X. "While the FBI director was not on scene, coordination with the bureau began without delay," Nanos said in the statement. 

Nanos did not dispute Patel's claim that he was ready to provide the FBI's lab in Quantico, but did address the decision to use a different lab. "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."

Nanos said the Sheriff's Department remains "committed to a thorough, coordinated, and fact-based investigation and will continue working closely with our federal partners."

Meanwhile, the case has all but gone cold. Savannah Guthrie returned to her hosting duties on the Today show early last month. Numerous ransom notes demanding thousands of dollars in Bitcoin in exchange for information on Guthrie's abductors have been sent to TMZ. And the latest theory surrounding the mysterious case suggests that Guthrie's abductor or abductors may no longer be alive. 

Below, watch a clip of Patel's remarks to Hannity.