As scrutiny over authorities investigating Nancy Guthrie’s case grows, a retired FBI agent adds her view on the matter.
When NewsNation’s journalist Brian Entin asks Maureen O’Connell whether the case had been bogging down because investigators allegedly mishandled her home.
“Do you think us being at this place now — more than six months later, where things feel like they’re at a bit of a standstill — goes back to mistakes made with the crime scene and the way that it was processed?” the host asks.
“Do these issues now all go back to the way it was processed initially?”
She suggests the case is likely so.
“Possibly,” the ex-FBI agent said, adding that if the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been called early, several pieces of potential evidence could be preserved.
“I mean, the crime scene, if it was an FBI case initially, and we saw that she was likely removed from the front of that house but intended to go out the back of the house, those pots would have been gone, the door handles would have probably been gone. That mat, 100 percent, would have been gone.”
In the interview, O’Connell also claimed deputies who belong to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department initially believed Nancy had walked away.
“Our crime scene yellow tape would have been — the street would have been blocked off because we would have been looking for tire impressions and shoe impressions, even though the original deputies pulled up because they thought it was a walk-away, as I said, over 90 percent of these cases are.”
Despite what deputies initially assumed, the ex-FBI agent said the scene should still have been cornered off to comb the area for further clues that could help the case.
“Just lock that whole area down,” she continued. “That circle drive in front should have not been accessible.”
O’Connell further added the area should have been zeroed in for small clues, including tiny footprints or tire impressions.
“There should not have been cars on that… You’re looking very closely — and I mean very closely — and with oblique lighting and everything else, trying to find any shoe impressions, tire impressions, any evidence that people were walking around, any crushed grass below any window on the entire circumference of the residence.”
“You’re looking for any broken glass, which I’m sure the initial deputies did. But this all has to be done by the crime scene team,” she noted.
These critical remarks come after authorities have come under the scanner over their handling of the investigation, as a single suspect is yet to be arrested in Nancy’s disapperance, who has been missing for six months.
