Bumbling Nancy Guthrie investigators allegedly ignored blood found on the missing 84-year-old’s porch at the start of their probe, thinking it was unrelated to the case, and opened the crime scene two days later.
The deputies from Pima County, Ariz., failed to properly seal off Guthrie’s Catalina Foothills home despite the dried blood being found around her front entryway, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the investigation.
This allowed a series of reporters, influencers and even Amazon and pizza delivery drivers to descend on the scene amid the media frenzy in the early days of the probe, the outlet reported.
Investigators also spent hours during the crucial two days after her disappearance Jan. 31 deciding whether Nancy had been kidnapped or gotten lost, the report said.
A search-and-rescue plane meanwhile remained grounded for the first day of the investigation, as there was no available deputy trained to operate its sophisticated surveillance system, the outlet said.
Sgt. David Stivers, the recently appointed head of homicide for Pima County, arrived with his detectives at Nancy’s home in the late afternoon of Feb. 1, hours after she had been reported missing by her family when she failed to appear for a virtual church service that morning.
Despite seeing the blood stains on the porch, Stivers allegedly paid little attention to them, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Probers seemed to believe the blood came from an unrelated accidental injury, such as a head bump or nosebleed, sources said.
A DNA analysis later confirmed that the blood was Nancy’s, and investigators now believe it is connected to her kidnapping.
Stivers had been reprimanded two months before Nancy’s kidnapping after displaying “poor judgment” during a previous homicide case, the WSJ noted.
He was accused of delaying the securing of crime-scene evidence in that case, and the homicide charges were later dropped because of insufficient evidence, public records show.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to Post requests for comment.
The details about the alleged staggering bungling of the probe came days after new revelations surfaced about the two ransom notes sent to Nancy’s family, including to her famous daughter, “Today” TV show host Savannah Guthrie.
“We have your mother Nancy. She is safe but scared,” the first note read in part. “She will be held for ransom and once payment is received she will be released unharmed. We will be holding her for a maximum of 7 days.”
The note ordered Nancy’s family to deposit the ransom in a bitcoin address, at which point she would be released in the next 12 hours at a “safe dropoff location back in Tucson.”
But it warned that if the kidnappers weren’t paid by Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. local time, Nancy would be killed.
“Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands,” the note read, warning that there would be no future negotiations.
Just days later, a second note was released claiming that Nancy had died accidentally.
“We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention. She perished shortly after she was taken,” read the second note in part.
“She is buried in nature now,” the note said, while giving no further details about where her body allegedly was.
“We want your family to know this and hope you all can find peace. We are truly sorry,” the note said.
No further notes have been sent since the second, according to authorities.
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