Sheriff In Nancy Guthrie Case Officially Clears All Family Members As Suspects

Nancy Guthrie's disappearance has resulted in a host of conspiracy theories and opinions of who is responsible, but one of the most rampant rumors has officially been debunked.

Sheriff Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff's Department has just shared that all of Nancy Guthrie's family members have been ruled out as suspects, following ongoing speculation that they, specifically her son-in-law, were involved.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sheriff Chris Nanos of the Pima County Sheriff's Department confirmed in a statement that the members of the Guthrie family are no longer suspects in her disappearance.

"To be clear … the Guthrie family -- to include all siblings and spouses -- has been cleared as possible suspects in this case," Sheriff Nanos' statement began. "The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case."

The sheriff went on to directly plead with the media to stop reporting speculation and theories that unfairly implicated Guthrie family members.

"To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel," Nanos continued. "The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple…please, I'm begging you the media to honor your profession and report with some sense of compassion and professionalism."

During an in-depth interview with the Daily Mail, Sheriff Nanos called out the media and online skeptics for spreading theories that Nancy Guthrie's family is responsible for her disappearance, specifically mentioning her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni.

"People out there can get pretty ugly and mean and nasty and not have the facts," Nanos said. "I tell my journalists, you guys need to be a little more responsible… because that's just really nasty stuff."

The sheriff also stressed that rushing to implicate Cioni in Guthrie's disappearance could put an unfair target on his back without concrete evidence.

"But I've really told people, this is a lot of stress. If he [Tommaso Cioni] is guilty, if he's the one who did it, and we're able to prove that, then at that time jump on it, but don't come out of nowhere with this," Nanos stated.

"I understand the pundits are out there," he continued. "They're gonna say, 'well, he's the last one to see her alive.' We understand that stuff. But, my goodness, you're putting a mark on somebody who could be completely innocent. And more important than that, he's family."

Sheriff Nanos told the Daily Mail that he and his team are well aware of who the last person to see Guthrie alive is, but will not release that information publicly due to the family being targeted.

"We know who it is, but… when we saw everybody was attacking everybody and saying it's this, we just thought, you know what? We'll say it was family," Nanos told the outlet.

Nanos also shared that the Guthrie family, including "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been very cooperative with the investigation.

"Everything we've asked for, they've given us," he noted. "They're in such a state of grief. But they're also, you know, I think they're a little weary too, of what's been going on and being said about them."

Per TMZ, on Monday, February 16, a fourth email was sent to the outlet with information about Nancy Guthrie's abduction, which included claims about knowing who took her and that she is alive.

The latest email is said to have the same address as the one used for the previous bitcoin ransom demands.

"I know what I saw 5 days ago south of the border and I was told to shut up. So I know who he is, and that was definitely Nancy with them," the email read, per TMZ.

Additionally, the person who wrote the email also shared that he has a prior burglary from 10 years ago, and because of that, he is afraid to come forward with information for fear of being implicated in Guthrie's disappearance.

In a recent Instagram post on February 15, Savannah Guthrie said she is still holding out hope for her mother's safe return, as the investigation has entered its third week.

"It's been two weeks since our mom was taken. And I just wanted to come on and say that we still have hope. And we still believe," the "Today" show co-anchor said.

"I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it's never too late," Guthrie continued. "And you're not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. And we believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being."