Nancy Guthrie vanished four months ago and her family still has no answers.
Something just broke in the investigation that no one predicted.
What happened in Mexico was something that Sheriff Nanos didn’t see coming.
Nancy Guthrie Search Crosses Into Mexico After Anonymous Tip
An anonymous tip came in about the whereabouts of Nancy Guthrie.
The call went to Buscando Corazones, a Nogales-based collective known for finding the dead that Mexican cartels and corrupt officials leave behind.
Group leader Ramona Guadalupe Ayala Ortiz – who believes the tipster was male – told Mexican outlet El Imparcial that the caller claimed Nancy's remains were buried in a stream bed in an area known as Mariposa, west of Nogales and tight against the Arizona border.
Buscando Corazones scrambled a search team.
They came back empty – but they are not done.
The group has previously uncovered more than 25 unmarked graves in that same stretch of terrain.
A federal law enforcement source confirmed to Fox News that the Mariposa location was checked and Nancy was not found there.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department released a statement acknowledging the tip – while noting the department had not been contacted by Mexican authorities.
"This investigation remains active and ongoing, and we will continue to follow up on any credible information," the office said.
Pima County Sheriff Nanos and the Mexico Theory He Could Not Dismiss
Here is the timeline that should concern anyone watching this case.
On February 17, Sheriff Nanos went on Fox News and stated there was no indication Nancy had been taken across the border.
The next day, TMZ reported – citing law enforcement sources – that the FBI had already reached out to Mexican federal authorities and was sharing case details with multiple Mexican police agencies.
Nanos was either unaware of what his federal partners were doing or he was managing the narrative.
A sheriff who doesn't know what the FBI is doing in his own case is dangerous.
A sheriff who does know and said otherwise is worse.
California-based investigator Bill Garcia, with more than 35 years of experience, told Border Report that the Tucson corridor is a primary cartel money and drug transport route and that the operation against Nancy bore the hallmarks of a cartel-connected kidnapping for profit.
Garcia stopped short of saying she crossed the border – citing heavy law enforcement surveillance between Tucson and Mexico – but investigators on both sides of that border are still treating it as a live line of inquiry.
Four Months After the Tucson Abduction Savannah Guthrie Still Has No Answers
84 year old Nancy Guthrie has been missing since February 1.
She was taken from her Tucson home by a masked man captured on doorbell footage – a man who disabled her camera, left blood on the front porch, and disappeared into the night.
Four months later, the DNA from the suspect's gloves matched no one in any national database.
The FBI is now working with the advanced forensics lab that cracked the Rex Heuermann Long Island serial killer case.
DNA results are still pending.
Savannah Guthrie returned to the Today show anchor desk and told co-host Jenna Bush Hager on Monday that she cries every morning on the way to work.
Her family has offered $1 million for information leading to Nancy's recovery.
No one has collected.
Nanos recently acknowledged to People magazine that he is no longer personally in contact with the Guthrie family – communications now handled at the investigator level.
That is a quiet signal the sheriff's department is managing expectations, not momentum.
Volunteers in Mexico are still searching for an 84-year-old American woman in cartel territory.
The sheriff who told everyone to look north still has not heard from the people searching south.
Sources:
- Fox News, "Nancy Guthrie search: Federal source confirms Mexico location checked," Fox News, June 11, 2026.
- Alyssa Ray, "Nancy Guthrie Sheriff Addresses Mexico Grave Site Search Prompted by Anonymous Tip," The Wrap, June 11, 2026.
- KOLD/AZFamily, "Arizona sheriff responds to anonymous tip in Nancy Guthrie case," AZFamily, June 11, 2026.
- Matthew Thomas, "Nancy Guthrie Update: FBI Reportedly Contacts Mexico Hours After Sheriff Downplays Border Theory," Men's Journal, February 18, 2026.
- Border Report, "Private investigator believes cartel abducted Nancy Guthrie, but didn't take her to Mexico," Border Report, February 20, 2026.
- Fox News, "Nancy Guthrie update: DNA lab that cracked Rex Heuermann case could analyze evidence," Fox News, June 2026.