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More evidence in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigation has led to another dead end, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, which is also now facing legal action.
Investigators say they were unable to develop a usable DNA profile from a hair found inside Nancy Guthrie’s home.
“But does that mean the hair isn’t that of the suspect? We won’t know that till we have the suspect’s hair. You don’t just destroy it.,” Nanos said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Nanos said investigators have preserved the sample, and it still may be of use later. He added that the sample was just one part of the broader DNA analysis still underway.
Other clues
There is still a mixed sample of DNA retrieved from Nancy Guthrie’s home. According to ABC News, it’s the only known piece of biological evidence.
That has also not yet been linked to a suspect. Nanos said that sample is a mix of as many as four people.
While it’s not clear if they will be able to separate the different samples, Nanos said multiple labs across the country are trying, including the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, and labs in Kansas, Florida, California and Arizona.
“My understanding is there are at least five, maybe six, labs across the country that are working on all of this,” Nanos said. “We have some of the brightest minds in the nation, if not the world, working on this.”
The 84-year-old Guthrie was taken from her home in the early hours of Feb. 1 by a masked man, who was captured on her doorbell camera. Investigators still aren’t sure if he was working alone.
“I don’t think anybody here is ready to say it’s one guy; it’s 10 guys,” Nanos said. “Did he have help? Could have.”
Lawsuits threatened
Meanwhile, lawyers for two men detained during the search for Guthrie, along with one man’s mother, have filed a notice of claim against Sheriff Nanos and a detective. A notice of claim is the required first step before filing a lawsuit.
One of the men, Carlos Palazuelos, was held at gunpoint and detained for hours ten days after Guthrie’s kidnapping before being released without charges. The notice argues investigators have never publicly cleared Palazuelos or stated he is not a suspect, leaving him to live under what his attorneys call a cloud of suspicion.
The second man, Daniel Maddox, was handcuffed and held for several hours that same day at the home investigators were searching for evidence. The claim also includes Maddox’s mother, who owns the home, alleging investigators damaged the property during the search.
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