Ashleigh Banfield Goes Off on Rookie Sheriff for Not Cracking Nancy Guthrie Case: 'Are You Kidding Me?'

True crime podcaster Ashleigh Banfield bashed the decision to put an inexperienced detective as lead on the baffling case of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie.

“It was a homicide detective with exactly two years of experience in homicide. Two years under his belt and he's given lead detective on Nancy Guthrie's case,” Ashleigh said on her “Drop Dead Serious” podcast on Tuesday, March 31.

“So my reaction to that is what? What the actual f--? Are you kidding me?” she exclaimed.

Ashleigh has been a vocal critic of Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, slamming his handling of the disappearance and questioning why there have been seemingly no new leads.

Ashleigh added that, while some might have thought Chris would replace the rookie with a pro, that isn’t the case.

“That did not happen. In fact, what my sources have told me was that this fella, and I'm sure he's perfectly lovely, and he may be a very good police officer, right?" she mused. "And he's got experience as a, you know, an officer beforehand. just as a detective, as a homicide detective. Two years — and that's not to say that he isn't great, but I also know in everybody's business that experience drives success and product, right? All of that.”

The podcaster noted how the investigator's lack of experience could hinder the investigation.

"Experience is at the apex of what you need to do the right job, to do a great job. And he didn't have the experience. And yet he stayed on as lead detective all the way up until I'm told the task force was created," she said.

Ashleigh said the thought of a rookie on a case like this is very concerning.

"If my law enforcement sources are correct, and they have been all along, um, you had a two-year rookie at the helm of the Nancy Guthrie homicide case. I don't know about that. I mean, that makes me very uneasy," she admitted.

Kurt Dab, a retired Pima County Sheriff’s Deputy from the homicide unit, told Ashleigh it could be an issue.

“It's a concern to me that, especially one of the — and I and I don't know where I heard this from, but I did hear it that that individual didn't even want to be a homicide detective . . . there's a calling to do homicides. Not everybody wants to get into the weeds in investigating homicides," he said.

Neither Kurt nor Ashleigh wanted to blast the detective, but the latter did note that inexperience isn’t an asset in a case this bizarre and high-profile.

“I don't want to malign this person either. Let's be really clear because if anybody's viewing right now and thinking, 'Ashleigh, come on. Give it a rest.' I'm only saying that I know what I was like as a Cub reporter, and I was not ready for prime time. Let's just put it that way. And I didn't necessarily get prime time back then, right?" Ashleigh admitted.

Recent law enforcement reports describe the home as "immaculate" and "untouched," showing no signs of an assault inside. This contrasts with earlier mentions of bloodstains found on the front porch.