Ex-Pima County Sheriff Says Nancy Guthrie Crime Scene Was 'Corrupted': 'That's the End of It' 

Former Pima County Sheriff and U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona has publicly accused current Sheriff Chris Nanos of "corrupting" the crime scene at the home of Nancy Guthrie, the missing 84-year-old mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie.

Richard’s criticisms, made during an appearance on the Friday, March 27, episode of NewsNation’s Brian Entin Investigates, center on procedural lapses, including Richard stating a “fundamental error” made by Sheriff Chris by personally declaring the crime scene open, a decision that typically belongs to the lead detective after all evidence is processed.

The former Surgeon General under President George W. Bush emphasized that "once it has been corrupted, that's the end of it" and that a crime scene cannot be "reconstituted" once its integrity is lost.

“That’s not something a sheriff does,” Richard said. “It’s the lead detective that’s out there that says, we can open this area now because we have made this determination that all of the evidence necessary has been photographed, bagged, tagged, and so on.”

Footage surfaced showing a pizza delivery vehicle driving across the front lawn during the active investigation. Richard warned that defense attorneys could easily use this to argue that any evidence collected from the scene is unreliable.

“If you’re going to court and you’re making a case, a defense attorney says, ‘That crime scene was corrupted — you had people delivering pizzas,'” Richard said. “How do we know this is real evidence?”

Richard maintained that the scene was irrevocably corrupted.

“You have not maintained the integrity of that space,” he declared.

As a result, he added, the embattled Pima County Sheriff, who is currently facing a recall, has lost the community's trust.

“The public has to have trust in its law enforcement agency. You cannot lead without trust. And when you have a sheriff that has to keep correcting himself and changing his story every day, the public loses faith in you,” Richard said.

The sheriff was also criticized for sending physical evidence to a private lab in Florida for cost reasons rather than using free federal services from the FBI.

These allegations come as Sheriff Chris faces significant political pressure, including a unanimous no-confidence vote from the Pima County Deputies Organization on March 24, and a mandate from the Pima County Board of Supervisors to answer questions under oath.

Despite the criticism, Chris has stated he has no regrets regarding his team's management of the case.

The embattled sheriff defended himself to a local news station, saying, “I have no regrets about my team and their efforts. I don’t regret we let the crime scene go too soon or any of that, that’s just silly.”