It’s hard to believe that investigators in the Nancy Guthrie case are moving into the fourth month after her disappearance in the early hours of February 1 in Tucson, Arizona. Now, a law enforcement expert is chiming in about the possible suspects.
Robbie Mayer, a former detective with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, spoke with News 4 Tucson and compared the Guthrie situation with a major case that he broke in 1986. Mayer cracked the “Prime Time Rapist” case, which involved Brian Larriva breaking into Tucson properties, robbing the homes, and sexually assaulting the women inside. The crimes occurred between 1983 and 1986.
The retired detective recalled that they went through “4,000 leads” to get to Larriva, who died by suicide after the police surrounded his home. “One of the detectives had Larriva’s name as a lead, but he hadn’t gotten to it yet because he had so many leads in front of that,” Mayer explained.
He thinks that “the suspect’s names are in those 50,000” tips generated in Savannah Guthrie‘s mother’s case. Mayer believes that persistence will be the key to solving the mystery.
“The question is if they can recognize it when they see it,” Mayer added. “Being in a case like this is like being in a field with rocks, and what you’re looking for is under one rock. You just have to keep turning.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department gave an update on May 12 as the investigation reached the 100-day mark in the 84-year-old woman’s disappearance. They noted that “scientific evidence processing and digital media analysis remain ongoing,” but no suspect has been arrested at this time.
However, a May 6 special, NewsNation Presents: The Nancy Guthrie Mystery, revealed a possible motive in the case. Expert analyst Dr. Ann Burgess said, “Well, first you want to always ask who’s suffering the most of this, who is hurt the most? And in this case, it doesn’t have to be the mother. It could be somebody in the family. Somebody — Savannah.”
Nancy was last seen by her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, when he dropped her off at her home on the evening of January 31. After skipping church services the next morning, she was reported missing to authorities. The case became a top news story for weeks as Savannah took a leave of absence from the Today show to help locate her mother.
Savannah has since returned to the airwaves as the search for Nancy continues.
Anyone with information about Nancy’s disappearance is asked to please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
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