Live updates: Nancy Guthrie’s family members cleared as suspects in disappearance, sheriff says
Today’s statement from the Pima County sheriff is a direct response to so-called “armchair detectives” who have wildly – and sometimes irresponsibly – speculated about suspects in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
No matter how well-intentioned the online guessing games have been, the chatter has been distracting, at best, and actively harming the investigation, at worst.
“The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple,” Sheriff Chris Nanos said Monday, suggesting that claims to the contrary risk revictimizing the family members.
Law enforcement officials previously tried to make this point in private conversations with members of the media, but the family member finger-pointing has been happening mostly in a parallel universe of true-crime influencers and amateur sleuths.
Now that the point has been made publicly, that the family members are not suspects, “let’s hope this puts an end to the reckless and malicious nonsense,” a longtime friend of Savannah Guthrie’s remarked to CNN. The friend spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
There has been a yawning gap between what traditional news outlets have been saying about the Nancy Guthrie investigation and what new-media influencers have been saying.
The influencer content has been more raw, more participatory, and more speculative, with commentary often crossing lines that journalists are taught to avoid, partly to avoid libeling innocent people.
The influencer content is also appealing to some viewers and readers for the same reasons it is controversial. And, as a person involved in the Guthrie investigation told CNN last week, there is a recognition that the online energy can be helpful as well as hurtful: “The breakthrough tip could come from anyone, from anywhere.”
As days have turned into weeks, speculation about certain Guthrie family members intensified in online communities, particularly in circles where there is deep ingrained distrust of major media outlets.
Nanos said on Monday that the suggestions about a family member being responsible for Nancy’s disappearance have been “cruel.”
Some amateur sleuths who have drawn online crowds with their commentary about the case reacted on Monday by saying, in effect, they were just trying to help. Some also criticized the sheriff for not making the public statement sooner.
