Bungling Nancy Guthrie probers ignored blood on porch, thinking it was unrelated, and opened crime scene: report

Bumbling Nancy Guthrie investigators allegedly ignored blood found on the missing 84-year-old’s porch at the start of their probe, thinking it was unrelated to the case, and opened the crime scene two days later.The deputies from Pima County, Ariz., failed to properly seal off Guthrie’s Catalina Foothills home despite the dried blood being found around her front entryway, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the investigation.This allowed a series of reporters, influencers and even Amazon and pizza delivery drivers to descend on the scene amid the media frenzy in the early days of the probe, the outlet reported.Investigators also spent hours during the crucial two days after her disappearance Jan.31 deciding whether Nancy had been kidnapped or gotten lost, the report said.A search-and-rescue plane meanwhile remained grounded for the first day of the investigation, as there was no available deputy trained to operate its sophisticated surveillance system, the outlet said.Sgt.

David Stivers, the recently appointed head of homicide for Pima County, arrived with his detectives at Nancy’s home in the late afternoon of Feb.1, hours after she had been reported missing by her family when she failed to appear for a virtual church service that morning.Despite seeing the blood stains on the porch, Stivers allegedly paid little attention to them, according to sources familiar with the investigation.Probers seemed to believe the blood came from an unrelated accidental injury, such as a head bump or nosebleed, sources said.A DNA analysis later confirmed that the blood was Nancy’s, and investigators now believe it is connected to her kidnapping.Stivers had been reprimanded two months before Nancy’s kidnapping after displaying “poor judgment” during a previous homicide case, the WSJ noted.He was accused of delaying the securing of crime-scene evidence in that case, and the homicide charges were later dropped because of insufficient evidence...