Insider reveals how Nancy Guthrie probe was compromised from beginning and places blame on embattled figure

The Nancy Guthrie case was compromised from the very beginning by the investigating team’s lack of experience a whistleblower reportedly said, as he placed the blame on Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos’ alleged incompetence.Sergeant Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization — the police union representing sheriff’s deputies — told TMZ Saturday about the issues stemming from errors by staffers he says were unqualified for the major case.The lead detective on the case, who had never worked a homicide before, “was placed in there nearly immediately,” Sgt.Cross explained. He noted that the detective was promoted to sergeant just three years ago and “very rapidly went inside from patrol and then was assigned to homicide.”Cross emphasized that the initial mistake came from leadership and that an probe this complex required far more background experience.“Command, for whatever reason, decided that despite the fact that he hadn’t been in homicide before, he was the right person for that unit,” Cross said.He placed the blame directly on Sheriff Chris Nanos, who was recently slapped with a $176 million suit alleging dangerous incompetence on a different case, claiming such a decision was “almost unheard of” prior to Nanos taking office.“It takes a while to learn the ropes,” Cross added.In the early stages, investigators suffered from a lack of communication that often led to duplicate work, according to Cross.“The issue was that there was a lot of duplication of work because we weren’t accurately tracking who had been spoken to,” Cross said, identifying those as the initial missteps. “In my opinion, and the opinions of other detectives and many people in the community, the scene was just given up so quickly.

I think the next day it was given back to the family.”Cross also told TMZ that while it was “well known” local investigators harbored “animosity against the FBI,” it remained unclear whether that te...