Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos was suspended eight times during his early career with the El Paso Police Department, including for allegedly beating a handcuffed suspect so badly the man was hospitalized with severe blood loss, according to disciplinary records that have surfaced as his office faces mounting criticism over the unsolved disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie from her Tucson home.

The records, obtained by the Arizona Republic through a public records request, detail a pattern of alleged misconduct spanning Nanos's years in El Paso before he joined the Pima County Sheriff's Department in 1984. The allegations include excessive force, making a false statement to authorities, off-duty gambling, and chronic tardiness. His longest suspension ran 15 days. He received a separate ten-day suspension for lying.

The revelations land at the worst possible moment for the 70-year-old sheriff. More than two months after Nancy Guthrie vanished from her home on February 1, no suspect or person of interest has been publicly identified. The Pima County Board of Supervisors has ordered Nanos to provide sworn testimony about whether he misrepresented his work history when he joined the department decades ago. And newly surfaced documents now raise pointed questions about the judgment of the man running one of the highest-profile missing-persons investigations in the country.

A trail of suspensions in El Paso

The most serious allegation in the records dates to March 1982. A suspension notice described a handcuffed robbery suspect who was "intoxicated and uncooperative." Officers used force to detain him. The suspect was thrown against a patrol vehicle and struck in the face "several times," according to the document. He was later hospitalized and suffered severe blood loss. The suspect filed a police assault charge report against Nanos.

A grand jury ultimately declined to indict Nanos in connection with that incident.

Two years earlier, in June 1980, Nanos received what the records describe as his second-longest suspension. That case involved a man named Wayne Robertson, who had been arrested for public intoxication and refusing to identify himself. Robertson had reportedly declined to give his address because he did not want his wife to be bothered. Nanos allegedly used profane language about Robertson's wife. A witness to the arrest lodged a complaint and was later reportedly stopped in the street by Nanos.

Dispatcher logs showed Nanos had called in a warrant check on the man. The records also allege Nanos threatened to take Robertson "to the desert and beat the h*** out of him."

Not everything in the file was negative. A document from 1979 credited Nanos with saving his partner's life by shooting a suspect from a rooftop. But the cumulative weight of eight suspensions, a forced resignation in 1982, and allegations of dishonesty paint a picture that the Board of Supervisors now wants examined under oath.

An unsolved disappearance and a sheriff under fire

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, was last dropped off at her Tucson-area home around 9:50 p.m. on January 31 after a family dinner. Recovered Nest doorbell footage showed a masked individual with a backpack and what appeared to be a holstered gun trying to cover or disable the camera at her front door around 1:47 a.m. on February 1. By 2:28 a.m., her pacemaker app indicated it had disconnected from her phone.

Authorities have said they believe she was removed from her home against her will. Blood droplets found on the property were confirmed through DNA testing to be hers. Several gloves were recovered near the scene.

The FBI acknowledged receiving a ransom letter sent to local and national media outlets. Heath Yonke of the FBI Phoenix Division said the bureau was "taking it seriously." Yet the case has produced no arrests. Two individuals were briefly apprehended, one ten days into the investigation, another at thirteen days, and both were released without charges after they were found to have no connection to the case.

Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have publicly pleaded for information about their mother's whereabouts. She reportedly wanted to issue a large reward early in the search, but did not do so until 24 days in. Sources told Fox News in February that Nanos was accused of stopping the Guthrie family from issuing the reward, reportedly because he feared the resulting influx of tips could muddy the investigation.

That decision drew sharp criticism. So did Nanos's choice to attend a basketball game a week into Nancy's disappearance while others carried on the search. And last month, he declared he had "no regrets" over the investigation, a statement that only deepened frustration among deputies and the public alike.

Deputies speak out, board demands answers

The discontent is not limited to outside observers. Sgt. Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization, told the New York Post that frustration with Nanos's leadership has become widespread inside the department.

"It is a common belief in this agency that this case has become an ego case for Sheriff Nanos."

Cross also said it is "widely believed he thinks the FBI cost him his election," a remark that points to a possible personal motive behind the sheriff's reported reluctance to cooperate with federal investigators. Federal sources have alleged that Nanos blocked the FBI from accessing a glove and DNA evidence, instead sending material to a private lab in Florida rather than using the FBI's own forensic resources.

That allegation tracks with broader reporting about the sheriff's office blocking FBI access to key evidence in the case, a decision that, if true, could have slowed the investigation at a critical early stage.

Meanwhile, the investigators themselves have come under question. A law enforcement source told NewsNation that the detectives initially assigned to the scene were not experienced homicide investigators. The source went further, claiming the homicide unit supervisor had never investigated a homicide before being installed in the role. As the New York Post reported, the lead detective on the case had "never investigated a homicide before."

Several hundred detectives and agents are now assigned to the investigation. Investigators expanded their search across Tucson-area neighborhoods, requesting home surveillance footage from January 31, the morning of February 1, and even from January 11, suggesting they may have identified earlier suspicious activity near the Guthrie home. Black gloves recovered from the area were submitted for DNA analysis.

A pattern of evasion?

When asked by News4 Tucson whether he would comply with the Board of Supervisors' order to provide sworn testimony, Nanos said simply: "Yes absolutely." His spokesperson, Brittany Abarr, offered a more polished response.

"Sheriff Chris Nanos remains committed to full compliance and will continue to operate with openness and transparency moving forward. His priority remains maintaining public trust and serving the community with integrity."

Those words ring hollow against the record. A sheriff who was forced to resign from his first department after eight suspensions, who allegedly beat a handcuffed suspect, who allegedly threatened to drag a man into the desert, and who allegedly lied to the county about his work history does not get to invoke "transparency" as a shield. Not when an 84-year-old woman remains missing. Not when his own deputies say the case has become about him rather than the victim.

On February 4, Nanos himself told reporters that no suspect or person of interest had been identified. He also cautioned the public against sharing "unverified accusations or false information," saying it "does not assist the investigation." That warning might carry more weight coming from a sheriff whose own record did not include allegations of false statements to authorities.

Private investigators have pointed to possible cartel involvement in the disappearance, a theory that, whatever its merits, reflects the vacuum created when official channels fail to produce results. When a sheriff's department cannot answer basic questions about a high-profile abduction after more than two months, people look elsewhere for explanations.

The Board of Supervisors was right to demand sworn testimony. The people of Pima County deserve to know whether their sheriff lied about his background. The Guthrie family deserves to know whether ego, inexperience, or institutional dysfunction delayed the search for their mother. And Nancy Guthrie, wherever she is, deserves better than a department led by a man whose career began with the kind of conduct that would disqualify most applicants from ever wearing a badge.

Savannah Guthrie's recent Easter message reminded the country that behind the headlines, a family is living through something no one should have to endure. The least their local sheriff can do is get out of his own way.

When the people in charge care more about protecting their record than finding an 84-year-old woman, the system has failed the one person it was supposed to protect.