Scandal erupts around Nancy Guthrie: sheriff spotted cruising to the gym in a flashy convertible more often than visiting the case scene — as the investigation mysteriously stalls with no answers in sight.

The garrulous Arizona sheriff who has failed to find Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother has been spending more days pumping iron at the gym than at his desk, The Post can exclusively reveal.

Chris Nanos — the embattled chief lawman of Pima County leading the hunt for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie — was spotted at his office in Tucson just twice for a leisurely seven hours a day between Friday and Tuesday this past week.

Nancy, meanwhile, has been missing for 46 days — with Nanos and his deputies having yet to identify a suspect or otherwise meaningful lead in the elusive disappearance case.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos leaving the gym.
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Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos cuts a casual figure as he leaves the gym on March 13, 2026.
New York Post
The 70-year-old Democrat — who at first charmed America with his tearful pleas for help, only to begin to contradict himself through public interviews as the case began to languish — hit the gym four times during the five-day period, The Post has learned.

He has been seen cruising out of his $850,000 manse in a gated community on the outskirts of Tucson in his flashy, newer-model Corvette Stingray — white, the same color as his hair — for his roughly 90-minute workouts.

Criticism ramping up as case gets colder
The floundering Democrat has been under the microscope for his handling of the Guthrie case — including criticism that he’s been sending the wrong messages to the public about the case.

He’s also been panned for releasing Nancy’s Catalina Foothills home as a crime scene too quickly in the early days of her disappearance, using a private DNA analysis company instead of working more closely with the FBI, and not deploying critical resources like a search plane or cadaver-sniffing dogs.

The mother (left) of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie (right) hasn’t been seen in almost 50 days.
Facebook/Savanah Guthrie
Nanos is facing a recall effort after critics branded his handling of the Guthrie case “an embarrassment” to the county.

He has insisted to NBC — “Today” show co-host Savannah’s network — that “investigators are definitely closer” to finding out who abducted Nancy from her home in the dead of night on Feb. 1.

Despite that, signs are piling up that the case has gone cold — and fading out of the public eye.

Nanos — seen leaving the gym on March 16 — has come under attack for his handling of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
New York Post
Nanos taking his foot off the gas?
A source close to the Guthrie family said Savannah and her brother and sister are still working with investigators — even as it appears Nanos has taken his foot off the gas.

He was a no-show at work last Friday — and only left his house over the weekend to head to the gym.

Earlier this week, he arrived at the office, about 20 miles south of his sprawling home, just after 9 a.m. and left around 4 p.m., taking off in either his $70,000 convertible or his other car, a Ford Explorer.

The experienced lawman has also been seen driving a $70,000 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray sportscar.
New York Post
Meanwhile, with the case in its seventh week, the FBI has been busy re-canvassing Nancy’s neighborhood, hunting for footage from two specific dates prior to her kidnapping, NewsNation’s Brian Entin reported this week.

The journalist said he’s finally returning home after being told there were no imminent leads.

Mixed messages in the media
The locquacious lawman has been relishing the limelight since Nancy’s Feb. 1 disappearance, giving interview after interview with often confusing or contradictory information.

Nanos and representatives of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

“The sheriff chooses to deal with the media in a bit of a haphazard way,” Pima County-based Betsy Brantner Smith of the National Police Association told The Post.

“Normally, in a case like this, you would see regular press conferences, and it would be the sheriff or his designated person, and then somebody designated from the FBI — usually a public information officer or something like that,” she said.

When speculation ramped up that Savannah’s brother-in-law, Tomasso Cioni, was potentially a prime suspect, Nanos refused to rule him out.

Nanos was forced to publicly clear the entire Guthrie family more than a week later.

Savannah is said to be “livid” over the false claims that have served as a distraction from the case.

Last month, after images from Nancy’s doorbell camera emerged, Nanos ominously suggested that she could’ve been kidnapped in “revenge for something.” He did not elaborate.

And just last week, he claimed he knew why the suspect “targeted” Nancy — warning that the abductor could “absolutely” strike again in the largely retirement-age community, without giving more details.

Nanos has been criticized for giving contradictory information on the case in his many media appearances.
Rebecca Noble for NY Post
“We believe we know why he did this, and we believe that it was targeted, but we, we can’t, we’re not 100% sure of that,” Nanos told NBC News.

Nanos has not responded to numerous requests for interviews since the case began.

“The sheriff speaks to whoever he wants to speak to at that moment, which is just not the way that law enforcement should be doing things,” Smith said.