‘Defies logic’: Retired K-9 officer questions halt of cadaver dogs in Nancy Guthrie search

TUCSON, ARIZONA: A retired K-9 expert is criticizing the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of ‘Today’ host Savannah Guthrie, saying the decision to stop using search dogs "defies logic."

After nearly seven weeks with no sign of Guthrie, who vanished from her Tucson home, many are questioning why the most effective tools for finding missing people are not being used.

K-9 officer criticizes halt of cadaver dog search

Michael Gould, a former K-9 investigator with the NYPD, is raising concerns over how the Pima County Sheriff’s Department is handling the case.

He explains that these specialized animals are more than just pets: "they're considered in court a scientific instrument. So why the sheriff chose not to use them, I don't understand."

Gould argues that "cadaver dogs, [or] human remains detection dogs, they are the primary technology available to humans to detect odor of people missing," yet the department has stopped using them. Without these dogs, Gould fears the investigation has stalled and that "we're just chasing shadows."

K-9 officer questions removal of cadaver search teams

It should be noted that the Pima County Sheriff’s Department does not have its own cadaver dogs and had to borrow them from Border Patrol early in the investigation.

However, those teams are no longer being used, a move Gould finds deeply concerning. "There's only two assumptions, two implications there, that A, she's still alive, that's one implication, or B, they've given up searching for her," Gould said.

He is calling on the sheriff to either resume an organized pattern search using the dogs or explain to the public why they are not being used, noting that "I stretch my head to think, without him guiding us, giving us answers to this, I can't think of any other rationale why you would say we're putting cadaver dogs on hold."

Search shifts as fears grow in Nancy Guthrie case

While Sheriff Chris Nanos has said "anything is possible" when asked if Guthrie is still alive, he has declined to share specific details about the evidence.

Gould, however, believes the passage of time points to a different reality and that the case no longer resembles a typical kidnapping. Since more than 40 days have passed without any contact, he suggests the investigation needs to shift focus entirely.

"After six weeks, without proof of life, without anything else, the family has come to terms with the fact, I think, that this is a homicide investigation, and it's got to be treated like that," he said.