Guthrie Case: Deputy Union Chief Calls It "An Ego Case for Sheriff Nanos
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
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Summary
The jurisdiction fight in the Nancy Guthrie case went public this week when Sgt. Aaron Cross — president of the Pima County Deputies Organization — told the New York Post the case has become about ego. FBI sources say the bureau wants to take over but can't without the family's formal request. Investigators on the ground say they don't know who's in charge.
Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins Hidden Killers to break down what it means when a department's own union turns on leadership during an active kidnapping investigation. She walks through the legal mechanics of an FBI takeover — what the Guthrie family would need to do, what changes operationally, and the risks of inaction.
Coffindaffer addresses the FBI calling evidence handling "dumb" and "insane" while Nanos insists everything is fine, the gap between the described command structure and ground-level confusion, and whether A&E's "Desert Law" series should have been paused. The interview closes with what this dysfunction may be costing the investigation in real time — and whether that time is recoverable.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. |
| 0:03.2 | Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:06.8 | Sergeant Aaron Cross, the head of Nanos' own deputy union, went on the New York Post this last week. |
| 0:13.6 | And he called this an ego case for Sheriff Nanos. |
| 0:17.2 | FBI sources say the Bureau wants the case, but can't take it without the family's request. |
| 0:22.2 | Investigators on the ground say they don't know what is going on who's running things at some of the quotes. |
| 0:28.3 | This is the fight that apparently is going on underneath the investigation. And look, I want to say this, |
| 0:34.1 | there are plenty of very well-meaning and very hard-working investigators on the |
| 0:38.8 | ground that are working this case without a doubt. Unfortunately, it seems when you get to the more |
| 0:45.4 | administrative level is where we're seeing a lot of chaos and, you know, leadership starts at the top, |
| 0:50.9 | and that ends up being a reflection of how an investigation goes. Jennifer Coff and Defer. Retired FBI Special Agent is with us to discuss all of this. |
| 1:00.8 | Jen, you've been doing this for a long time. We've seen dysfunction in cases this way and that way. |
| 1:06.5 | How does this one rank to you in terms of one for the ages of dysfunction? |
| 1:13.0 | Well, I'm old school. |
| 1:16.0 | Yeah. |
| 1:16.4 | So part of the issue I have here are all these purported leaks, all of these purported |
| 1:24.0 | law enforcement sources, people, look, even when I didn't like a boss or I had an issue with another agent or |
| 1:33.4 | whatever, that is always kept in-house. |
| 1:36.2 | It's kind of like, listen, I can yell at my kid for doing something, but nobody else |
| 1:40.9 | better. |
| 1:41.8 | And so I just came up in that environment within the Bureau. |
| 1:45.4 | You supported each other. |
... |
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