Shocking police mistake may have crippled crucial early stages of Nancy Guthrie search

Investigators looking for Savannah Guthrie’s missing mom, Nancy Guthrie, may have made a serious mistake in the early stages of their search.

According to a new report, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office potentially hurt their own investigation by not immediately launching a high-tech aircraft at the start of their desperate hunt for the “Today” show co-host’s beloved mother.

Several sources claimed to the Daily Mail that the law enforcement agency didn’t use its Cessna aircraft, which is said to have high-resolution thermal imaging cameras, until hours after Nancy, 84, was reported missing in Arizona on Sunday afternoon.

The alleged delay in getting the plane, known as Survey 1, off the ground and up in the air was reportedly due to a staffing shortage.

Insiders who spoke to the outlet blamed Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos for the purported oversight, particularly because aviators who could have crewed the Cessna were recently transferred out of the department’s Air Operations Unit.

“This left the department without a crew to respond to the search due to short staffing,” a Pima County source told the Daily Mail. “If they had somebody who could fly that plane, they could have probably found her instantly if she was out in the desert.”

“The most important, crucial hours and minutes right after someone is missing – we’ve lost those,” they added.

A helicopter was ultimately deployed instead, per the outlet, although it was said to lack adequate sensors and thermal imaging like the Cessna. The Cessna, meanwhile, was reportedly launched around 5 p.m.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

Nanos, who has stood by the belief that Savannah’s missing mom is still alive days after her suspected abduction in the middle of the night, offered an exact timeline of Nancy’s disappearance during a press conference on Thursday.

He revealed that the 84-year-old left her home in an Uber shortly after 5:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, Jan. 31, to spend time with her daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni. She returned home later that night at approximately 9:48 p.m., which was when her garage door was opened.

However, Nancy’s doorbell camera was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. Sunday, and, less than 30 minutes later, the software detected a person had walked past the camera at 2:12 a.m. No video was available.

Savannah’s mom’s pacemaker was disconnected from the app on her phone at 2:28 a.m., and she wasn’t discovered missing until her family arrived at her Catalina Foothills home to check on her at 11:56 a.m.

Nancy was officially reported missing at 12:03 p.m. on Sunday, and police arrived at the scene 12 minutes later.

In the five days since Savannah’s mother’s mysterious and shocking disappearance, it was revealed that a short trail of Nancy’s blood was found just outside her front door.

An alleged ransom note was also sent to TMZ and some Tucson outlets demanding millions of dollars in Bitcoin in exchange for Nancy’s safe return.

On Wednesday night, hours before the alleged ransom note’s first 5 p.m. Thursday deadline came and went, Savannah and her siblings released an emotional video pleading for their mom’s safe return.

The FBI has also since announced a $50,000 reward for “information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.”