Southwest
Arizona rancher defense consultant claims 'cartel influence' in murder probe, rips sheriff's past comments
A consultant for Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly’s defense team told Fox News Digital that they believe the murder investigation was mired by “cartel influence,” as Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway is expected to take the stand this week to testify about traveling across the border to Mexico to interview the prosecution’s main witness.
Hathaway, who the defense told the judge last week they plan to call as a witness, was notably featured in a YouTube video published about a month ago by real estate agent Sydney Wilburn, who goes by Big Super online, in which the sheriff gives a tour of his home and the borderlands neighborhood where his family has resided since the 1800s.
The sheriff referenced the Kelly case on camera, without using the rancher’s name, describing how “there are people that’ll come to the border thinking they’re going to find some action.”
“Like, we had a rancher here that had been writing fan fiction on Amazon, and he was describing himself hunting migrants with his AK-47, and he actually even used his name, and his wife’s name, and his ranch’s name, and he came from somewhere else,” Hathaway said. “Then we caught him out there actually shooting at some people out there, shooting at some migrants, killed one of them, and one of them got away, so now he’s being prosecuted for homicide in the county.”
ARIZONA RANCHER GEORGE ALAN KELLY’S WIFE TESTIFIES IN MURDER TRIAL, DESCRIBES ARMED MEN NEAR BORDERLANDS HOME
George Alan Kelly enters court for his preliminary hearing in Nogales Justice Court in Nogales, Arizona, Feb. 22, 2023. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP, Pool, File)
Walking his property, and speaking to the camera, the sheriff continued, “That’s an example of a guy with that mentality. They come out here, and they want to say, ‘I’m out here in the Wild West,’ and they want to have a big tough story to tell. ‘I’m gonna go out there, and hunt me some Mexicans,’ you know? And that appeals to some people, but that’s not a common thing.”
“He’s an extremist,” Wilburn, who has 120,000 YouTube subscribers, chimes in from off-camera.
“Yeah, you would not see people like that,” Hathaway added in the 52-minute video viewed by Fox News Digital. “It’s not like there’s a bunch of groups wandering around with that attitude.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Hathaway for comment, but he did not immediately respond.
Dr. Ron Martinelli, a forensic criminologist who is working pro-bono for the Kelly defense as their lead consultant with the forensic death investigation, told Fox News Digital that “these are completely inappropriate, prejudicial and extremely biased statements about a criminal defendant.”
The consultant said the video was referencing Kelly because, although Hathaway didn’t mention Kelly by name, the sheriff had been “literally driving through Mr. Kelly’s neighborhood.”
“But what is Mr. Kelly’s motive? So we have a rancher on a very nice ranch with an impeccable background of cooperation with law enforcement. He’s never been in trouble in his life. And according to Sheriff Hathaway and the state’s theory of criminality, Mr. Kelly woke up one morning and just decided he was going to kill him, a Mexican?” Martinelli said. “That’s absurd.”
ARIZONA RANCHER GEORGE ALAN KELLY TRIAL WITNESS ADMITS TO DRUG SMUGGLING
Kelly’s wife testified earlier in the trial that she saw a group of armed men dressed in camouflage and carrying packs near their residence on their 170-acre cattle ranch near Keno Springs outside Nogales, Arizona, before calling Border Patrol. Her husband went outside, and according to the defense, fired warning shots into the air.
Law enforcement responded, and hours passed before Kelly called for help again to report finding Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea’s body on his property on Jan. 30, 2023.
Kelly was charged with first-degree premeditated murder and held on $1 million bond for weeks as the case gained national scrutiny. The highest charge was later downgraded to second-degree murder.
Last week, Santa Cruz County Det. Mario Barba testified that he accompanied Hathaway to Mexico to interview Daniel Ramirez, the prosecution’s key witness who claims to have seen first-hand when Buitimea was shot on Kelly’s ranch before fleeing across the border. Weeks after the shooting, Hathaway arranged a meeting with Ramirez at a hotel in Nogales, Mexico, and though the sheriff interviewed him for about 40 minutes, he only recorded about six minutes, Barba said. The detective said Ramirez “couldn’t cross into the United States legally” to be interviewed.
“You could have spoken to Mexican officials to arrange something? Correct?” Kelly’s defense attorney, Brenna Larkin, asked.
Santa Cruz County Chief Deputy Attorney Kim Hunley listens as she plays a 911 call for the jury during George Alan Kelly’s trial at Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Friday, March 22, 2024, in Nogales, Arizona. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP, Pool)
“Correct,” the detective responded.
“And you didn’t do that. Did you?” Larkin said.
Barba replied, “No.”
Taking the stand earlier in the trial, Ramirez admitted that he previously carried drugs across the border before and had been deported several times.
The defense believes that the people contacted by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office to conduct their investigation into Kelly’s case are related or connected to the Sinaloa Cartel, Martinelli said.
“The Sinaloa Cartel and Manos Malas, an organized crime ring which is in league with Sinaloa, do not allow independent drug smugglers. So you have to be associated with the cartel,” Martinelli said. “When they meet with him, that was actually facilitated by another convicted, twice convicted felon — one of his last convictions that he did prison time for was bringing guns across the border.”
George Alan Kelly, right, exits the Santa Cruz County Courthouse with defense attorney Kathy Lowthorp, Friday, March 22, 2024, in Nogales, Arizona. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP, Pool)
ARIZONA RANCHER GEORGE ALAN KELLY JURY TO TAKE FIELD TRIP TO BORDERLAND PROPERTY AT CENTER OF MURDER TRIAL
“The false narrative is out there that Buitimea and all these so-called witnesses are people seeking the American dream. Migrants seeking the American Dream do not smuggle drugs across the border or smuggle weapons across the border. And again, that is an indication of cartel influence, cartel membership,” the consultant said. “That has nothing to do with the narrative that the prosecutor and the sheriff were putting out there, that Mr. Buitimea was an innocent migrant seeking the American Dream.”
While with Barba in Mexico, Hathway introduced himself as the supervising investigator in the case, Martinelli told Fox News Digital, meaning “he is the supervising investigator in an international investigation that he initiated in a foreign country.” The defense believes that was a violation of U.S. State Department protocols, as well as Mexican law created by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the country’s legislature providing guidelines for U.S. authorities while conducting criminal investigations in Mexico.
George Alan Kelly listens to the prosecution during opening arguments at Santa Cruz County Superior Court Friday, March 22, 2024 in Nogales, Arizona. (Angela Gervasi/Nogales International, via AP)
“There is no evidence he ever advised the Mexican government or requested permission to enter the country to conduct an international homicide investigation involving Mexican nationals. And that includes the federal police. The Mexican federal police,” Martinelli said. “What we want to find out today is how that meeting came about. How did they cross into Mexico? You know, did they drive there in a marked car? Were they in uniform with, you know with their, even plainclothes, with their badges and firearms? How did that take place? Because procedurally, that’s a huge thing.”
Also on camera in the same YouTube video, Hathaway said that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Border Patrol can search, detain and interrogate anybody within 100 miles of the U.S. international border.
“And the Supreme Court had called that extended border search authority,” Hathway said. “To me, it’s a real problem to have a policy like that within the U.S. government because this is supposed to be America. This is supposed to be a free country, right? I mean, you shouldn’t have people who can pull you over for no reason like they’re the Gestapo or something like that. For me, that’s a problem.”
Hathaway also went on to criticize the sheriffs of other neighboring counties for decrying the border crisis.
“He minimizes the victimization of migrants coming across the border. The rape of migrants. The murder and the robberies of migrants,” Martinelli said. “But at the same time, he is enjoying a financial grant from DHS to patrol the border with his deputies… He doesn’t have any problem taking money from the United States government for his deputies’ patrol.”
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Southwest
Arizona governor vetoes Charlie Kirk memorial license plate, sparking GOP outrage: ‘This bill falls short’
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Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is facing fierce backlash after vetoing a bill that would have created a specialty license plate honoring slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, a move Republicans are blasting as a stunning act of partisanship after his assassination.
Kirk, who was assassinated while speaking at a Sept. 10 Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University, lived in Arizona with his wife, Erika, and two children.
The proposed specialty plate, referred to as the “Charlie Kirk memorial” plate or the “Conservative grassroots network special plate,” featured a photo of the late Kirk and the TPUSA logo in front of an American flag background.
Below the license plate number were the words “FOR CHARLIE.”
A custom Arizona license plate, featuring a Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk design, shared by state Sen. Jake Hoffman. (Senator Jake Hoffman via X)
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Of the $25 fee required for the plate, $17 would be an annual donation deposited into the Conservative Grassroots Network Special Plate Fund, according to the legislation.
While the recipient of the Grassroots Network Special Plate Fund was not explicitly designated as TPUSA in the bill, it noted the director of the fund would allocate revenue annually to a nonprofit organization, founded in 2012, that focuses on restoring traditional values, maintaining a grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses in Arizona, and assisting college students with voter registration and absentee ballots.
People gather at a memorial to mourn Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk outside Turning Point USA headquarters Sept. 12, 2025, in Phoenix. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
TPUSA, founded by Kirk in 2012, is well known for its grassroots activist networks on high school and college campuses. It is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
The $25 fee and annual $17 donation are consistent with the fees for the other 109 nonprofit license plates offered by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).
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The state Senate passed the bill, 16-2, with the House of Representatives voting 31-23 in favor prior to Hobbs’ veto.
Specialty plates in Arizona are authorized by the legislature and sent to the governor to be signed into law. They have been offered since 1989.
In a letter explaining the veto, Hobbs cited concerns with the bill “bring[ing] people together,” claiming it would “insert politics into a function of government that should remain nonpartisan.”
Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is facing fierce backlash after vetoing a bill that would have created a specialty license plate honoring slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
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“Charlie Kirk’s assassination is tragic and a horrifying act of violence,” Hobbs wrote. “In America, we resolve our political differences at the ballot box. No matter who it targets, political violence puts us all in harm’s way and damages our sacred democratic institutions.
“I will continue working toward solutions that bring people together, but this bill falls short of that standard.”
Specialty license plates with political interests already approved by the state include the “Choose Life” Plate, which benefits the Arizona Life Coalition and its mission to promote anti-abortion advocacy and education; the “In God We Trust” Plate, which benefits conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom; and the Arizona Realtors’ “Homes for All” Plate, which funds affordable housing projects.
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, speaks during the Turning Point Action conference in 2023 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Lynne Sladky/AP Photo)
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Another approved plate, “Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Plate,” which benefits Solid Rock Teen Centers, features a portrait of the legendary musician, who has made political comments about social issues including gender identity.
Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman, who sponsored the bill, posted a fiery statement on social media after the governor’s action, claiming her “grotesque partisanship knows no bounds.”
“Even in the wake of a global civil rights leader — an Arizona resident and her own constituent — being assassinated in broad daylight for his defense of the First Amendment, Hobbs couldn’t find the human decency to put her far-Left extremism aside simply to allow those how wish to honor him to do so,” Hoffman wrote. “Katie Hobbs will forever be known as a stain on the pages of Arizona’s story.”
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On Saturday, TPUSA COO Tyler Bowyer shared an X post that said, “Deport Katie Hobbs.”
TPUSA, Bowyer and Hobbs’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
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Southwest
Air Force veteran warns ‘cartels don’t collapse — they fracture’ after notorious drug lord killed
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Nearly two weeks after Mexican forces killed notorious cartel boss Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, questions remain about how the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) will respond and whether the blow will meaningfully disrupt the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
Carlos De La Cruz, a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran who deployed after 9/11 and later served along the southern border, told Fox News the cartel leader’s death marked a major victory, but warned Americans should not mistake it for the end of the fight.
“When I say that this is a significant win, I mean it,” De La Cruz said. “El Mencho ran one of the most violent cartels on the planet.”
Oseguera, who rose to prominence in the post–El Chapo era, oversaw CJNG’s aggressive expansion across Mexico and into key trafficking corridors feeding U.S. drug markets. Under his leadership, the cartel became a central architect of fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking and drew a $15 million U.S. reward for information leading to his capture.
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Smoke rises from burning vehicles after a military operation that a government source said killed Mexican drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Feb. 22, 2026. (Screen grab obtained from a social media video. @morelifediares via Instagram/YouTube via Reuters)
But De La Cruz cautioned that removing a cartel kingpin does not dismantle the organization.
“Cartels don’t collapse when you just cut the head off — they fracture,” he said. “And part of that fracture is going to see a lot of short-term violence while all these factions fight over territory.”
Following Oseguera’s killing on Feb. 22, the U.S. State Department issued travel alerts in multiple Mexican states, citing road blockages and criminal activity tied to security operations, underscoring concerns about instability in the aftermath.
Drawing on his military background studying enemy command structures, De La Cruz described the cartel fight as a long-term campaign requiring sustained pressure.
A mughsot of Ruben “Nemesio” Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” beside graffiti depicting the letters of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, covering the facade of an abandoned home in El Limoncito, in the Michoacan state of Mexico. (Eduardo Verdugo/AP Images; Drug Enforcement Administration)
“You don’t win a war with just one airstrike,” he said. “The goal is dismantling the networks and going after their financing.”
De La Cruz, who is running for Congress and is the brother of Texas Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, argued that CJNG’s Foreign Terrorist Organization designation gives U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies expanded tools to target cartel infrastructure and financial pipelines.
KAROLINE LEAVITT WARNS CARTELS TO ‘NOT LAY A FINGER’ ON AMERICANS OR PAY ‘SEVERE CONSEQUENCES’
A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire in Cointzio, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, after the cartel leader’s death. (Armando Solis/AP Photo)
But he stressed that the fentanyl crisis should be viewed as a domestic security emergency, not a distant foreign problem.
“For decades, they were using their territories as launching pads to pump chemical weapons into America — because that’s exactly what fentanyl is,” he said.
De La Cruz, who said he worked side by side with Customs agents while deployed to the border, warned that cartel networks are highly adaptive and that any gains could be temporary without sustained follow-through.
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Smoke rises after violence hit Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. (Courtesy of Scott Posilkin)
“These networks, they’re going to adjust. They’re going to adapt and they’re going to adapt quickly,” he said. “We have to continue to go after the money launderers, especially on our side of the border, because that’s the full fight.”
While Oseguera’s death removes one of the most dominant figures in Mexico’s criminal underworld, De La Cruz said the mission is personal.
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“I took an oath to defend this country,” he said. “And I intend to stand by that oath.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
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TUCSON, Ariz. — More than five weeks after the suspected abduction of Nancy Guthrie — the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie — Arizona authorities say cadaver dogs used earlier in the investigation are not currently being deployed as the search continues.
The elder Guthrie is believed to have been kidnapped from her home in the Catalina Foothills in northern Tucson around 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 1.
While no suspects have been publicly identified, and she has not been found, cadaver dogs had been deployed earlier in the case, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. They have not been visible in weeks.
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A member of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office remains outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil; Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
“They are available if needed in the future,” he told Fox News Digital.
There are a number of reasons not to be using cadaver dogs at this stage in the investigation, according to Betsy Brantner Smith, a retired police sergeant and spokeswoman for the National Police Association.
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Savannah Guthrie visits the Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
One would be if there’s credible information that Guthrie is still alive.
“Anything is possible,” Nanos told Fox News Digital last week, adding that he would not discuss specific leads or evidence in the case.
DNA IS STILL PENDING AS VOLUNTEERS FIND ANOTHER GLOVE IN THE SEARCH FOR NANCY GUTHRIE
Brantner Smith, who is not involved in the case, said departments may hold back K-9 resources for several reasons. Those could be that authorities don’t have a good idea of where to search, they think she might be concealed in a place where dogs would have a hard time detecting her, or they believe she’s been taken to Mexico, according to Brantner Smith.
Law enforcement agents walk around the neighborhood where Annie Guthrie, whose mother Nancy Guthrie has been missing for more than a week, lives just outside Tucson, Ariz. (Ty ONeil/AP Photo)
“I do believe that the sheriff’s department has much more information that they are not releasing to the public,” she told Fox News Digital. “And I’m not sure at this point why that would be, unless they have a solid suspect and don’t want to tip them off.”
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Most departments, including the Pima County Sheriff’s, don’t have their own cadaver dogs and borrow them from state and federal authorities or neighboring jurisdictions.
An investigator looks inside a culvert in the neighborhood where Annie Guthrie, whose mother Nancy Guthrie has been missing for more than a week, lives just outside Tucson, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (Ty ONeil/AP Photo)
In Guthrie’s case, the sheriff’s department sought K-9 assistance from the local Border Patrol office earlier in the investigation.
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PCSD deferred further comment on the K-9s to Customs and Border Protection, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A member of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office walks around Nancy Guthrie’s home on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026 in Tucson, Ariz. (Ty ONeil/AP Photo)
The biggest lead so far has been Nest camera video showing a masked intruder on Guthrie’s doorstep the morning of her abduction.
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He is described as about 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall and of medium build.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing from her Arizona home since Jan. 31, 2026. (Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Images)
He was wearing a black Ozark Trail backpack.
Authorities have said they won’t consider the case cold until they run out of viable leads to follow up on — and tens of thousands have come in so far.
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Savannah Guthrie has asked anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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There’s a combined reward of more than $1.2 million for information that leads to her mother’s recovery.
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