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Journalist’s dangerous obsession with a forgotten serial killer unraveled her reality

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Journalist’s dangerous obsession with a forgotten serial killer unraveled her reality

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Laura Greenberg was a journalist determined to understand why people kill. In her search for answers, she befriended a long-forgotten serial killer behind bars. As he described his crimes, her sense of reality began to unravel.

Greenberg’s unsettling bond with Doug Gretzler — who, along with accomplice Willie Steelman, killed 17 people, including two children — continues to haunt her decades later. Her search for understanding is the focus of Oxygen’s new true-crime documentary, “Charmed by the Devil.”

The film explores how Greenberg visited Gretzler 350 times, exchanged hundreds of letters and recorded more than 500 hours of audio in a relentless effort to, as she put it, “understand the monster.”

UNEARTHED ‘SON OF SAM’ PRISON TAPES REVEAL CHILLING DETAILS ABOUT SERIAL KILLER DAVID BERKOWITZ

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Laura Greenberg’s startling bond with death row inmate Douglas “Doug” Gretzler is the subject of the new Oxygen true-crime documentary “Charmed by the Devil.” (Oxygen)

Growing up, filmmaker and Nickelodeon voice actor Ben Giroux only knew that his aunt was interviewing “a guy who killed somebody.” It wasn’t until 2020, during the pandemic, that he gained full access to Greenberg’s startling recordings.

“I went and visited Doug 350 times in prison,” Laura Greenberg is heard saying in the documentary. “We wrote hundreds of letters, and we recorded 500 plus hours of audio tapes. I wanted to understand the monster.” (Oxygen)

“She always says there are 17 bodies between them,” Giroux told Fox News Digital. “He was a monster. He was the devil. And yet she was able to look beyond that and establish a human connection. She says she wouldn’t put a label on what that connection was. I’m sure her answer changes daily on how she would define it.”

Giroux noted that the depth of that connection is what makes the story so unnerving.

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Laura Greenberg saved hundreds of hours of recordings from Doug Gretzler, including audio heard publicly for the first time in the documentary. (Oxygen)

“When you walk into her house, it’s basically a museum dedicated to this case,” he shared. “There are police reports, crime scene photos, written letters and paintings. It’s a massive trove of communication between her and Gretzler. It’s an obsession. I think they came to both rely on and become codependent on each other in that obsession.”

Gretzler and Steelman landed on death row after a three-week killing spree in Arizona and California. Steelman died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1986 — the same year that Greenberg, a scrappy reporter for City magazine in Tucson, got a tip about Gretzler that sparked her curiosity.

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Greenberg first contacted Gretzler by letter, hoping to gain his trust. At the time, he refused to discuss his crimes with anyone. Still, her words intrigued him enough to respond. What followed was an unbroken exchange of letters and recorded conversations. Soon after, she visited him in prison.

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Laura Greenberg was a Tucson-based reporter who wanted to know why people kill. (Oxygen)

“Gretzler was somebody nobody had ever heard of because the only person he was talking to was my aunt,” said Giroux.

The boundaries blurred quickly. They bonded over their shared New York City upbringings. Greenberg, who was living with a boyfriend at the time, would wait until he fell asleep, then quietly lock herself in the bathroom, draw a bath and, as she later described, listen as Gretzler spoke in detail about the murders. At one point, he professed his love for her and grew increasingly jealous after she married.

Doug Gretzler (pictured here) and Willie Steelman robbed grocery store owner Walter Parkin and killed all nine people inside Parkin’s home outside Lodi, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported. Among the victims were a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. A loved one of the family spoke out in the documentary. (Oxygen)

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“No one knew these tapes existed until now,” executive producer Lauren Flowers told Fox News Digital.

Doug Gretzler had been on death row since Nov. 15, 1976, the Los Angeles Times reported. (Oxygen)

“I was surprised by how ordinary some of these conversations were, knowing the intention was to hear about gruesome crimes and uncover the why. Then you put on another tape and hear them talk about the weather or music, what Laura was buying at the grocery store — even realizing they once went to the same music festival and hung out at some of the same places.”

Flowers noted that the documentary raises difficult ethical questions about how close a journalist should get to a story. The unusual access Greenberg gained — and the intimacy that followed — will likely raise eyebrows among viewers, she pointed out. Giroux and Flowers said the film explores Greenberg’s pursuit as professional boundaries are tested.

Doug Gretzler (left) and Laura Greenberg (right) are originally from New York City. (Oxygen)

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Gretzler gave Greenberg detailed accounts of his life and crimes. At 22, he fled his responsibilities as a husband and father in New York and headed to Colorado, where he fueled his days with drugs and alcohol. 

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Willie Steelman (pictured here), Doug Gretzler’s accomplice, died in 1986 while incarcerated on death row. (Oxygen)

There, he met Steelman, a volatile 28-year-old who had recently been institutionalized. They formed a “pact,” with Gretzler pledging absolute loyalty to Steelman, whom he considered a brother.

Together, they embarked on a cross-country trip with a simple plan — to steal money and drugs. It quickly spiraled into something darker. Gretzler said flatly that it didn’t take much for him to kill.

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Laura Greenberg said she doesn’t regret their controversial relationship. (Oxygen)

While some families said the interviews helped answer lingering questions, Greenberg acknowledged that no explanation could ever justify the brutality of the murders.

Douglas E Gretzler, 22, is seen exiting a police car and is led into the police station after his arrest in downtown Sacramento.   (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

As Greenberg gathered information, she reached out to loved ones of the victims and to Gretzler’s sister. They opened up to her for the first time.

“On the surface, it’s confusing,” Giroux said. “Wouldn’t they reject someone who became so close to a person who took so many lives and devastated so many families? But I think they’ve come to appreciate her ability to find the truth and dig for every detail. It speaks to her obsessive personality.”

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Doug Gretzler reportedly wrote letters of apology to the families of the victims. (Oxygen)

“She got everyone talking — everyone connected with her,” Giroux said. “She has a real gift for getting people to open up. She certainly did that with Gretzler, who rarely spoke to anyone else. She wanted to leave no stone unturned.”

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Douglas E. Gretzler (left), 22, and Willie L. Steelman, 28, are seen here arriving at the San Joaquin County Courts building. According to Oxygen.com, they claimed the lives of 17 people. (Getty Images)

“Does she accept that boundaries were crossed? I think so,” Giroux said. “She’s incredibly transparent and candid about it. She doesn’t shy away from discussing things that would make others flinch. She’s remarkably open about how deep that connection became.”

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Greenberg said she felt “disgusted” as Gretzler revealed the darkest details of his murders. He spoke not only about the killings, but also about a chaotic childhood, including the death of his teenage brother. She repeatedly challenged him, making it clear that no explanation could excuse the scale of his crimes.

Laura Greenberg’s nephew told Fox News Digital that she still listens to Doug Gretzler’s recordings. (Oxygen)

Greenberg pushed Gretzler as she studied how violence took root in his life and how he justified his heinous acts. For some of the victims’ families, the interviews clarified how and why the crimes unfolded, filling in gaps that police files and court records never fully answered after years of unresolved questions. It gave them a painful understanding of what happened to their loved ones during their final moments.

“I would fill up the bathtub, and I would listen to him talk to me about murder,” Laura Greenberg is heard saying in the documentary. (Oxygen)

“We wouldn’t have reached anyone without Laura,” Flowers said. “Everyone we found said, ‘Do you know Laura Greenberg? You have to talk to her.’”

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“That was especially true with Dee Gretzler, Doug Gretzler’s sister,” Flowers shared. “She was just a kid when she learned about it at school. She lives privately, and this is the first time she’s ever acknowledged that her brother was a serial killer. But she knew that if Laura participated, she could tell her story.”

“Doug and Willie were separate human beings,” retired Tucson Police Detective Weaver Barkman explained in “Charmed by the Devil.” “After they met, this symbiotic relationship formed a third personality. When you put them together, they turn into something that is extremely dangerous.” (Oxygen)

Gretzler invited Greenberg to witness his execution on June 3, 1998. She sat near his sister. In the years leading up to his death, they continued to talk about “everything in life, both profound and mundane,” said Giroux.

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Laura Greenberg is in the process of writing a book about her encounters with Doug Gretzler. (Oxygen)

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“The finality hit her hard,” Giroux admitted. “What’s so strange is how normal their interactions sounded at the end — almost casual. You’d think the execution would be the end of the story, but I think it was the beginning. Her obsession only grew after that, and her commitment to telling every detail of this story intensified after he was executed.”

What remains unchanged are the lives lost.

United Market in Victo, California, an intended robbery target of Douglas Gretzler and Willie Steelman in 1973. It was closed the night their crime spree escalated into the Parkin family murders. (Oxygen)

“I think Laura got Gretzler to accept that the responsibility was his,” Flowers said. “There are a lot of people with s—– childhoods who don’t kill 17 people — something she reminded him of repeatedly. From the start, we felt a responsibility to the victims and hoped to provide some closure to their families.”

In 1998, Doug Gretzler was executed by lethal injection. Laura Greenberg was present at the prison with his sister. (Oxygen)

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“The thing to take away from my aunt’s connection to Gretzler is the danger of obsession — and how we all need to check ourselves,” Giroux said. “You don’t want to go too far down the rabbit hole. This has consumed 40 years of her life.”

“Charmed by the Devil” is available for streaming on Peacock.



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Arizona governor vetoes Charlie Kirk memorial license plate, sparking GOP outrage: ‘This bill falls short’

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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.”

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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)

STATE DEPARTMENT REVOKES SIX VISAS OVER OFFENSIVE CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION COMMENTS

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)

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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).

‘WE ARE NOT AFRAID’: ERIKA KIRK VOWS TPUSA WILL CONTINUE CAMPUS DEBATES NATIONWIDE

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.

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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)

ERIKA KIRK BATTLES FOR CAMERAS IN COURTROOM WHILE EXPANDING TPUSA CHAPTERS IN NEW STATE PARTNERSHIP

“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.”

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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)

DEMOCRAT JOHN FETTERMAN DECRIES ‘DEHUMANIZING’ ATTACK AGAINST CHARLIE KIRK’S WIDOW ERIKA

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.” 

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“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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Air Force veteran warns ‘cartels don’t collapse — they fracture’ after notorious drug lord killed

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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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NARCOTICS EXPERT REVEALS SLAIN DRUG KINGPIN EL MENCHO’S DEADLY IMPACT ON AMERICANS

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.

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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’

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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.

SEN MULLIN URGES SPRING BREAKERS TO CANCEL TRIPS TO MEXICO AMID COUNTRY’S VIOLENCE: ‘NO ONE SHOULD BE GOING’

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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.”

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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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Search for Nancy Guthrie enters 5th week, cadaver dogs on hold

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Search for Nancy Guthrie enters 5th week, cadaver dogs on hold

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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.

NANCY GUTHRIE’S NEIGHBORS FLAG CAMERA GLITCHING, EXPERTS EXPLAIN WI-FI JAMMING

Savannah Guthrie visits the Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

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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)

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“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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