Nancy Grace finds herself deeply connected to the case of Nancy Guthrie, and it’s not just the professional ties that bind her. As someone with a background in prosecution, Grace understands all too well how a poorly managed crime scene can create hurdles in court and complicate the ongoing search for Guthrie. In a recent conversation on Sean Hannity’s podcast, “Hang Out with Sean Hannity,” she expressed these concerns.
The suspected kidnapping of Guthrie, now 84, stirs poignant memories for Grace. She reflects on the tragic murder of her fiancé during her college summer break in 1979, an event that forever altered her life.
The emotional weight of such loss hit home again when Savannah Guthrie, Guthrie’s daughter and a co-host on “Today,” shared a heartfelt interview with her colleague Hoda Kotb last week. Watching the interview, Grace was reminded that the void left by a loved one’s disappearance is something you can never truly fill.
In the latest episode of “Hang Out with Sean Hannity,” where the focus was on the unresolved case of Nancy Guthrie, Grace sat across from Hannity. The conversation touched on the emotional turmoil and the procedural frustrations that accompany such cases. This episode, capturing a still image of Grace and Hannity, was a poignant segment aired by Fox News.
Grace admitted to Hannity that the discussion was emotionally charged for her, not only because of her personal history but due to the obstacles that still plague the investigation.
The emotions ran raw, Grace told Hannity, but other aspects of the case pained her, too.
It’s Nanos. He stinks. He’s gotta go. But that’s a distraction to finding Nancy Guthrie.
The sheriff released the crime scene back to the family before bringing the FBI into the case days later. In the interim, delivery drivers and journalists walked up to the front door, dropping off parcels and taking photographs.
“By destroying the crime scene and by releasing the crime scene too early, they destroyed a lot of evidence,” she said.
Savannah Guthrie poses alongside her mother Nancy Guthrie during a production break while hosting NBC’s “Today” show live from Australia. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage)
“People called them ‘missteps,’ that is certainly putting perfume on the pig, isn’t it?” Grace said. “That’s a euphemism, ‘missteps’ — they’re screw-ups. The feds wouldn’t have done that.”
Then, as the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix office was with the Guthrie family filming a video response to a ransom demand that authorities viewed as potentially credible, the sheriff was caught on camera enjoying an Arizona Wildcats basketball game.
Pima County sheriff Chris Nanos was seen at a basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
Hannity noted that once the FBI did get involved, the bureau worked with Google to obtain imagery from Guthrie’s missing Nest doorbell camera that the sheriff’s department had not been able to recover.
“I don’t like attacking the actual men and women that are doing the work. The fish stinks at the head, Sean,” Grace said. “It’s Nanos. He stinks. He’s gotta go. But that’s a distraction to finding Nancy Guthrie.”
Photos released on Feb. 10, 2026, show a “subject” on Nancy Guthrie’s property. (Provided by FBI)
“When Savannah was talking…when she felt like it was her fault, she said, ‘Oh, Mommy, Mommy, I’m sorry. I am sorry,’” Grace said. “It took me right back to that moment — those horrible moments — when I was lying there in the dark, feeling like howling, because there just were no words.”
Grace’s fiancé, Keith Griffin, was killed on his way to work during a break from college — months before they hoped to get married.
The home of Nancy Guthrie, the missing mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, is seen from above, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz. (Caitlin O’Hara/AP Photo)
The 23-year-old had a summer gig on a construction crew, she said, and his killer had been fired from the same job before his arrival. Griffin went on a run to pick up drinks for his co-workers and bring them back to the rural job site, arriving in the owner’s jacket and driving the company truck.
“The guy came up and just opened fire and shot Keith five times in the face, the neck, the head and the back,” Grace told Hannity.
After his death, Grace dropped out of school. But eventually she returned, she said, motivated to help other crime victims.
“When I would be tired or weary, just as when I was prosecuting, I would think about Keith just looking at me with those big, blue eyes, and I would know it was my duty,” she said.
Annie Guthrie, her husband Tommaso Cioni and Savannah Guthrie at their missing mother Nancy Guthrie’s home on Monday, March 2 in Tucson, Arizona. (Fox News)
“That’s your calling,” Hannity replied.
She went on to prosecute violent crimes in Atlanta for a decade before becoming one of the most recognizable true crime hosts in America.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos gives an update on the investigation after the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie on Feb. 5, 2026. (Rebecca Noble/Reuters)
At one point, Hannity brought up an emotional moment from Guthrie’s interview with Kotb — where she acknowledged that her fame and fortune could have provided a motive for the unknown abductors.
“That’s not her fault,” he said. “Are we supposed to stop living our lives because there’s evil in this world?”
Grace agreed and argued that a victim’s family doesn’t have a script on how to respond to such a crisis.
Catch the full episode of “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
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