TUCSON, Ariz. — As retired Pima County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Bob Krygier meanders along a desert trail in the Catalina Foothills, not far from Nancy Guthrie’s residence, he gestures toward the thick brush surrounding the path.

“You could easily toss something beneath that tree, into this dense undergrowth,” Krygier explains. “We could walk right past… I bet we’ve overlooked things that seem suspicious, like dead animals. The terrain itself is a natural cover for all sorts of things.”

This area is known locally as a “wash,” a natural channel where water rushes through during heavy rains, forming what are called ephemeral rivers. Such washes are a common sight throughout Tucson and the greater Pima County region.

“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of these washes all over the county and city,” Krygier shared with Fox News Digital earlier this week. “They’re everywhere, a testament to the natural geography of this place.”

On May 5, 2026, Krygier, who once served as a SWAT commander with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, was seen inspecting a wash near Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home. (Photo credit: Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

They can also be natural escape routes, he said.

He spent almost three decades with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the lead agency in the search for the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie.

In that time, he said he chased countless suspects into the washes. Authorities have also recovered the remains of other missing persons many times over the years.

Bob Krygier, retired lieutenant and former SWAT commander with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, conducts a search in a wash near Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on May 5, 2026. (Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)

Some are narrow. Some are wide, like one just east of Guthrie’s neighborhood, which at some points stretches more than an estimated 150 yards across. In a situation like that, a vehicle could fit inside.

“We’re here within five minutes. And you could, you saw, we could drive down this road for 10 seconds and be completely out of sight from any roadway,” he said. “So then you now have what you need, which is time, and some cover from prying eyes.”

In the same area, deputies responded to an abandoned vehicle discovered on Feb. 2, parked just up the street from the entrance to the wash.

Bob Krygier conducts a search in a wash near Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on May 5, 2026. (Matthew Symons/Fox News Digital)

A Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson previously said the vehicle was not connected to the Guthrie investigation. Fox News Digital has requested but not yet received records about how and why it was there.

The route itself had been flagged to Fox News Digital by another neighbor — who said she saw a suspicious man walking in the area that same day. She asked not to be named due to concerns for her children’s safety amid the unsolved kidnapping investigation.

Investigators search brush near Nancy Guthrie’s house in Arizona as her photo is shown in an overlay. The image is courtesy of NBC and Fox News Digital. (Fox News Digital)

In the same neighborhood, Fox News Digital obtained Ring camera video from another resident that shows a vehicle headed in the direction away from Guthrie’s home a few minutes after her suspected abduction. The video was provided to the FBI in February, and there have been no updates since.

Once inside, power lines lead toward nearby roads, Krygier said, providing guideposts along the way back out.

FBI agents canvass homes near Nancy Guthrie’s residence in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, as the investigation into her disappearance continues. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

“I think they’d have to be very familiar with it because you’re not gonna stumble upon this area from Nancy’s house,” Krygier said. “But it’s close enough to where if you did some scouting days and weeks ahead of time, which there’s some evidence that says they might have been out here prior to that night, this would be an area that I would look at and say, ‘All right, let’s figure this out. I can get here to there without being seen.’”

Guthrie is believed to have been taken from her home around 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 1. Her family discovered she was missing around noon. Searches on foot, plane and helicopter did not find her.

Law enforcement agents search vegetation areas around Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 11, 2026. (Ty ONeil/AP)

“Even with airplanes, even with the FLIR that we have, the infrared, you’re looking down, you can’t see through a lot of different things, so it’s not going to see something that might have been stashed underneath some of this brush,” Krygier said.

Aerial drone shots show the home and grounds of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Ariz., on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Nancy Guthrie, mother of ‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie, is suspected of being abducted from her home earlier this week. (Fox Flight Team)

The federal government even provided a high-tech piece of equipment that attempted to pick up the Bluetooth signal from her pacemaker device, with no results.

“At this point, I can’t imagine saying no to anyone offering help, whether it be cadaver dogs, the Cajun Navy has popped up again,” Krygier told Fox News Digital. “Those are just extra feet on the ground that I don’t have to pay, quite honestly. Maybe if they find something, awesome. We probably wouldn’t have found it. If they don’t, great. I personally would be accepting some of that help. There’s no reason not to at this point.”

There is a combined reward of more than $1.2 million for information that cracks the case.

The FBI released two images recovered from Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera showing a masked man wearing gloves on her porch. It is unclear if both images show the same person. (Courtesy of FBI)

To remain anonymous, contact Tucson’s 88-Crime tip line at (520) 882-7463.

The family is also urging anyone with information to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.

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It appears there’s a significant effort to protect reputations at the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) according to a recent investigation.

The Department of Investigation’s new report highlights how ACS has consistently withheld crucial documents from New York’s oversight agency. The document, titled “Access Denied: Challenges to DOI’s Oversight of the Child Welfare System,” reveals that the department has faced repeated barriers in probing allegations of misconduct and sexual abuse by caseworkers. Moreover, they have been denied access to records concerning ACS’s interactions with families of children who later died.

One illustrative case is that of Brian Santiago and his mother, who were discovered deceased in their apartment in August 2024.

According to The Post, Brian’s mother had been under investigation by ACS and at one point had her son temporarily removed from her care. Tragically, before she died, her special-needs son, who relied on a feeding tube, was likely left to starve to death.

Per The Post, Brian’s mother was “investigated by the ACS and even had her son temporarily removed from her care at some point before she died, leaving her special-needs boy, who used a feeding tube, to likely starve to death.”

This seems like a case that would have been important for DOI to investigate, but the agency says it “has been unable to assess whether those earlier interactions could have led to interventions that may have saved Brian’s life.”

It also can’t review the case of 5-year-old De’Neil Timberlake, who died the month before Brian, after ingesting his father’s methadone.

The NYPD told news outlets that the family had a long history of child neglect cases. What was done in those investigations? We may never know.

In 2023, there were 45 fatalities with prior ACS involvement, but DOI could only see the records in 25 of the cases.

Why can’t the Department of Investigations, um, investigate?

State law prohibits DOI from accessing two categories of records. The first are those where reports of child abuse were investigated and determined to be unfounded.

To understand the insanity of this policy, let’s compare it to law enforcement.

Let’s say police were searching for a murderer and they questioned the perpetrator, but he lied and they never checked his alibi.

Later, when he was apprehended committing other crimes, the public wanted to know why the police hadn’t nabbed him earlier.

But since the police didn’t conclude anything from the initial interview, no one could access any information about the failed initial investigation.

Similarly, if ACS fails to notice clear signs of abuse and neglect and determines that an accusation is unfounded and then that child winds up dead, wouldn’t we want to know where ACS went wrong and whether there were red flags they missed?

This policy actually rewards incompetence or willful blindness.

The second category of fatality records DOI can’t access involve those where ACS determines a case to be “low risk” and diverts it from an official investigation and into a non-investigatory process, called Collaborative Assessment, Response, Engagement & Support, merely to assess the family’s “concerns and needs.”

Since CARES was launched city-wide in 2020, it has continually expanded to the point where it now accounts for 25% of cases.

Are all these families really at low risk?

Parents engaged in illegal drug use and/or criminal activity can be diverted into CARES.

And many families who seem to be merely impoverished or in need city services in fact might be suffering from addiction or severe mental illness.

It would be good to find out whether we are underestimating the risk in these families, but thanks to this ridiculous policy, we will never know.

Even in cases where DOI is notified, the agency is not getting complete information because of these loopholes.

In 2025, DOI was notified of 18 child fatalities where ACS had prior involvement with the family, but DOI couldn’t get the complete history in 17 of those cases.

In 2024, it was 13 out of 16, and in 2023, 19 out of 25.

DOI is also charged with investigating cases where ACS workers have actually been accused of criminal wrongdoing.

Between 2023 and 2026, for instance, DOI received complaints regarding sexual misconduct of ACS workers toward minors on their caseload.

When DOI requested access to the records of those workers to find out whether they had victimized other children, the state Office of Children and Family Services refused.

OCFS cited the victims’ privacy. But OCFS never even asked the victims. It simply determined that “privacy interests should outweigh an investigation into the crimes allegedly committed against them.”

Because OCFS and ACS frequently work together, there is a clear conflict of interest when OCFS is the gatekeeper of ACS records.

The public should be outraged about the lack of transparency.

Fixing these problems can only be accomplished through state legislation.

Unfortunately, the see-no-evil approach to child welfare is pervasive across the state and city’s leadership class.

The same attitude has produced a ban on the anonymous reporting of abuse, discourages teachers from telling ACS about maltreatment, pretends parental drug addiction and criminal activity are harmless and even insists that investigating abuse is just structural racism.

It’s time to out the abusers and the bureaucrats who cover for them.

Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Amidst the somber gathering at Joshua “Josh” Davis’s funeral, his grieving parents were surrounded by mourners offering their condolences. Unbeknownst to them, someone present may have harbored crucial knowledge about the tragic circumstances of their 16-year-old son’s final moments.

Josh’s untimely death on January 6, 2004, was initially categorized by the police as a hit-and-run incident. However, a resurfaced tip from 2010 has dramatically altered the course of the investigation, prompting authorities to now treat the case as a homicide.

On that fateful day, Josh was strolling through a residential area in Garner, North Carolina, with his cousin. When his cousin briefly left to retrieve something from home, he returned to a horrifying scene: Josh was found on the roadside, gravely injured and covered in blood, as reported by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NCSBI).

The Daily Mail previously disclosed that Detective Megan Potter from the Four Oaks Police Department has emerged as a person of interest in this unsettling case.

In late March, the NCSBI executed a search warrant at Potter’s residence, seizing laptops and other electronic devices as part of their investigation, according to documents obtained by the Daily Mail.

Potter has not had any official charges filed against her in connection with Josh’s death. 

Josh’s father, Dave Davis, told the Daily Mail that Potter had gone to high school with his son and he was shocked to learn she had attended his funeral services. 

He said that after Potter was named as a person of interest, he spoke to Josh’s mother, Judy Creech, who recalled meeting her at their son’s wake. 

Joshua Davis was killed after an apparent hit-and-run on January 6, 2004. The case is now being investigated as a homicide 

Josh’s father and sister, pictured with him, spoke to the Daily Mail about his case 

Josh’s mom, Judy Creech, has said that she recognized the person of interest in her son’s case from the funeral services 

She said that she remembered Potter giving her a hug at the service and offering condolences. 

Davis said Potter was a mutual friend of his son’s, but he had not heard of her until last November, when police continued their investigation. 

One of Josh’s best friends, William Ward, told the Daily Mail that he was also ‘shocked’ when Potter was named a person of interest. 

He said his brother knew Potter, but he and Josh’s friend group had not known her in high school. 

‘Josh might have known who she was but they were definitely not friends at all, and I, nor our other best friend Austin, had ever heard her name come out of Josh’s mouth,’ he added. 

The warrant said that Potter was interviewed by the NCSBI and the Garner Police in September 2025 in connection with the 2010 tip from her ex-husband.

Authorities have not disclosed why there was a significant gap between Potter’s interview, the search and when the tip came in.

Potter told investigators that she was aware her ‘ex-husband had implicated her involvement in the murder,’ the warrant stated.

Creech shared a photo of the guest book at her son’s funeral with local news, which included the name of the person of interest in the case. The person’s name is blocked out in the photo above 

A 2010 tip recently led to a search warrant of the home of Four Oaks Police Department Officer Megan Potter, pictured 

Potter appears to be very active in police community events. She’s pictured reading to school children in a social media post shared by the Benson Police Department on March 1, 2024 

Potter is pictured during a community food drive during her time with the Benson force. She later started working for Four Oaks before being placed on administrative leave in April 

Investigators found ‘inconsistencies’ in Potter’s testimony, according to the search warrant. They interviewed her ex-husband in November, and said he gave a consistent statement that matched his 2010 tip.

Authorities then asked to schedule a follow-up interview with Potter, but she was allegedly ‘uncooperative,’ according to the search warrant.

She told NCSBI in January that she would not agree to an interview held anywhere other than at the Four Oaks Police Department.

Chief Stephen Anderson of the Four Oaks Police Department confirmed that Potter had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation on April 16.

Josh’s younger sister, Alyssa Hatcher, told the Daily Mail that she was hopeful that after 22 years, there had finally been a break in her brother’s case. 

‘I really hope all of this is so blown up and we get the closure that we’ve hoped for,’ she said. 

When asked about Potter, Hatcher said that she had ‘no anger’ towards her and just wanted answers about her brother’s death. 

‘I just hope she talks. I hope she comes forward. I hope she just puts the people who need to be behind bars there,’ Hatcher explained. 

Dave Davis and Alyssa Hatcher, pictured, were hit with an unimaginable tragedy in 2004 after Josh’s death 

Josh is pictured in family photos. His sister, Alyssa, told the Daily Mail that he loved riding dirt bikes 

Josh’s father, David Davis, pictured, told the Daily Mail that he had learned to live with what happened in his son’s case 

‘To keep my sanity and my happiness, I have peace thinking that she became an officer to apologize to my brother,’ she added.

‘That she didn’t know what to do, and she didn’t know how to come forward, so maybe she can help bad people.’ 

Josh’s family said they were not aware of the tip in 2010. Davis said he believes authorities did not investigate it because they chalked it up to actions from a disgruntled ex. 

‘Her ex-husband reported that she told him exactly what happened. We never heard that … until now,’ Davis said. 

Josh’s family and friends believe that there were three people in a vehicle involved in his death. 

They accused one of the men of ‘bragging’ about what happened on the night that Josh was killed. 

Hatcher, who works as a hairdresser in Garner, said that she has long been told by clients that they have been at parties where one of the men ‘bragged about killing her brother.’ 

The family believes that one of the individuals in the vehicle was angry with Josh over a dispute about a girl, and ‘happened upon’ him while they were driving that night. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to NCSBI for comment on the allegations, but authorities have not confirmed any other people of interest in the case. 

Josh’s family, pictured, have been waiting for answers about his death for over two decades 

Josh, pictured in a family photo, was walking with his cousin in North Carolina when he was killed. His cousin found him lying in blood on the side of the road after he went back to grab something at the house 

‘The SBI and Garner PD investigations are very active and ongoing. The SBI does not have any additional information to share publicly at this time,’ Officer Chad Flowers said in a statement. 

As the investigation continues, Josh’s family has been forced to wait with bated breath for answers. 

Over the past two decades, they have come to terms with not knowing what happened on the night Josh was killed. 

Now, their lives have been turned upside down. ‘I’ve learned to live with thinking I’ll never know to knowing,’ Davis said.

Hatcher told the Daily Mail that the mood in Garner has been ‘chaos’ since Potter’s home was searched. 

‘I have some clarity that hopefully an arrest is coming soon,’ she added. 

Hatcher described her older brother as the ‘typical cute kid’ who was always the center of attention. 

‘It was annoying. He was so good at everything. He’s like, “Oh, I wanna start dirt biking today,” and next thing you know, he’s doing these crazy tricks on a dirt bike,’ she recalled. 

Hatcher said her brother was ‘good at everything’ and described him as the ‘typical cute kid’ 

Josh’s sister, Alyssa Hatcher, pictured, told the Daily Mail that the mood in Garner has been ‘chaos’ since Potter’s home was searched 

‘Or, “Oh, I’m gonna go skateboard today,” and he’s doing trick flips within two days. He was the kid who didn’t have to study, and he got straight As.’

Davis said he believes that up until his son’s tragic death, Josh ‘lived a good life.’ ‘I get comfort in that,’ he added. 

The investigation into Josh’s death is ongoing. Law enforcement has asked anyone with information on the case to contact the Garner Police Department or the NCSBI. 

The Daily Mail has approached Potter for comment.