THE embattled sheriff leading the Nancy Guthrie case has been slammed with a $1million lawsuit.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has been under fire as the Guthrie case is still unsolved over a month after the 84-year-old went missing.

Woman holding a black curly-haired dog.
The 84-year-old is the mother of TV host Savannah Guthrie
Nancy, the mother of Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home on Feb. 1.

A ransom note became public the next day, demanding millions of dollars in Bitcoin.

Since then, Savannah has publicly pleaded for anyone with information to come forward, with no luck.

Now, the sheriff working on the case has been hit with a $1.35million suit by Pima County Jail inmate Christopher Michael Marx for a different incident, according to Newsweek.

The lawsuit, filed last week, claimed that a sheriff deputy had been working in between two units at the jail, including one area where another inmate had COVID-19.

“This deputy was going back and forth working both units; our unit was on lockdown because this deputy was working both units,” the lawsuit said, according to the outlet.

Marx said that the officer did not disinfect himself in-between switching units, putting his “life in jeopardy with their action, constantly.”

“I could have died,” Marx wrote.

The inmate claimed that the department violated Article Two of the Arizona State Constitution, the Declaration of Rights.

Alongside an apology from the sheriff, Marx is seeking the large sum of cash to buy apartments for unhoused people.

According to Newsweek, in 2024, Marx was found guilty of shoplifting.

The Guthrie case

Nanos has faced intense pressure from the public to find Savannah’s mother, a case that has caught the attention of millions.

Former prosecutor Lindsay Richards told the US Sun that the FBI should have been looped into the investigation much earlier, and that Nanos appeared “overwhelmed.”

“Why did it take that long? It should not have taken that long,” she said.

“People should be working around the clock and even reverse geo tracking of phone numbers and stuff like that, yes, that is very time-intensive, but there should be so many people working on it that we can get it done faster.”

In response to a report that Nanos had misrepresented his work history on his resume, the top cop told the AZ Republic:

“That’s your ‘urgent’ request? You sure you don’t want to go back to my high school and ask why I got swats from the principal? Good luck with your hit piece.”

Savannah and her siblings have made numerous videos pleading for information in the case, to no avail.
A man in a green polo shirt talking, with sheriff's badges on the wall behind him.Nanos has come under fire for his investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance