Emails Show Pima County Sheriff’s Office Gave Reality TV Crew Access to Bodycams and Deputies Before Nancy Guthrie Disappearance

Emails obtained by Fox News Digital reveal the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) provided a reality television crew extensive access to deputies, ride-alongs, and police video — including body-worn camera footage of arrests and use-of-force incidents that generated internal concern.

Pima County deputies examine a flyer taped to the mailbox outside Nancy Guthrie's home in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 23, 2026. Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie, is believed to have been abducted from her home in the early hours of Feb. 1.(Fox News)

More than 220 pages of correspondence between PCSD officials and producers from Twenty Twenty Productions — which worked on A&E’s series Desert Law — show producers requested contacts for unit sergeants, prioritized bodycam footage, and asked for marked vehicles to capture background shots.

Pima County Sheriff’s deputies stand outside Nancy Guthrie's home in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, Ariz., after the 84-year-old woman went missing on Feb. 1, 2026. Nancy Guthrie is the mother of journalist and television host Savannah Guthrie.

In a June 18, 2025 email, producer Amanda Riley asked for contact information for several unit sergeants. Capt. Robert Koumal replied two days later that the department had undergone "rotational re-assignments since last year," noting leadership changes in the teams Riley referenced.

Pima County sheriff and FBI agents examine a gray Range Rover in a Culver’s parking lot in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 14, 2026, as part of the Nancy Guthrie case investigation.

The exchanges, dated July–December 2025, include discussions about whether to release footage containing profanity or heated exchanges and raise red flags about at least one incident in which a deputy did not activate a body camera until after an altercation had ended.

A member of the Pima County Sheriff's Department stands by his truck looking at Nancy Guthrie's house in Tucson, Ariz., on Feb. 9, 2026.

Koumal, who oversees community services and records management, suggested a deputy use a department Tahoe to provide B-roll and encouraged deputies to proactively contact producers "if any incidents occur." Producer Tom Olney praised PCSD cooperation, calling it "amazing and absolutely the best I've ever received from any law enforcement department."

Savannah Guthrie smiles with her mother Nancy Guthrie at the "Today" studio on June 15, 2023.

Olney also repeatedly asked officials to expedite bodycam requests to meet production deadlines and, in some cases, requested that newer requests be prioritized over older public-records requests. The available emails do not make clear whether the production’s requests consistently took precedence over requests from members of the public.

The correspondence also shows producers asked for context and materials related to a notorious local case: the 1996 pipe-bomb killing of Gary Triano in the Catalina Foothills, which resulted in convictions and life sentences for those involved.

All of the documented emails predate the Feb. 1 disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie of the Catalina Foothills. Guthrie — the mother of NBC “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie — was reported missing from her home on Feb. 1, and the PCSD remains the lead investigative agency. The documents have drawn scrutiny because they demonstrate a close working relationship between the department and a television production in the months before the investigation began.

Facts presented here are drawn from the emails provided to Fox News Digital. The department and production representatives did not offer additional context in those documents, and the status of any specific footage requests or whether they were prioritized over public requests was not fully documented in the released correspondence.