Butierez told the New York Post he aims to collect 135,000 signatures, well above the approximately 120,000 required to trigger a recall. He says the effort already has nearly 500 volunteers and five notaries ready to process the paperwork.

Nanos has not commented on the recall effort.

An 84-Year-Old Woman, Still Missing

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing around noon on February 1 after she failed to show up for virtual church services. She had last been seen the previous night, after having dinner at her daughter Annie Guthrie's home in Tucson. Investigators believe she was abducted at her home by a masked man spotted on security footage, described as approximately 5'9" to 5'10" with an average build.

No suspect has been arrested. The case remains open, and authorities are still searching.

That timeline alone should command urgency from any law enforcement agency. An elderly woman, taken from her own home by a masked intruder, and months later, nothing. No arrest. No suspect in custody. No resolution for a family left waiting.

Officers Wanted This but Were Afraid to Act

Butierez said he decided last week to begin the recall process after speaking with frustrated Pima County officers. What he described paints a picture of a department at odds with its own leadership. He claimed officers wanted to launch the recall themselves but feared repercussions from Nanos.

Butierez said the department held a "unanimous vote of no confidence" against Nanos on Friday. A unanimous vote. Not a slim majority. Not a faction. Every officer who voted expressed the same conclusion: their sheriff has lost their trust.

That kind of internal fracture doesn't happen because of a policy disagreement over shift scheduling. It happens when the people closest to the work believe leadership is failing at the mission.

Butierez framed his decision to step forward in blunt terms:

"I decided I'd do it because I'm a congressional candidate, I'm already in the spotlight, and I don't see Nanos messing with me."

The implication is clear. Rank-and-file officers felt they couldn't speak up without professional consequences. Butierez, already a public figure running against Arizona Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva in November, calculated that his visibility offered a measure of protection that ordinary deputies don't have.

Bipartisan Frustration

Butierez was deliberate in framing the recall as something larger than partisan politics:

"This is a bipartisan effort. It's not like we're trying to get signatures from one party or the other."

He went further, putting it plainly:

"He has been an embarrassment to Tucson and to Pima County with this Nancy Guthrie case ... Everyone's pretty disgusted, Democrats and Republicans."

Whether that bipartisan disgust translates into bipartisan signatures remains to be seen. But the claim is notable. When a Republican candidate in a contested race publicly stakes his effort on cross-party appeal, he's either reading the room correctly or making a significant political miscalculation. The fact that officers inside the department apparently share the frustration suggests the former.

What the Recall Requires

The mechanics are straightforward but demanding:

• Approximately 120,000 valid signatures must be collected within 120 days
• The Pima County Recorder then has 60 days to verify signatures against voter registration records
• If the signatures are verified, Nanos would have five days to either agree to a special recall election or step down as sheriff

Butierez said he's targeting 135,000 signatures to build a cushion against inevitable challenges and disqualifications. With nearly 500 volunteers already committed, the infrastructure exists. Whether the momentum holds over four months of door-knocking and signature-gathering is the real test.

Accountability Starts at the Top

The Nancy Guthrie case is not abstract. It is an 84-year-old woman, taken from her home, whose family has no answers. The community's frustration isn't manufactured. It's the natural result of a case that has produced no arrests, no identified suspect, and a sheriff's department whose own officers have publicly broken with their leader.

Sheriff Nanos's silence on the recall effort is itself a data point. When your officers vote unanimously that they have no confidence in you, and a congressional candidate launches a formal effort to remove you, saying nothing is a choice. It communicates either contempt for the criticism or an inability to defend the record.

Anyone with information about Nancy Guthrie's disappearance can call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff's Department at 520-351-4900.

She is still missing. That fact should weigh on everyone responsible for finding her.