The Arizona sheriff's office searching for Nancy Guthrie and her kidnapper has sparked fury with a social media post that made locals think she'd been found.

Pima County Sheriff's Office in Tucson shared a missing poster on Thursday night seeking information about an 82-year-old woman called Nancy Radakovich.

Radakovich disappeared from her home in Tucson yesterday afternoon in her Toyota. A few hours later, she was found safe, with the Pima County Sheriff's Office X page posting: 'Update: Nancy has been located.'

Internet users were quick to condemn the sheriff's office, given the blunders they are accused of making in the search for Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing from her $1.4 million Tucson home since the early hours of February 1.

One commenter wrote: 'Pima County is a joke. Obviously it is great this lady was located but you guys have to be absolutely brain dead to not know people would think this was Nancy Guthrie, they even look alike. 

'No wonder her kidnapper got away with it. HORRIBLE PD!'

Another said: 'What an embarrassing police department to do that. Nice that they found her though, but wow.'

A third wrote: 'You knew what you were doing with that title. What the hell!'

And a fourth person even suggested Pima County Sheriff's Office had deliberately chosen their words to be provocative.

That woman wrote: 'LAST NAME IN YOUR CLICK BAIT POST PLEASE WOW.'

The topic of Nancy Guthrie remains a sensitive one for Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos and the residents of Tucson. 

Nancy, the mother of Today star Savannah Guthrie, vanished without a trace from her home almost three months ago.

Sheriff Nanos was criticized for a catalog of subsequent blunders.

He was accused of failing to send up a search plane during the vital early hours of the hunt because of staffing issues.

His team were branded too inexperienced to deal with the seemingly well-planned kidnap of the mother of a public figure, with the FBI since taking over the case.

Nanos has also been blasted after his deputies left the crime scene open to reporters, with cordons going up and down multiple times during the first few weeks of the search for Nancy.

Nanos's words to reporters during press conferences further raised eyebrows. 

Asked by one reporter in February about potential suspects and motives, Nanos said: 'You guess is as good as mines.'

Nanos, a Democrat, could now face a potential recall election that may end in him losing his job. 

Nancy vanished from her home after a dinner with her other daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni.

Terrifying footage obtained from a Nest doorbell camera two weeks later showed a masked gunman in black nitrile gloves show up on her doorstep that evening. 

Multiple ransom notes were sent in the early days of the search, but nothing ever came of them. 

Nancy suffers from serious mobility issues and requires daily heart medication to stay alive.

Savannah offered a $1 million reward for the return of her mother, while conceding that she may no longer be alive.

During an interview with Today co-host Hoda Kotb last month, she said she believed two of the initial ransom notes may have been genuine, but that others were forgeries.

It is unclear why Nancy was targeted, but Savannah says she fears her fame and fortune may have triggered her mother's kidnap.

Sheriff Nanos has ruled out all members of the Guthrie family and in-laws but investigators have yet to name any possible suspects. 

On Thursday it was revealed that the FBI have found new hairs at Nancy's home which are being tested for DNA in a Florida lab.

Investigators hope the breakthrough may finally lead them towards a possible suspect or suspects.