Authorities Release Man Detained Overnight for Questioning in Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI released an individual detained for questioning late Tuesday in connection with the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.The man, whose identity wasn’t immediately known, was detained by Pima County Sheriff’s Department deputies in Rio Rico, Arizona, roughly an hour south of Tucson and just under 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, according to reports. The man was stopped “during a traffic stop south of Tucson,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a post on X Tuesday. “The man has since been released, KNXV reported around 1 a.m. Wednesday. He told reporters after his release, “They told me I was being detained for kidnapping. I asked them, “Kidnapping of who?”It wasn’t immediately clear if the man was considered a suspect in the potential kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, who authorities believe was removed from her home against her will hours before her family reported her missing on February 1. The man is “not a member of the Guthrie family,” a person close to the investigation told TMZ. He has not been charged with any crime, according to reports. Earlier Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel released four black-and-white surveillance images taken from the doorbell camera of the Tucson home of Nancy Guthrie of a masked individual tampering with the camera on the morning of her disappearance.“We are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest,” Mr. Patel told Fox News on Tuesday evening. It wasn’t clear if the person detained for questioning was the same person seen in the security footage from Ms. Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera.By Tuesday evening, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI’s Evidence Response Team were conducting a court-authorized search at a location in Rio Rico that was “associated with the individual” who had been detained for questioning, according to reports. The search is expected to “last several hours,” NBC News reported.Mr. Patel said both the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department worked closely with private sector partners to recover footage and images that may have been lost after Ms. Guthrie’s doorbell camera was disconnected hours before her family reported her missing on February 1.Mr. Patel added that “as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance.”On Tuesday evening, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity that a top priority in the investigation was to “find anyone and any others involved in this kidnapping case, make sure they’re brought to justice.”Ms. Guthrie still remains missing.Mr. Patel also released videos of the suspect with his head lowered as he walks to the doorbell camera. He appears to cover the camera with his hand before taking plants from the ground and using them to do so. Because Ms. Guthrie did not have an active subscription with Google’s Nest, which made the doorbell camera, authorities were previously unable to recover footage captured by the camera’s software. Last week, law enforcement officers were seen entering Ms. Guthrie’s residence with a silver Cellebrite suitcase — an Israeli device that can extract data from servers and devices that are otherwise lost or deleted. The surveillance images released today had previously been inaccessible.Multiple ransom notes from the purported kidnappers have been sent to media outlets demanding millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency for Ms. Guthrie’s release — the authenticity of which was verified by TMZ. The Guthrie family, however, did not pay the ransom ahead of either of the two deadlines set forth in the notes, both of which passed without incident or new developments, including a deadline that expired Monday night. But there was new activity — at least “one transaction” — in the cryptocurrency account listed in the first ransom note sent to TMZ at around 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to reports.The FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department are advising anyone with information related to Ms. Guthrie’s disappearance to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit http://tips.fbi.gov

Authorities Release Man Detained Overnight for Questioning in Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping

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