A person of interest in the Nancy Guthrie case was detained by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday, 10 days after “Today” host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona.
The individual was detained south of Tucson, with law enforcement reportedly preparing to search a location tied to the individual in question, according to reports from ABC News and NBC News. A spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a search warrant is being executed at a home in Rio Rico, an unincorporated community in Arizona that is located south of Tucson and near the Mexican border.
“Earlier today, Pima County Sheriff’s Department deputies detained a subject during a traffic stop south of Tucson,” the sheriff’s department wrote on X. “The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.”
They added, “No press conference is scheduled at this time.”
Later on Tuesday, an FBI spokesperson stated, “Currently, the FBI’s Evidence Response Team is assisting the Pima County Sheriff’s Department with a court-authorized search of a location in Rio Rico, AZ related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation. Law enforcement will be present at this location for several hours. We’re asking the public and media to avoid congesting the area.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the FBI released images recovered from Guthrie’s front door security camera, showing a person in a ski mask and gloves who is suspected of kidnapping the missing matriarch more than a week ago.
“Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home that may have been lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors – including the removal of recording devices,” the X post read. “The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.”
However, there’s no word whether the individual seen in the released images is the person currently detained for questioning.
Savannah posted some of the video after its initial release, writing on Instagram: “Someone out there recognizes this person. We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.”
Nancy was last seen on the evening of Jan. 31, when family dropped her off at her home after a dinner and game night. However, by late-midday Sunday, Nancy was reported missing after not attending church.
In the days following, several media outlets, including TMZ and local Tucson TV stations, reported receiving ransom notes demanding millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. On Tuesday evening, both TMZ and KGUN reported that there was activity in the bitcoin account tied to the alleged ransom notes.
Savannah and her siblings, Annie and Camron, made multiple public pleas to Nancy’s captors, stating they would pay the demands while begging for their mother’s safe return.
“We received your message, and we understand,” Savannah, with her siblings at her side, said in a Saturday evening Instagram post. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
