Person detained in connection with Nancy Guthrie disappearance

TUCSON — Pima County Sheriff’s Department deputies detained a person for questioning in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie during a traffic stop south of Tucson, Sheriff Chris Nanos said Tuesday night.

The traffic stop happened in Rio Rico, a small Arizona city about 60 miles south of Tucson. It straddles Interstate 19 and is about 13 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border and of the larger border cities of Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Mexico.

Later Tuesday, Nanos said the Sheriff’s Department was being assisted by the FBI’s Evidence Response Team in “conducting a court-authorized search of a location in Rio Rico” related to the Guthrie investigation. He said that search was expected to last several hours.

The department would release additional information as it’s available, Nanos said.

Earlier, the Oro Valley Police Department near Tucson confirmed it was working with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department on an operation, though a police spokesman would not specify what that was.

“We have members on the regional bomb squad and the regional SWAT team and they have been activated for a mission,” Darren Wright, Oro Valley Police spokesman said.

The activity Tuesday night follows the release earlier in the day of newly retrieved photos and video of what appeared to be an individual tampering with Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera on the night before she was reported missing.

The images showed a masked man wearing gloves and a backpack attempting to remove her doorbell camera.

A video clip shows the man initially trying to block the doorbell camera with his hand before retrieving a branch from a nearby plant to help obscure the camera. He is holding what appears to be a flashlight in his mouth.

The images had not been immediately available after Guthrie’s disappearance on Feb. 1. The 84-year-old mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie did not have a subscription service that stored security video.

Several FBI special agents went door-to-door near Annie Guthrie’s home in the late afternoon of Feb. 10, with at least one homeowner telling the agents they could look around. The agents left shortly after.

Some members of law enforcement wore plain clothes, while one woman wore a shirt that said “FBI Evidence Response Team.”

It was not immediately clear whether investigators obtained additional information during their search of the neighborhood.

Later in the day, Tucson TV station KGUN reported that a small amount of money — less than $300 — was deposited in a bitcoin account that was listed in a “ransom email” the station and some other outlets received.

The search for Guthrie is now in its 10th day.

“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,” according to a Feb. 10 statement from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

“The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.”

FBI Director Kash Patel released additional images and videos of the suspect on X, and Guthrie’s daughter, “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, also posted the images on her Instagram.

One of the videos Patel shared included the suspect approaching Guthrie’s front door as a light that possibly came from a headlamp activated. The man looks down almost immediately after the light turns on when the light deactivates. He continues to look down as he walks toward the front door during the four-second clip.

The man appears to have facial hair near his mouth based on the released video and images.

The FBI did not immediately say whether it planned on releasing additional videos or images. Nor are any news conferences or press briefings scheduled, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The word “Nest” is displayed in the upper-righthand corner of the video, seeming to indicate the doorbell camera was part of Google’s line of smart home appliances that includes surveillance cameras, smart speakers and thermostats.

The FBI did not specify if or how the tech giant played a role in retrieving the previously inaccessible footage.

The agencies asked anyone with information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI, 520-351-4900, 88-CRIME or visit tips.fbi.gov.

The Sheriff’s Department said no news conferences had been scheduled despite the release of the photos and video depicting the suspect.

Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for President Donald Trump, said at a Feb. 10 briefing, “He and I were both reviewing the newly released surveillance footage from the FBI in the Savannah Guthrie case and just this heartbreaking situation with respect to her mother. The president encourages any American across the country with any knowledge of this suspect to please call the FBI, who continue to assist state and local authorities who are leading this investigation on the ground.

“And once again, I will reiterate that the prayers of this entire White House are with Savannah and her family at this time. We hope this person is found soon and that her mother is brought home safely.”

Meanwhile, investigators continue to pursue leads and scour the Arizona landscape for the missing 84-year-old.

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Nancy Guthrie was to attend virtual church service Feb. 1

The surveillance photos and video were the second bit of new information to emerge on the 10th day of the search.

Earlier, it was learned that Guthrie was reported missing after failing to show up to view a virtual church service at a friend’s house, not a service at her Tucson church.

Nancy Guthrie was a part of multiple church communities. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church near Tucson said she had been “in the church family” for a long time. Nancy Guthrie also viewed services from a church in New York that Savannah Guthrie had begun attending 10 years ago, according to Today.com.

Michael Rudzena, the pastor of Good Shepherd New York, said in an interview with Hoda Kotb on NBC’s “Today” he met Nancy Guthrie when she would visit over the years. After the pandemic hit and the church began to stream its services, prayer sand sermons, Guthrie started to watch.

He described Nancy Guthrie as strong and “fiercely loving.”

“Over the years, we’ve gotten to know what makes her tick, in some ways, from a faith perspective: the songs that mean something to her, the scriptures that are meaningful for her,” he said.

Investigators have released few details

The new information is emerging in a mysterious case where the questions have far exceeded the answers. What initially appeared to be an abduction-for-ransom situation might no longer be the case — if it ever was.

Multiple factors, such as Guthrie’s blood near the front door of her home, her doorbell camera being disconnected and software detecting a person near her home, among others, have suggested Guthrie’s disappearance was due to a kidnapping, according to investigators.

Local and national news outlets reported they had received a ransom note in connection with Guthrie’s disappearance. Messages about a purported ransom figure of $6 million later circulated, citing a now-deleted post on X from Tucson TV station KGUN.

That note contained two deadlines — the latest was Feb. 9.

Savannah Guthrie: ‘We are at an hour of desperation’

“Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have released four videos — the first three seemingly directed at their mother’s would-be captors. The family asked for proof that their mother was alive, a way to communicate directly with her abductors and a willingness to pay the ransom in exchange for her safe return.

The family’s latest video, posted the afternoon of Feb. 9 and featuring only Savannah, didn’t address Nancy’s potential kidnappers but rather the general public. She began by thanking everyone praying for their family before appealing to anyone with information about her mother’s whereabouts to share it with law enforcement.

“I’m coming on just to ask you, not just for your prayers, but no matter where you are, even if you’re far from Tucson,” Savannah said. “If you see anything, you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement. We are at an hour of desperation. And we need your help.”

FBI: No contact between Guthries, suspected kidnappers

The FBI released a statement that evening stating that agents, analysts and professional staff had worked tirelessly to locate and reunite Nancy Guthrie with her family, and had since set up a 24-hour command post staffed with crisis management experts and investigators.

But FBI investigators did not offer many answers.

“The FBI is not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers, nor have we identified a suspect or person of interest in this case at this time,” FBI spokesperson Brooke Brennan said. “Additional personnel from FBI field offices across the nation continue to deploy to Tucson.”

Brennan did not say whether the Guthrie family had paid the ransom.

Law enforcement has asked anyone with information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI, 520-351-4900, 88-CRIME or visit tips.fbi.gov.

USA Today contributed to this report.

Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at perry.vandell@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-2474. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @PerryVandell.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Person detained in relation to Nancy Guthrie abduction after 10 days