An individual has been detained for questioning regarding the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, according to ABC News and multiple other outlets, including CNN and Fox News.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, with assistance from the FBI, detained the person south of Tucson, a law enforcement source told ABC News, adding that authorities are on the verge of searching a location connected to the person.
The sheriff’s department revealed more in a statement Tuesday night.
“Earlier today, Pima County Sheriff’s Department deputies detained a subject during a traffic stop south of Tucson,“ it said. ”The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation."
The individual has not been charged. A law enforcement official said the person was detained in Rio Rico, which is less than 15 miles from the Mexican border. Authorities then conducted a court-authorized search in the same town, with an FBI spokesperson saying it would last several hours.
Law enforcement on Tuesday morning released video and images of an armed, masked person approaching Guthrie’s door the morning she was reported missing. It is unclear whether that person is the same individual whom the authorities detained.
FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Tuesday night that there are persons of interest in the case.
“I will say we’ve made substantial progress in these last 36 to 48 hours thanks to the technical capabilities of the FBI and our partnerships, and I do believe we’re looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest,” he told Sean Hannity. “But as you know, with any investigation, you’re a person of interest until either you are eliminated or you’re actually found to be the culprit or one of the culprits involved and that’s the stage where we are at right now.”
Savannah Guthrie, the co-host of NBC’s Today show, shared the images on her Instagram, writing, “Someone out there recognizes this person. We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for comment.
Nancy Guthrie’s daughter and son-in-law, Annie and Tommaso Cioni, were the last people to see the 84-year-old on Jan. 31, when they had her over for dinner. Cioni drove her home afterward.
Authorities say that early the following morning, Guthrie’s doorbell camera was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. Shortly after, her pacemaker disconnected from a phone app.
The Guthrie family, responding to a ransom demand in the form of bitcoin, said they would pay to have their mother returned safely.
“We received your message and we understand,” Savannah Guthrie said over the weekend on Instagram. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
After a ransom deadline passed on Monday night, the FBI released a statement saying in part that it was “not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers.”
Earlier Tuesday, Patel explained how the bureau was able to acquire the new images of the person appearing to tamper with Guthrie’s camera.
“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,” Patel wrote on X Tuesday afternoon, adding that video was recovered from “residual data located in backend systems.”
The bureau said in a statement Monday that was sending agents for other field offices to the Tuscon area.
“We are currently operating a 24-hour command post that includes crisis management experts, analytic support, and investigative teams. But we still need the public’s help,” the FBI’s statement said. “Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home.”
