Police have released a man hours after they detained him in connection to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of US news anchor Savannah Guthrie, CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, has reported.
After taking the man into custody at a traffic stop, police searched his home in Rio Rico, south of Tucson, Arizona, sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News.
After his release, the man, identified only as Carlos, told reporters outside his home that he did not know who Nancy Guthrie was. “I don’t follow the news,” he said.
Guthrie, 84, was abducted from her home near Tucson more than a week ago, sparking a widespread search and desperate appeals from her family.
“I hope they get the suspect, because I’m not it,” Carlos said, according to a video posted on X by CBS reporter Andres Gutierrez.
Carlos, reportedly a deliveryman, said he had been driving around and noticed authorities were following him.
He added that the officers did not ask him any questions and made him wait for hours in a car park.
A woman who identified herself as his mother-in-law earlier said that he had nothing to do with the case.
“They’re just invading my property,” she was quoted as saying by CBS.
The Pima County Sherrif’s Department had confirmed police were conducting a court-authorised search at a location in Rio Rico, south of Tucson, Arizona.
The news of the detention came hours after the FBI released images and videos of a masked person at Nancy Guthrie’s doorstep on the night of her disappearance. Authorities said the individual was armed.
“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,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on X.
He said authorities had been working to recover images from the home surveillance system that “may have been lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors – including the removal of recording devices”.
The two short videos show the person approach the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s home, then check the camera before moving away, picking up some vegetation from the ground and using it to cover the camera lens.
Savannah Guthrie shared the new video on Instagram. “Someone out there recognises this person,” she said on Tuesday. “We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.”
A senior official told CBS that the White House was monitoring the situation in Tucson closely.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that US President Donald Trump had reviewed the surveillance footage.
Trump’s initial reaction to the footage was “pure disgust”, Leavitt said in response to a question at the press briefing.
“The President directed me to please encourage all Americans with any information to call the FBI,” she added.
US President Donald Trump, who ordered federal authorities to help in the investigation, previously called the case “very unusual”.
Guthrie was last seen at her home in Catalina Foothills, an affluent neighbourhood roughly 6 miles (10km) north-east of Tucson, on the evening of 31 January, when family members dropped her off after dinner.
Authorities are investigating a series of ransom notes that could have been from her abductors, including one that contained two deadlines: 5 February and 9 February.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have released several videos on social media pleading for their mother’s release.
The latest video was posted on Monday – the reported ransom deadline. In it, Savannah Guthrie pleads for the public to help locate her missing mother.
“I just want to share a few thoughts as we enter another week of this nightmare,” she said in a the video posted on Instagram. “She was taken, and we don’t know where. And we need your help.”
The family has warned about their mother’s ill health, saying that her health and heart were “fragile” and she “lives in constant pain”.
“She is without any medicine. She needs it to survive. She needs it not to suffer,” the news anchor said in a video posted on Instagram.
Officials have also warned that Nancy Guthrie may be in dire health without her medication.
Authorities said on the night of her disappearance, the app on her pacemaker – an implanted cardiac device – disconnected from her phone.
Police also said they found blood on Guthrie’s porch and analysis confirmed it was hers.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 (£36,000) reward for information on the case.
By BBC News
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