A person who had been detained was released after being questioned in connection with the abduction of the mother of “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie, according to ABC News’ Phoenix affiliate KNXV.
A court-authorized search was being carried out by the sheriff’s department, with assistance of the FBI’s Evidence Response Team, at a location in Rio Rico, Arizona, about 60 miles south of Tucson, related to the investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said.
The operation lasted several hours and the individual was detained “during a traffic stop,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
The developments followed the first images released by the FBI of a masked man approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door, and as investigators continued to search in her neighborhood.
There is no indication that the person who was detained is the figure seen in the newly released video footage.
Delivery company DoorDash said in a statement that it was “urgently investigating reports that an individual detained in relation to the Nancy Guthrie case was a delivery driver.”
Earlier Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel released images and video of an “armed individual” in connection with the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie.
The images showed someone wearing a mask, gloves, a backpack and armed with a holstered handgun at the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson-area home around the time investigators suspect she was abducted on Feb. 1.
Nancy Guthrie was taken from her home on Sunday, Feb. 1, according to authorities. A Monday ransom deadline by persons claiming to be Guthrie’s abductors passed as the search for her continues.
Patel said the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s office worked with “private sector partners” in recent days to recover the video footage of of the masked person on her porch, which Patel said had been “lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors, including the removal of recording devices.”
The latest development in the case came a day after Savannah Guthrie made an impassioned plea to the public to help solve her mother’s disappearance.
“We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video, speaking directly to the camera. It was the fourth video that Guthrie and her two siblings had released on social media since their mother vanished.
“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.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Leave a Reply