Nancy Guthrie missing case: Law enforcement serves search warrant in Rio Rico after man detained for questioning

Angelica Carrillo, a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, said that authorities are carrying out a search warrant at a residence in Rio Rico, Arizona, as part of the investigation into the Nancy Guthrie missing case, according to CNN.

The sheriff’s office previously said it was questioning an individual who had been stopped “during a traffic stop”. A law enforcement official confirmed the person was detained in Rio Rico.

In a statement, the department said it was working with the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) to carry out a court-approved search Tuesday night at a property in Rio Rico, roughly an hour south of Tucson. The search was expected to continue for several hours.

Rio Rico is located about 60 miles south of Tucson, close to the US–Mexico border.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said it remains unclear what prompted law enforcement to stop the individual detained in the Nancy Guthrie case, but noted that authorities had sufficient grounds to take the person in for questioning.

“We don’t know the lead that brought law enforcement to that person. We don’t even know if that lead was derived from the public airing of the video and the surveillance photo,” McCabe informed CNN.

NewsNation’s Brian Entin said he had spoken with the detained man’s mother-in-law, who rejected allegations that her son-in-law was involved. He wrote that she owns the home where a search warrant was being carried out and that authorities had seized all of their electronic devices, while maintaining that her son-in-law had no connection to the case.

In an interview , the woman said that they were not aware about Nancy. “We don’t know her at all. I don’t know who she is," she stated.

It is not known whether this was the same individual who was detained.

Nancy Guthrie went missing on Feb. 1, and the case has since drawn nationwide attention. Until Tuesday, authorities appeared to have made limited progress in figuring out what happened to the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie or identifying those responsible.

What do released videos show?

The videos released by FBI earlier Tuesday show an individual wearing a ski mask and carrying a backpack. At one moment, the person lowers their head and turns away from the doorbell camera while walking toward Guthrie’s front door. The footage also captures the individual holding a flashlight in their mouth and attempting to obscure the camera using a gloved hand and a piece of a plant pulled from the yard.

The clips, totaling less than a minute, provided investigators and the public with their first look at someone outside Guthrie’s home in the foothills near Tucson. However, the footage did not reveal what happened to her or indicate whether she remains alive.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the “armed individual” appeared to "have tampered with the camera," though it was unclear if there was actually a gun in the holster. Patel added that the videos were retrieved from data on "back-end systems” after investigators spent several days searching for footage that had been lost, corrupted, or otherwise inaccessible.

Meanwhile, Savannah Guthrie shared another message from her family stating that they believe their mother is still alive. The Guthrie family and authorities urged anyone with information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI, 88-CRIME, 520-351-4900, or submit tips at tips.fbi.gov.