A man detained in connection with the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, maintained his innocence after being questioned and subsequently released by police.
The individual, who identified himself only as Carlos to ABC15 Arizona’s Ford Hatchett, said that his car was pulled over in Rio Rico, Arizona, south of Tucson, on Tuesday, February 10, and he was told he was being “detained for kidnapping.”
“I asked, ‘The kidnapping of who?’ and they told me this lady … I don’t know her name,” he said, before confirming Nancy’s name with assistance from Hatchett.
Carlos said, “I told [officers], ‘I work in Tucson for GLS. I might have delivered a package to your house, but I never kidnapped anybody.’”
Everything to Know About the Ongoing Search for Nancy Guthrie
The man said that officials told him he was “free to go” after answering their questions. He denied having any knowledge of Nancy’s February 1 disappearance from her home just outside of Tucson.
Us Weekly has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI for comment.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pima County police told Us, “Earlier today, Pima County Sheriff’s Department deputies detained a subject during a traffic stop south of Tucson. The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.”
The sheriff’s department also confirmed that it was conducting a “court-authorized search” of a home in Rio Rico.
Savannah Guthrie’s Mom Nancy Is Missing in Arizona: Timeline of the Case
“The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, assisted by the FBI’s Evidence Response Team, is conducting a court-authorized search of a location in Rio Rico, AZ, related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation,” the department told Us. “This operation is expected to last several hours. No further details at this time.”
A woman who identified herself as Josefina in several press interviews outside her Rio Rico home said Tuesday night that it was her property that was being searched and that her son-in-law (whom she called Carlos) had been detained.
Josefina told NewsNation’s Brian Entin that her son-in-law, daughter and grandchildren were pulled over by police while making deliveries for DoorDash.
The woman said that police took electronic devices from the house. “They took my phone, my husband’s phone, my daughter’s phone, my grandkids’ phone and my son-in-law’s phone,” she said.
FBI Shares Video of Potential Suspect at Savannah Guthrie’s Mom’s Home
Josefina denied having any knowledge of Nancy’s disappearance sans briefly seeing the news on Facebook.
Entin showed Josefina black-and-white photos released by the FBI on Tuesday of a potential suspect in a ski mask outside Nancy’s Catalina Foothills home on the night of her disappearance. The woman denied any visible resemblance between the individual and her son-in-law.
“He doesn’t look like that,” she said, referring to her son-in-law, who she described as a “good guy” without a criminal or violent history.
Nancy, 84, was last seen on January 31. She was reported missing the next day.
On Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel released surveillance photographs and footage taken from a Nest camera outside of Nancy’s home showing a potential suspect clad in a ski mask and in possession of what appeared to be a gun holstered in their waistband.
“New images in the search for Nancy Guthrie,” Patel shared in an X post. “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. The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems.”
“Working with our partners – 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. Anyone with information, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit http://tips.fbi.gov.”
