Suspect Detained in Nancy Guthrie Case

Adriana Stone 0 2 min read

Suspect Detained in Nancy Guthrie Case

A major development tonight in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Law enforcement says a person was detained during a traffic stop south of Tucson. The subject is now being questioned in connection with the case.

Short, sharp moves. That’s how investigators say it happened. Deputies from Pima County pulled someone over. The person was taken into custody and brought in for questioning.

Pima County Sheriff’s Department posted: “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.”

Reporters on the ground say the stop happened near Rio Rico — roughly an hour from Tucson and not far from the border. Journalists also say the FBI’s elite hostage rescue team has been seen in the area.

The person detained is being treated as a person of interest. Authorities executed a search warrant at a home tied to the detained person. Electronic devices were reportedly seized.

“The person of interest in the abduction of Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, was detained in Rio Rico, Arizona which is about an hour away from Tucson and 20 minutes away from Mexico.”

Local reporter Brian Entin tweeted that FBI tactical personnel are in town. Entin spoke with family members at the house and relayed their insistence the detained man is not involved.

“The FBI’s elite hostage rescue team is in Tucson, sources tell me.”

Entin also posted on video from the scene and said family members told him the man was “delivering DoorDash when he was pulled over.” He later added the mother-in-law — who owns the property — said agents removed electronics and that she believes her son-in-law is innocent.

“Just spoke with the mother-in-law of the man who is detained. She owns the house and says there’s an ongoing search warrant and they took all of their electronic devices. She insists her son-in-law is not involved.”

Entin also shared video from the neighborhood where the detention happened.

Earlier, the FBI released surveillance images and video of a masked, armed person tampering with a doorbell camera at Guthrie’s home the night she went missing. Investigators say they recovered new images after working with private partners to pull footage that might have been lost.

“New images in the search for Nancy Guthrie:
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,… pic.twitter.com/z5WLgPtZpT”

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on January 31 after being dropped off following a family dinner. She was reported missing the next day when she didn’t show up for church.

The family says they received a ransom demand for $6 million in bitcoin. That demand included a February 9 deadline that passed without further contact.

Investigators tracked movement into the alleged ransom bitcoin wallet. Less than $300 was moved into that account just hours before the person was detained. That small deposit spurred additional tactical responses in the area near Guthrie’s home.

Media reports and on-air commentators say investigators believe the suspect may be from the Tucson area and that the search has focused in a tight radius near the Guthrie family’s neighborhood.

“TMZ is reporting that investigators believe whoever took Nancy was from the Tucson area and that the manhunt seems to have zeroed in on a tiny radius surrounding her daughter’s block.”

Investigators have asked anyone with information to call 911, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900, or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. This is an active investigation. Expect more updates as authorities release them.

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