Authorities investigating Nancy Guthrie’s abduction said Wednesday that they have released a man they detained a day earlier, following a burst of activity in the search for the 84-year-old.
The man was detained during a traffic stop south of Tucson and let go without charges, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said. The release follows a sudden flurry of activity in a closely watched case that for more than a week had yielded little apparent progress.
On Tuesday, investigators shared recovered photos and video of an “armed individual” appearing to tamper with a camera at Guthrie’s Tucson home. The sheriff’s department also said officers conducted a court-authorized search with help from the FBI’s Evidence Response Team at a location in Rio Rico, about 60 miles south of Tucson, near the Mexico border.
Early Wednesday, news outlets interviewed a man who said he had been detained and released. Standing outside his Rio Rico home, the man said it was his property that authorities had searched.
“I hope they get the suspect, because I’m not it,” the man told CBS News, adding that he does not follow the news and previously had not been aware of the investigation.
The detention, visuals and search marked the first time in days that officials have shared new details since Guthrie, the mother of “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing by her family on Feb. 1. FBI Director Kash Patel said the photos released Tuesday were “previously inaccessible” and had been recovered recently from “backend systems” with the help of private companies.
Soon after, the FBI released two video clips showing the same person wearing a full face mask and zip-up jacket, with a backpack and gloves. In the first clip, the person raises a gloved hand, appearing to hide their face from view of a camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home while using their other hand to tinker with it. In the second, the person walks back toward the front of the home and picks up a piece of a decorative plant, appearing to place it on top of the camera lens, the footage shows.
Authorities previously said a doorbell camera had been disconnected from Nancy Guthrie’s home. They asked anyone with information about the person in the materials to contact law enforcement but did not identify the individual as a suspect or person of interest.
Minutes after the photos were released, Savannah Guthrie shared the images on her Instagram page, where she has been posting video messages from herself and her family.
“We believe she is still alive,” she wrote of Nancy Guthrie. “Bring her home.”
Savannah Guthrie on Monday appealed directly to the public for the first time for help finding her mother. For more than a week, an expansive law enforcement search, purported ransom letters, support from the White House, “Today” show segments and constant media coverage of the case yielded little information.
The Guthrie family also posted multiple videos, each with a plea to their mother’s potential abductor. Speaking directly to the person they believed was keeping their mother from them, the family shared that Nancy Guthrie, 84, was sick and needed her medications to survive. They asked other viewers to pray for her.
In the video released Monday, Savannah Guthrie appeared solo and asked viewers far and wide to report any new information to law enforcement.
“We are at an hour of desperation,” she said. “And we need your help.”
Local law enforcement and federal agents launched a sprawling search after Nancy Guthrie was reported missing. She was last seen returning home the previous evening around 9:30 or 9:45 p.m. Nanos said early in the investigation that he believed Nancy Guthrie was abducted.
The search grew more harrowing as some news outlets, including TMZ and local TV stations, reported receiving ransom notes claiming to demand money for Nancy Guthrie’s release.
In a 22-second video on Feb. 7, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings held hands, again seeming to make a plea to their mother’s potential captor.
“We received your message, and we understand,” Savannah Guthrie said. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
In previous videos, they had asked for proof of life and to hear directly from the person holding their mother.
“We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact,” Camron Guthrie said in a Feb. 5 video.
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