A person was detained for questioning Tuesday in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, hours after the FBI released the first surveillance images from the night the longtime mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie vanished from her Arizona home, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said. The detention was carried out in connection with the kidnapping investigation, with deputies stopping the person during a traffic stop south of Tucson, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities also conducted a court-authorized search Tuesday night at a location in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of Tucson, the sheriff’s department said in a statement. The department said the search was expected to take several hours, and that the FBI and the sheriff’s office were working there. The department did not immediately provide details about the person detained or the specific location, and the FBI referred questions to the sheriff’s office.
The FBI released the surveillance images earlier Tuesday, showing a masked person on Guthrie’s porch the night she went missing. The footage shows the person approaching Guthrie’s front door while wearing a ski mask and a backpack, and moving in ways that appear intended to avoid or interfere with the view from a doorbell camera, including tilting their head down and away from the camera. Investigators said the footage also shows the person holding a flashlight in their mouth and trying to cover the camera with a gloved hand, along with part of a plant ripped from the yard.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the “armed individual” appeared to have tampered with the camera, though it was not entirely clear whether there was a gun in a holster. Investigators recovered the videos after spending days trying to locate lost, corrupted or inaccessible images, with Patel saying the footage came from “back-end systems” once the data was pulled. Even with the release, authorities said the images—less than a combined minute—did not show what happened to Guthrie or help determine whether she is still alive.
Former FBI agent Katherine Schweit said the footage could help generate leads, noting that even when someone appears fully covered, investigators and the public can still look at identifying features. “This will get the phone ringing for lots of potential leads,” Schweit said. “Even when you have a person who appears to be completely covered, they’re really not. You can see their girth, the shape of their face, potentially their eyes or mouth.”
While investigators worked to obtain and review camera footage, they had previously said the doorbell camera was disconnected early on Feb. 1 and that there was no active subscription to allow recovery of footage from the device. Savannah Guthrie posted the newly released surveillance images on social media Tuesday, saying the family believes their mother is still alive and offering phone numbers for the FBI and the county sheriff.
Officials have said for more than a week that they believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will. Guthrie disappeared on Feb. 1, and investigators have said she was last seen at home Jan. 31 and reported missing the next day. Authorities also said DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s porch was hers. A neighbor community of Rio Rico, with a population of about 20,000, sits roughly 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
As the nation focused on the case, the Guthrie family’s appeals were increasingly public. Savannah Guthrie posted video statements seeking her mother’s safe return and indicating the family’s willingness to pay a ransom, while authorities said they were concerned about Guthrie’s limited mobility and medications. Prosecuting officials also said that DNA and other evidence pointed to foul play, and that investigators had faced challenges early on in obtaining camera evidence that could show how Guthrie disappeared. In the backdrop of that search, officials said a few miles away from Guthrie’s neighborhood, law enforcement conducted door-to-door canvassing and examined drainage areas.
The release of the surveillance images and the detention followed statements earlier this week from federal officials about what they were and were not aware of. FBI spokesperson Connor Hagan said Monday that the agency was not aware of ongoing communication between Guthrie’s family and any suspected kidnappers, and authorities had also not identified any suspects. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump watched the new surveillance footage and was in “pure disgust,” encouraging anyone with information to call the FBI.