Suspect Questioned, Released in Guthrie Kidnapping Case
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department detained an individual for questioning in connection with the Nancy Guthrie abduction, authorities confirmed on Tuesday evening. He was later released after questioning.
ABC News, one of the first outlets to report that the individual was in custody, said they were apprehended south of Tucson, Arizona by local authorities with help from the FBI.
The suspect was later interviewed by CNN affiliate KNXV. The man maintained “he didn’t even know who this woman was, that he works as a delivery driver.”
“I told them … I might have delivered a package to their house but I never kidnapped anybody,” he said.
The original report of his detainment, which was first published at 7:20 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, added that “law enforcement is preparing to search a location associated with the individual.”
Fox News reported that the individual was considered a “person of interest” in the abduction of the mother of NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie, co-host of “Today.”
🚨 BREAKING: Fox News reports that three sources have confirmed that the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has detained a person of interest in connection with the abduction of Nancy Guthrie pic.twitter.com/kYorkZHVLn
— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) February 11, 2026
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reportedly taken from her home in Tucson during the early hours of Feb. 1.
Authorities confirmed that her doorbell camera was disabled at 1:47 a.m., with the camera detecting the presence of an individual at 2:12 a.m., and her pacemaker disconnecting from her phone — left behind at the scene — at 2:28 a.m.
Authorities found blood outside the home and said that there were indications of forced entry.This past weekend, supposed kidnappers demanded ransom paid in cryptocurrency. The family say that they would pay it.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings just posted a video telling the person or people who have their 84 year-old mother that they received their message and want her released.
“This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
This story keeps getting more bizarre. pic.twitter.com/eS30bKojnU
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) February 7, 2026
“We received your message and we understand,” Savannah Guthrie said in the video. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
However, the Monday deadline set by the alleged kidnappers had passed without any news about Nancy Guthrie’s whereabouts. However, TMZ’s Harvey Levin reported Tuesday that his sources said “there is now activity” in the cryptocurrency account associated with the ransom that was paid.
The FBI, meanwhile, stepped up their presence in the investigation, noting in a statement that it was “currently operating a 24-hour command post that includes crisis management experts, analytic support, and investigative teams. But we still need the public’s help.”
“Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home.”
FBI Director Kash Patel visited the command center recently, and shared an important piece of information on Tuesday: working with “private sector partners,” they’d been able to locate images of an armed, masked man disabling the cameras at Nancy Guthrie’s house; that footage was previously believed to be “lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors, including the removal of recording devices,” Patel said.
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
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) February 10, 2026
“The video was recovered from residual data located in the backend systems,” Patel said.
“Working with four 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.”
It’s unclear from early reports whether authorities believe this individual was the man seen in the footage recovered from outside Nancy Guthrie’s home.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
