“The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation,” officials said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said additional information will be released as it becomes available. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t clear if the person being questioned was the person captured on surveillance video from outside Guthrie’s house, which was released earlier Tuesday.<\/p>\n
A law enforcement source stressed to CNN<\/a> that the person has not been charged.<\/p>\n The department, along with the FBI\u2019s Evidence Response Team, was also conducting a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour south of Tucson, Tuesday night as part of the investigation, the department said in a statement. It was expected to take several hours.<\/p>\n The development comes just hours after the\u00a0FBI released the first images of a masked man\u00a0<\/a>outside of Nancy Guthrie’s home.<\/p>\n The FBI released surveillance images of a masked person with a handgun holster outside Guthrie\u2019s front door the night she vanished, offering the first major break in a case that has gripped the nation<\/a> for more than a week.<\/p>\n The person wearing a backpack and a ski mask can be seen in one of the videos tilting their head down and away from a doorbell camera while nearing an archway at the home of the mother of \u201cToday\u201d show host Savannah Guthrie<\/a>.<\/p>\n The footage shows the person holding a flashlight in their mouth and trying to cover the camera<\/a> with a gloved hand and part of a plant ripped from Nancy Guthrie’s yard.<\/p>\n The videos \u2014 less than a combined minute in length \u2014 gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside Nancy Guthrie’s home just outside Tucson, but the images did not show what happened to her<\/a> or help determine whether the 84-year-old is still alive.<\/p>\n FBI Director Kash Patel said the \u201carmed individual\u201d appeared to “have tampered with the camera.” It was not entirely clear whether there was a gun in the holster.<\/p>\n The videos were pulled from data on “back-end systems\u201d after investigators spent days trying to find lost, corrupted or inaccessible images, Patel said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will get the phone ringing for lots of potential leads,\u201d said former FBI agent Katherine Schweit. \u201cEven when you have a person who appears to be completely covered, they\u2019re really not. You can see their girth, the shape of their face, potentially their eyes or mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n By Tuesday afternoon, authorities were back near Nancy Guthrie\u2019s neighborhood, using vehicles to block her driveway. A few miles away, law enforcement was going door-to-door in the area where daughter Annie Guthrie lives, talking with neighbors as well as walking through a drainage area and examining the inside of a culvert with a flashlight.<\/p>\n Investigators have said for more than a week that they believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will<\/a>. She was last seen at home Jan. 31 and reported missing the next day. DNA tests showed blood on her porch was hers, authorities said.<\/p>\n She has high blood pressure and issues with mobility and her heart, and she needs daily medication, officials have said.<\/p>\n
Hours before officials detained a person for questioning, TMZ and some local media reported activity in the Bitcoin account linked to the purported ransom letters about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.<\/p>\n TMZ founder Harvey Levin told CNN<\/a> on Tuesday that they have seen activity in the account.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I can only tell you that we have seen activity in the account,” Levin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two other local Tucson-area TV stations also reported activity. TMZ was one of three media outlets to receive alleged ransom notes in connection with the disappearance of the 84-year-old.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Investigators had previously released a timeline of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n After going to a family member’s house for dinner and games, Nancy returned home via a rideshare driver around 9:45 p.m. local time on Saturday. Her garage door opened and closed a few minutes later, and it’s believed she got inside her home without issue. \u00a0<\/p>\n Around 1:45 a.m., the doorbell camera attached to Nancy’s home was disconnected, officials said. Doorbell cameras are often hardwired into the home’s electrical supply, and a disconnect could mean the camera began operating on its battery backup.\u00a0<\/p>\n At 2:12 p.m., the camera’s built-in software detected something in frame, but the device did not save footage. Law enforcement said it could be a person or even an animal that triggered the device. \u00a0<\/p>\n By 2:28 p.m., the pacemaker app on Nancy’s phone indicated it had disconnected from the device. Most pacemaker apps connect with in-body devices through a wireless connection that requires them to be close to the device.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sheriff’s officials say that the window indicates when Nancy was most likely taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heartbreaking messages<\/a> by Savannah Guthrie and her family shifted from hopeful to bleak as they made pleas for whoever took Nancy Guthrie. In a video just ahead of a purported ransom deadline Monday, Savannah Guthrie appeared alone and spoke directly to the public.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are at an hour of desperation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the nation is closely following the case involving the longtime anchor<\/a> of NBC\u2019s morning show.<\/p>\n White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump watched the new surveillance footage and was in \u201cpure disgust,\u201d encouraging anyone with information to call the FBI.<\/p>\n The FBI this week began posting digital billboards about the case in major cities from Texas to California.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/b918a0ff-c4d5-484e-9868-0f7e4e75d4a0_16x9.jpg\"\/)
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<\/p>\n
\nActivity reported in Bitcoin account attached to the purported ransom letters <\/p>\n
\nTimeline of Nancy’s disappearance <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/f221e016-7d8a-4840-bc3e-e1559724ad8a_16x9.jpg\"\/)
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<\/p>\n
\nSavannah Guthrie expressed desperation a day ago <\/p>\n