Nancy Guthrie kidnapping: Person detained and released after FBI releases masked suspect footage | What he told the media

BREAKING: the man detained AND NOW RELEASED by authorities during the Nancy Guthrie investigation says he had no idea what was happening and that he just works as a delivery driver in Tucson. @abc15 pic.twitter.com/Wcui0Rjurh

— Lillian Donahue (@LillianDonahue) February 11, 2026

A Phoenix television station, KNXV-TV, interviewed a delivery man who said he had been detained by police on suspicions of kidnapping Guthrie. He said he and his wife pulled the car over when they noticed police were following them. The man, who gave only his first name and said he lived in the town of Rio Rico, said he was innocent and that police released him after several hours. His account could not be independently verified. Local and federal authorities have not confirmed that the person who they had detained was released.

Nancy Guthrie

Extended interview with the mother-in-law of POI Carlos Palazuelos.

LE is interviewing Carlos and searching the mother-in-law’s residence. That’s where Carlos was staying after he was evicted.#NancyGuthrie @NewsNation pic.twitter.com/PqnXhCSPtj

— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) February 11, 2026

The sheriff’s department and the FBI were conducting a court-authorised search Tuesday night at a location in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of Tucson, the department said in a statement. The search was expected to take several hours.

Guthrie, 84, disappeared on February 1. Since then, the case has gripped the nation.

Masked figure seen outside home

The surveillance videos released Tuesday show a person wearing a ski mask and a backpack. At one point, they tilt their head down and away from a doorbell camera while approaching Guthrie’s front door. The footage also shows the person holding a flashlight in their mouth and trying to cover the camera with a gloved hand and part of a plant ripped from the yard.

The videos, less than a combined minute in length, gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside Guthrie’s home in the foothills outside Tucson. But the images did not show what happened to her or help determine whether she is still alive.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the “armed individual” appeared to “have tampered with the camera.” It was not entirely clear whether there was a gun in the holster.

The videos were pulled from data on “back-end systems” after investigators spent days trying to find lost, corrupted or inaccessible images, 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

“This will get the phone ringing for lots of potential leads,” said former FBI agent Katherine Schweit. “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.”

Search activity intensifies

Tuesday afternoon, authorities were back near Guthrie’s neighbourhood, using vehicles to block her driveway. A few miles away, law enforcement officers went door-to-door in the area where daughter Annie Guthrie lives, speaking with neighbours and searching a drainage area, including the inside of a culvert.

Investigators have said for more than a week that they believe Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will. 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.

Authorities initially could not pull images from the camera. The doorbell camera was disconnected early on Feb. 1. While software recorded movement at the home minutes later, Guthrie did not have an active subscription, so Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos had initially said none of the footage could be recovered. Officials continued working to retrieve the data.

Until now, authorities have released few details, leaving it unclear whether ransom notes demanding money, with deadlines that have already passed, were authentic, and whether the Guthrie family has had any contact with whoever took her.

Family’s increasingly urgent pleas

Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings have released a series of video statements pleading for the return of their mother and indicating a willingness to pay a ransom.

Savannah Guthrie posted the new surveillance images on social media Tuesday, saying the family believes their mother is still alive and offering phone numbers for the FBI and county sheriff. Within minutes, the post had thousands of comments.

In a video just ahead of a purported ransom deadline Monday, Savannah Guthrie appeared alone and spoke directly to the public.

Please bring Nancy Guthrie home. Please. 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 pic.twitter.com/1yvW5vKfxb

— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) February 7, 2026

“We are at an hour of desperation,” she said. “We need your help.”

Earlier appeals had been more measured. Three days after the search began, the siblings said, “We want to hear from you, and we are ready to listen.”

In the same video, Guthrie said the family was aware of media reports about a ransom letter, but first wanted proof their mother was alive. “Please reach out to us,” they said.

The next day, Savannah Guthrie’s brother again made a plea: “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly.”

Over the weekend, the family posted another video that intensified speculation about Nancy Guthrie’s fate.

“We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her,” said Savannah Guthrie, flanked by her siblings. “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

National attention and federal involvement

Much of the nation is closely following the case involving the longtime anchor of NBC’s morning show.

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.

The FBI has begun posting digital billboards about the case in major cities from Texas to California.

Connor Hagan, a spokesperson for the FBI, said Monday that the agency was not aware of ongoing communication between Guthrie’s family and any suspected kidnappers. Authorities also had not identified any suspects, he said.

For now, investigators say they believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted against her will. The newly released footage has provided the first visual clue in the case — but it has yet to answer the central question of where she is, or whether she is still alive.

(With inputs from AP)