Where things stand
• Person detained, home searched: Authorities are questioning a person in Rio Rico, Arizona, around 60 miles south of Tucson near the US-Mexico border, in connection with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, and a search warrant is being executed at a home, the sheriff’s department said.
• New video: There was an uptick in calls to law enforcement after the FBI released doorbell camera footage from outside Nancy Guthrie’s front door taken the night she disappeared, showing a masked, armed person. “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie then posted a new message from her family saying they believe their mother is still alive.
• Tonight on CNN: Laura Coates is hosting a live special “The Search for Nancy Guthrie” on CNN & CNN All Access now. Submit your questions about the case at CNN.com/AskLaura.
Authorities still don't know where Nancy Guthrie is, source tells CNN
As the questioning of a detained person continues in Rio Rico, Arizona, authorities have still not been able to locate Nancy Guthrie, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
Cars are "amazing" for evidence, former police detective says
A vehicle can be an “amazing” trove of potential evidence because it tells investigators so much about a person, a former police detective said.
“We live in our vehicles, we do everything in our vehicles, whether it’s committing crimes or not,” former police detective Mike McCutcheon told CNN’s Laura Coates early Wednesday.
Investigators will be looking for blood evidence using the chemical Luminol, as they know Nancy Guthrie was bleeding when she was abducted, McCutcheon said.
But they will also be looking for fast food receipts and bank cards.
Tire tread, he added, “can be like a fingerprint” and investigators will be tracking the vehicle’s telematics to see where it’s been.
If Guthrie was in the car, “particularly if she’s moving or struggling, she’s going to leave some evidence behind,” he said.
Authorities are searching a car in Rio Rico
Authorities in Rio Rico, Arizona, which is around 60 miles south of Tucson, were seen searching a vehicle in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, according to footage filmed by CNN on the scene.
The Pima County Sheriff’s confirmed that the vehicle, a gray SUV, was the one pulled over during a traffic stop, during which a person was stopped and taken in for questioning.
Video from the scene shows the car alongside vehicles from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and Marana Police, a town north of Tucson.
Clues from ransom notes could be used in questioning, former FBI deputy director says
Though the ransom notes in the Nancy Guthrie case have not been verified, investigators questioning the detained person will be looking for clues that could link them, a former FBI deputy director said.
“There is probably one or more analysts who have been assigned the task of monitoring this questioning – specifically for that,” Andrew McCabe told CNN’s Laura Coates early Wednesday.
“They’re looking for any clues to see that this person uses the same sort of words or the same sort of phrasing, or repeats the same sort of ideas in the course of of talking to investigators, assuming this person is talking to investigators,” he added.
Calm behavior of masked person in video suggests prior planning, former FBI profiler says
Images and door cam footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home suggest the masked person was calm and had the ability to quickly adapt, an analyst said.
“He doesn’t seem to manifest really strong signs of being nervous… He’s not racing around nor does he appear jittery. That’s impressive to me,” Former FBI senior profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday.
“You can only get that calmness from two things: your personality and your experience being in situations like this before,” she added.
O’Toole said what stood out to her was the person’s ability “to adjust pretty quickly” to changing surroundings, such as the presence of the door cam.
When you combine those actions with the type of clothing and backpack he was wearing, it showed a “certain amount of planning” that was designed to “minimize the amount of physical evidence left at the scene,” she said.
When interviewing a person like this, O’Toole said finding someone “unflappable” would be key.
“What’s important as an interviewer is to match their emotion,” she said.
Police cordon off road in Rio Rico, Arizona
Police have cordoned off a road near Interstate 19 in Rio Rico, Arizona, which is about 60 miles south of Tucson and near the US border with Mexico, according to CNN journalists on the scene.
The road, Camino Agosto, is where investigators are carrying out a search related to the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
Woman tells CNN that authorities are searching her home in Rio Rico
A woman in Rio Rico, Arizona told CNN authorities are searching her home after they received a tip related to the investigation of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
“They had somebody give a tip that the lady was in my house,” the woman, who identified herself as Josefina, told CNN. “I told them you can go in and search my house, there is nobody there. I have nothing to hide.”
The woman said authorities are investigating her son-in-law, who she said was detained, but “he had nothing to do with that (the case).”
CNN has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s’ Department and the FBI.
She said authorities did not present a search warrant before searching the home.
This will be a "high risk execution of search warrant," retired FBI special agent says
Retired FBI Special Agent Peter Lapp has shed light on how the execution of a search warrant could play out in the Nancy Guthrie case.
A search warrant is being executed at a home in Rio Rico, Arizona. In addition, Lapp said the car that the person detained for questioning was driving was “still important.”
“There’s a lot of really good evidence in there that the FBI and law enforcement are going to want to be taking advantage of,” Lapp told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday.
A case such as this would present a “high risk execution of a search warrant” where officers would be prepared to potentially encounter other persons of interest, Lapp said.
Officers will be looking for any signs of struggle, blood spots, or signs that someone was being held there for a long time.
Investigators will need to build rapport with detained person to get answers, analysts say
The first thing investigators need to do when conducting an police interview is to build rapport with the detained person, a CNN analyst said.
Investigators are carefully selected based on their knowledge of the case, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller told Laura Coates on Tuesday.
“You can get somebody who starts to tell you a little bit, and maybe you can get a little bit more, or a little bit more. Or they may go the opposite direction, which is to move into deny deny, deny,” Miller added.
Either way, investigators will want to “draw that conversation out and see if you can get toward that breaking point,” he said.
Getting information of the location of the victim, will be the biggest goal of the questioning in this case.
Search warrant being executed at a home in Rio Rico
A search warrant is being executed at a home in Rio Rico, Arizona, in connection with the Nancy Guthrie case, a spokesperson with the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, Angelica Carrillo, told CNN.
The sheriff’s office said earlier it was questioning a subject who was stopped “during a traffic stop.” The person was detained in Rio Rico, a law enforcement official said.
Rio Rico is around 60 miles south of Tucson, near the US border with Mexico.
Police had reason to bring detained person in for questioning, former FBI deputy director says
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe said it is unclear what led law enforcement to stop the person detained in the Nancy Guthrie case, but officers had enough reason to bring them in for questioning.
“We don’t know the lead that brought law enforcement to that person. We don’t even know if that lead was derived from the public airing of the video and the surveillance photo,” McCabe told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday.
The person could have been pulled over for a traffic violation, he added.
Retired FBI Special Agent Peter Lapp, who was also in conversation with Coates, said that “time is of the essence,” however, and police released the door cam footage because they likely needed help identifying the individual.
“I can’t say that that led to the car stop, but it’s the timing is just too coincidental,” he told Coates.
If investigators don’t get probable cause for a search warrant or information to hold the person longer, “they’re going to have to come to a point in sometime in the near future that they have to release him,” Lapp said.
Authorities conduct court-authorized search in Rio Rico, Arizona
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, assisted by the FBI’s Evidence Response Team, is conducting a court-authorized search of a location in Rio Rico, Arizona, related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office said.
The operation is expected to last several hours, the Sheriff’s Office added, without providing further details.
The sheriff’s office said earlier it was questioning a subject who was stopped “during a traffic stop.” The person was detained in Rio Rico, said a law enforcement official.
Several police cars were seen on a Rio Rico road, according to photos shared with CNN.
Rio Rico is around 60 miles south of Tucson, near the US border with Mexico.
Person detained for questioning in disappearance of Nancy Guthrie
Law enforcement officials have detained a person for questioning in the Nancy Guthrie case — a development we first learned of from a source that has since been confirmed by the sheriff’s department. CNN’s Senior National Correspondent Ed Lavandera reports.
Law enforcement officials have detained a person for questioning in the Nancy Guthrie case, a law enforcement official told CNN. The official stressed that the person has not been charged. Separately, FBI director Kash Patel said agents are investigating a "person of interest."
Subject detained during traffic stop and is being questioned, sheriff's department says
A subject was detained and “is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in an X post.
The subject was stopped “during a traffic stop south of Tucson,” the department said. The individual was detained near the border, in Rio Rico, a law enforcement official added.
Rio Rico is around 60 miles south of Tucson, near the US border with Mexico.
The post didn’t indicate if the subject is believed to be the same person featured in photos and video released by the FBI this morning.
“Additional information will be released as it becomes available,” the sheriff’s department said, adding there is no press conference scheduled at this time.
FBI investigating “persons of interest,” Director Kash Patel says
FBI agents are looking at more than one individual as a “person of interest” in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, told Fox News late Tuesday.
“We are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest,” Patel said.
Patel did not elaborate on who might be under suspicion, but said authorities were undergoing a process to eliminate anyone who may not actually be involved.
Patel said the FBI’s outreach to the private sector has shown “there might be persons of interest in and around the area related to this event.”
The FBI’s first priority is finding Guthrie, Patel said, and “right behind that is to find anyone and any others involved in this kidnapping case to make sure they’re brought to justice.”
Investigators likely working to learn about detained person's property, analyst says
Following the detainment of a person for questioning in the disappearance case of Nancy Guthrie, investigators are likely working to learn more about where the person lives and whether they have vehicles and storage units, according to CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.
Authorities may further work to obtain search warrants for those locations, Miller told anchor Kaitlan Collins on CNN’s ‘The Source.’
Authorities questioning person in connection with disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, officials say
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI have detained a subject for questioning only in the Nancy Guthrie case based on investigative leads, the sheriff’s department said in an update Tuesday night.
The person has not been charged, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told CNN. The individual was located south of Tucson.
Its not clear if the person detained for questioning is the same person seen in surveillance video released by the FBI earlier today.
CNN has reached out to the FBI for more information. An FBI Phoenix spokesperson deferred questions to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
Guthrie, who has been missing for 10 days, was last seen at her Tucson home on January 31, causing local and national law enforcement to work around the clock to find her.
Anyone with information is urged to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
This post has been updated with the sheriff department’s confirmation of the detainment.
Ex-FBI agent breaks down Guthrie surveillance footage
Video released today by the FBI could hold the keys to solving the case of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Former FBI special agent and CNN Senior Correspondent Josh Campbell breaks down what law enforcement could learn:
Former FBI special agent and CNN Senior Correspondent Josh Campbell details what law enforcement could learn in newly released videos from a surveillance camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home.
How Google played a key role in recovering the video from Nancy Guthrie’s cameras
A major breakthrough in the Nancy Guthrie case largely came down to Google’s technical expertise, a person familiar with the investigation told CNN.
The mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie disappeared over a week ago in Arizona. But earlier today, authorities revealed footage of a masked and armed person outside her door on the day she went missing after initially saying the video was not able to be recovered. Engineers at Google, which owns Nest, were able to recover data after several days.
The task was so technically complex that investigators didn’t know if it would be successful, the source said. An FBI official said on X that the bureau released the images within hours of obtaining them.
Read more about the technical expertise required to retrieve the video.
What have the new FBI images revealed to law enforcement experts?
The FBI released several photos and videos recovered from Nancy Guthrie’s Nest-made doorbell camera that shows an armed, masked individual - one piece of evidence that can tell a larger story.
The new images can offer investigators important clues about the subject’s identity - includng how the person dressed, how they walked and other important details that could help find them.
Read more about what stood out to law enforcement experts after viewing the new evidence.
