Nancy Guthrie disappearance: Sheriff says no arrests, none remain in custody after major operation
FBI and local authorities conducted a major operation in connection to the Nancy Guthrie case, as at least three people were detained and a vehicle was hauled off. The 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” host Savannah Guthrie has been missing for two weeks.
WHAT TO KNOW
A Pima County SWAT team and the FBI executed a search warrant at a Tucson-area residence late Friday approximately two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home. At least three people were reportedly detained in connection to the operation, but none have been confirmed as suspects in Guthrie’s disappearance.
Local authorities and FBI detained a man following a traffic stop in a Culver’s restaurant parking lot in Tucson in connection to the warrant served on the nearby home, sources told Fox News Digital. A gray Range Rover was searched and towed from the parking lot.
The FBI released a description of the suspect seen in a mask and gloves tampering with the doorbell camera in front of Nancy Guthrie’s home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1 around the time she went missing. The suspect is described as a male between 5’9” – 5’10” tall, with an average build and was seen carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.
The FBI increased its reward to $100,000 for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance. The search entered the two-week mark on Saturday, and authorities have yet to publicly name any suspects or persons of interest.
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Search for Nancy Guthrie enters third week
The search for Nancy Guthrie entered its third week on Sunday, as a task force awaits forensic results from a late-night operation that took place on Friday miles from the 84-year-old’s home.
The FBI executed a federal search warrant at a house in the Catalina foothills, resulting in four people being detained and later released, officials confirmed to Fox News Digital on Saturday.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who was not present during the search, told Fox News that there were no arrests and “no sign of Nancy was found.”
Last week, the FBI increased its reward from $50,000 to $100,000 for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie or to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
High-tech Bluetooth scanner used to track Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker signal via helicopter
Fox News Digital learned authorities have used a high-tech Bluetooth scanner placed on the bottom of law enforcement helicopters to detect Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker signal.
The helicopters fly low, typically in grid patterns, at a slow pace to pick up signals.
Fox News Digital spotted one of the low-flying helicopters near Guthrie’s home on Feb. 4, just three days after her disappearance.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
FBI task force staged in Tucson as officials await forensics from overnight operation
Fox News has learned that a task force in Tucson, Arizona, is awaiting forensic results from a late-night operation Friday, miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home.
Officials on Saturday confirmed to Fox News Digital the FBI was executing a federal search warrant at a house in the Catalina foothills, with four people detained and later released.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, who was not at the scene during the search, told Fox News’ Matt Finn there were no arrests and “no sign of Nancy was found.”
Fox News’ Paul Mauro contributed to this report.
Pima County sheriff says man detained Friday, later released ‘was our person of interest’
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos released new details about a federal operation Friday night, confirming a man detained in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation and later released “was our person of interest.”
Nanos told Fox News on Saturday the man detained in a traffic stop outside the Culver’s restaurant Friday night was investigators’ “person of interest,” and was cooperative.
The man, who has since been released, is believed to be the owner of a gray Range Rover that was searched and towed by authorities.
Three other people detained at a nearby home where the FBI executed a federal search warrant Friday night were released as well, with Nanos noting he was not at the scene, but it is standard procedure — to allow investigators freedom to conduct the search.
Nanos said there were no arrests and “no sign of Nancy was found.”
The sheriff added every day moving forward, there will be “a lot of police activity” throughout the community, depending on leads and how they develop.
“These leads start in the command post and move to the field as needed,” Nanos said. “That is one reason you’re seeing activity build up as the day goes on that can ultimately lead to a search warrant looking for Nancy and any suspect involved.”
“Not all leads will rise to that level but some may,” he continued. “It all depends on what is developed from each lead…”
Fox News’ Matt Finn contributed to this report.
Little-known cellphone unit could help crack Guthrie case as digital net tightens: retired FBI agent
The FBI’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST) is one of the bureau’s most critical tools in missing person cases and may be the key to cracking the Nancy Guthrie case, but retired FBI supervisory special agent Jason Pack said most Americans have never heard of it.
Pack — who served as Chief of Staff for FBI Public Affairs, negotiator and child abduction team leader — told Fox News Digital that authorities likely have suspects in Guthrie’s disappearance, but data is still being refined by the specialized team.
“They have data, mountains of it,” Pack said. “Names have surfaced and been evaluated. Some have been cleared. Others may still be in play in ways we aren’t seeing publicly.”
CAST specialists are trained to analyze cellular data at an extraordinarily granular level.
Pack said the team is not just pulling call logs, but mapping the movement of every phone that pinged off towers in and around the area of interest during the relevant time windows.
“Every cellphone is essentially a tracking device its owner carries voluntarily,” he said. “CAST can reconstruct where a phone traveled, when it arrived, how long it stayed, and where it went next. In a kidnapping investigation, that capability is devastating to anyone who thinks they moved undetected.”
However, Pack said to access phone records and data, agents first need warrants and subpoenas.
“It comes trickling in, sometimes in waves, sometimes in fragments,” he said. “Each new batch of records has to be ingested, analyzed, and cross-referenced against the existing evidence map. Every new data point can confirm a theory, eliminate a lead, or open an entirely new investigative thread. … The search warrants tell us the investigation is active and aggressive. The subpoenas tell us the digital net is widening.”
In the Guthrie case, Pack speculated the court orders are at various stages, and developments are “happening around the clock.”
“What agents and deputies are doing right now is exactly what they should be doing. Letting the cell records, the video, and the tips converge,” he said. “… That’s when you see law enforcement activity like we are seeing or hopefully an arrest. Not before. The investigation isn’t stalled. It’s building.”
Fox News Digital’s Jon Street contributed to this report.
A $10 Walmart gun holster could help identify suspect in Nancy Guthrie case
A gun holster visible in surveillance footage taken outside the home of Nancy Guthrie — the missing mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie — may offer important leads to investigators, experts said Friday.
The holster appears consistent with a brand sold at select Walmart stores for approximately $10. According to the product description, the water-resistant holster is designed to hold a revolver with a barrel measuring between 4 and 6.5 inches.
As of Saturday afternoon, the holster was listed as in stock at five Walmart stores in the Tucson area.
This is an excerpt from a story by Michael Ruiz and Amanda Macias.
Clock ticking in Guthrie investigation as agents race to process potential evidence
An apparent large-scale operation Friday night tied to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie marks a “significant escalation” in the case, with investigators now racing to canvas neighborhoods and fast-track critical DNA evidence, according to a retired FBI agent.
Acting on a lead, authorities on Friday executed a federal search warrant at a Tucson-area home roughly two miles from Guthrie’s home, and towed a gray Range Rover from a nearby parking lot.
Jason Pack, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, told Fox News Digital the developments have the “hallmarks of agents acting on specific, actionable intelligence.”
While the searches and interviews were ongoing Friday night, Pack said other teams of agents and analysts were likely already planning a full neighborhood canvas around the location that was searched.
Aside from canvassing the area, Pack said the most pressing concern is likely processing new evidence collected from at least two scenes Friday night.
“DNA that doesn’t belong to Nancy Guthrie or anyone close to her has already been identified at her property. Gloves have been recovered. Now you’ve got whatever was inside that Range Rover that warranted agents draping it with a tarp before the cameras could see,” he said. “All of that evidence needs to get to a lab.”
Pack stressed the situation is a race against the clock.
“Do they wait until Monday to commercially ship it to a private lab? In past high-profile cases, I’ve seen FBI aircraft used to immediately shuttle evidence to the FBI Laboratory at Quantico,” he said. “That eliminates days of waiting. In a case involving a vulnerable 84-year-old woman who is without her heart medication, where every hour matters, you don’t wait for FedEx on Monday morning.”
Read the full story from Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and Jon Street here.
Pima County sheriff says ‘exhausting’ search for Guthrie could take hours to years: report
Two weeks into the search for missing Tucson grandmother Nancy Guthrie, 84, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos promised answers, but warned it could take years to find them.
“Maybe it’s an hour from now,” Nanos told The New York Times on Friday. “Maybe it’s weeks or months or years from now. But we won’t quit. We’re going to find Nancy. We’re going to find this guy.”
Authorities have received multiple potential ransom notes and thousands of tips related to Guthrie’s Feb. 1 disappearance, though officials said none have panned out.
“It’s exhausting, these ups and downs,” Nanos said. “But we will keep moving forward.”
A Pima County SWAT team and the FBI executed a search warrant at a Tucson-area home Friday night, detaining at least three people, but none have been charged as of Saturday afternoon.
The FBI recently increased its reward to $100,000 for information leading to Guthrie’s location and the conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
FBI waiting for sheriff’s lab results after several detained, released in overnight op: source
A high-level source tells Fox News Digital that after last night’s activity in Tucson the FBI is still waiting for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department’s lab results.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos recently defended his department’s use of a private Florida lab, telling Fox News earlier this week that evidence was sent there early on and the FBI agreed it was best to continue to send evidence to the Florida lab, which the sheriff’s department has long contracted with, rather than to the FBI’s comprehensive crime lab in Quantico, Virginia.
On Saturday morning, Nanos told Fox News that no arrests were made and no one was in custody in connection to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.
Sources told Fox News Digital that a federal search warrant was executed Friday night at a Tucson home about two miles from Guthrie’s residence and at least three people were detained in connection to the operation.
The sheriff’s department later confirmed the warrant was based on a “lead” law enforcement received.
“Law enforcement activity is underway at a residence near E Orange Grove Rd & N First Ave related to the Guthrie case,” Pima County sheriff’s officials wrote in an X post. “Because this is a joint investigation, at the request of the FBI — no additional information is currently available.”
A man was photographed in handcuffs at a nearby Culver’s parking lot. Sources told Fox News Digital that he was detained in connection to the search warrant, and he was seen being processed in the parking lot, but no charges were announced.
Law enforcement also searched a Range Rover, which was towed from the lot.
Authorities have not named any suspects or persons of interest.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
Donna Rotunno calls repeated detentions without arrests in Guthrie case ‘strange’
Criminal defense attorney Donna Rotunno said it is “strange” that multiple people have been detained in connection with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance without any arrests being made.
“We saw this flurry of activity last night and then several hours later we find out that they brought people in and let them go,” Rotunno said. “That’s strange actually.”
Rotunno, who will debut her new Fox News Podcasts program, “Crime & Justice with Donna Rotunno,” on Feb. 18, also described what she called “this very strange, this back-and-forth law enforcement volleying that the FBI is doing with local law enforcement.”
“If someone is detained, they’re held for a period of time, they’re let go. You’re arrested, normally it’s longer. Arrest has to do with probable cause and a detainment has to do with reasonable suspicion,” she said.
No arrests have been announced and authorities have not confirmed they have any suspects at this time.
Pima County sheriff tells Fox News no arrests, no one remains in custody after Tucson operation
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Fox News’ Matt Finn that no one was arrested and no one remains in custody following an operation in Tucson conducted Friday in connection to the Nancy Guthrie case.
Sources told Fox News Digital that at least three people had been detained in connection to a search warrant conducted at a residence in Tucson late Friday about two miles from Guthrie’s home. Photos gave a partial view of one man handcuffed and detained in the parking lot of a Culver’s restaurant nearby in connection to the search warrant, but no charges were confirmed.
Authorities have not named any suspects or persons of interest two weeks since 84-year-old Guthrie vanished from her Tucson home on Feb. 1.
Ex-FBI agent warns handcuffs don’t necessarily mean arrests as at least 3 detained in Guthrie probe
Former FBI special agent Nicole Parker tells Fox News Digital that putting someone in handcuffs doesn’t necessarily mean that arrests have been made, as at least three people were detained in connection to Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
“If you ever see people in handcuffs at a search that doesn’t mean that they’re under arrest and in custody,” Parker said. “We put everyone in handcuffs typically when we’re clearing out at home and we’re trying to maintain control of a scene.”
A Pima County SWAT team and the FBI executed a search warrant at a Tucson-area residence late Friday approximately two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home. A man was also detained in the parking lot of a Culver’s restaurant in Tucson in connection to the warrant served on the nearby home, sources told Fox News Digital. A total of at least three people have been detained in connection to the operation.
New photos reveal a partial view of the man detained in the parking lot with handcuffs on. A Range Rover was also searched and later towed from the lot.
No charges have been announced and authorities have not confirmed they have any suspects at this time.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this report
New image shows partial view of man detained in Nancy Guthrie investigation
A newly obtained image shows a partial view of a man detained during a traffic stop late Friday night in the parking lot of Culver’s restaurant about two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home, as law enforcement carried out a major operation in connection with her disappearance.
Sources told Fox News Digital the stop was connected to a search warrant served at a home nearby. At least three people were detained during the broader operation, according to a local law enforcement source.
Authorities have not publicly identified any suspects and have not referred to the man shown in the image as a suspect as of Saturday morning.
Police are investigating a Range Rover at the scene, according to Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz, Jasmine Baehr, and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
PIC: FBI detains man near major law enforcement operation in Nancy Guthrie case
A man was detained during a traffic stop late Friday night at Culver’s, a fast food restaurant about two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home, as law enforcement carried out a major operation in connection with the investigation into her disappearance.
A local law enforcement source tells Fox News Digital that the man is being questioned in connection with the warrant that was served nearby.
Police are also investigating a Range Rover at the scene, according to Fox News Digital, and not a white van.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this reporting.
Range Rover stopped in connection with Guthrie investigation towed away from scene
A Range Rover was towed away from a Culver’s parking lot in Tucson, Arizona, Friday evening after it was involved in a traffic stop during a law enforcement operation in connection with the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
Law enforcement investigated the Range Rover, which appeared to be silver or gray, for a couple of hours before having it loaded up onto a tow truck and taken away from the scene. During the investigation, authorities covered the vehicle’s license plate and removed items from the vehicle to photograph, even holding up a sheet at one point to block the view of police activity in the trunk.
The driver of the vehicle was detained by law enforcement for questioning and was taken away from the scene. It’s unclear if the person remains in custody.
At least three people were detained Friday evening for questioning, but police have not named any suspects in Guthrie’s disappearance.
