Live updates: Man detained for questioning in Nancy Guthrie investigation is released
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of "TODAY" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing Feb. 1.
What we know
- A man who was detained last night for questioning in the disappearance of “TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother was released after several hours, authorities said.
- The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has yet to confirm his release.
- The man, who identified himself as Carlos Palazuelos, told Telemundo that his house in Rio Rico, south of Tucson, was searched as part of the investigation. The delivery driver said he doesn’t remember delivering anything to Guthrie’s house and that he doesn’t know who she is and wasn’t involved in the kidnapping. Telemundo is part of NBCUniversal, as is NBC News.
- The FBI yesterday released security photos and videos of a potential subject in the investigation showing a person wearing gloves, a mask and a backpack who appeared to tamper with the camera at Guthrie’s front door the morning she disappeared.
- Guthrie, 84, was dropped off at her home outside Tucson, Arizona, the night of Jan. 31 and was reported missing about noon Feb. 1.
- On social media yesterday, Savannah Guthrie said she and her family believe her mother is still alive. “We believe she is still out there. Bring her home," she said.
Pima County Sheriff's Office says it's fielded more than 4,000 tips since images released
More than 4,000 calls have come into the Pima County Sheriff's Department in the 24 hours since the FBI released photos and videos of a potential subject in the Guthrie kidnapping case.
The department said it has received 18,000 calls with tips since Feb. 1.
A look at the widening search
Law enforcement expanded yesterday its search of the surroundings of Nancy Guthrie's home in Tucson, Arizona. Authorities also began searching through a residential area of Rio Rico, roughly 60 miles south of Tucson.
Law enforcement officials blocked the entrance to a road where a home was being searched in connection with the investigation into Guthrie's disappearance, in Rio Rico, Ariz. last night. A man was detained and questioned but released without charges. Ty ONeil / AP
An FBI investigator searching a culvert near the home of Guthrie's daughter Annie Guthrie, outside Tucson, Ariz., yesterday. Ty ONeil / AP
News reporters stationed outside Guthrie's residence in Tucson yesterday. Brandon Bell / Getty Images
Authorities confirm person who was detained has been released
The man detained for questioning yesterday in relation to the Guthrie case was released after investigators spoke with him, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI said in a release this afternoon.
Their statement confirms what the man earlier told Noticias Telemundo.
Officials said the detention was a follow-up on incoming leads. The man has not been charged.
The office said several hundred detectives and agents are on the case. Investigators are working around the clock, authorities said.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department says there are no interviews scheduled at this time
The Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a statement on X that it is not giving interviews at this time and that there are no upcoming press briefings.
FBI Phoenix conducting a search in the Catalina Foothills in Guthrie investigation
The FBI office in Phoenix said in an update on social media that its agents are "conducting an extensive search along multiple roadways in the Catalina Foothills area related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation.”
The announcement also included a reminder that the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the recovery of Guthrie.
Savannah Guthrie shared FBI video of masked potential subject
In a post yesterday on Instagram, Savannah Guthrie shared one of the videos released by the FBI showing a masked individual approaching her mother's home.
"Someone out there recognizes this person," she said in the caption. "We believe she is still out there. Bring her home."
"Anyone with information, please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department 520-351-4900," she added.
‘Where’s Nancy?’ Guthrie case baffles ex-FBI agents
An FBI billboard in California displaying a missing person alert for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Susannah Guthrie. via KNBC
When former FBI agent Katherine Schweit heard about the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, her mind drifted to a crime that took place in rural Wisconsin more than two decades ago.
An 88-year-old grandmother was abducted from her home in February 2003 and placed in the trunk of her car. Her abductor drove her to his property and shackled her inside a trailer. Soon after, the woman’s grandson, who owned a construction company, started to receive messages demanding millions for her release.
“The kidnapper thought he could get a big ransom from the family,” said Schweit, who investigated the case and helped capture the abductor five days after the woman was taken.
The Guthrie case doesn’t seem to be following that script, Schweit said. “If you were going to abduct somebody for cash, why wouldn’t you aggressively try to get the cash by communicating with the family right from the start, so you could get your money and return the victim?”
It’s one of the big questions baffling investigators, law enforcement experts and the millions of Americans following the high-profile case. Even the recent release of home surveillance footage showing a potential subject provides no additional information about the person’s possible motive or what happened to Guthrie.
FBI official said tips increased 'dramatically' after released photos and videos
An FBI official told NBC News that tips have "dramatically increased" since FBI Director Kash Patel released images and videos yesterday that appeared to show a potential subject outside Guthrie's home on the night she went missing.
FBI saw Guthrie subject video before yesterday morning, sources say
The FBI saw the video of the potential subject in the Guthrie case before yesterday morning, according to two officials briefed on the investigation.
Officials with the agency have been analyzing that material.
FBI released photos photos, videos of potential subject yesterday
FBI Director Kash Patel shared six black-and-white photos and three videos of a potential subject in the Guthrie kidnapping case on social media yesterday. The images and video clips appear to have been captured by Guthrie's doorbell camera, which the perpetrator later disconnected, officials have said.
The images show a person wearing a mask and gloves, carrying a backpack, walking up to the home, attempting to cover the doorbell camera with their hand, and using a brush pulled from the front yard.
Patel said, "The video was recovered from residual data located in backend systems" of the camera."
No news conference planned for today
Authorities have no news conference scheduled today to update the public on the ongoing investigation.
Timeline into the ongoing Guthrie investigation
With video, investigators got the ‘game changer’
After an excruciating 10 days without much to go on, authorities looking for Guthrie finally have a potential big break: video of an armed, masked person at her doorstep the morning she went missing.
The black-and-white video captured by Guthrie’s doorbell camera, which the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department shared yesterday, gives investigators clues that could help their search.
“When you get video, it opens up many new avenues and details,” said Eric Draeger, a former Milwaukee police detective who specialized in high-tech tools. “Detectives hope to get something like this in a case like this.”
Bryanna Fox, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida, agreed. “This is the game changer we were waiting for,” she said.
Tips have dramatically increased since the images and video were released, an FBI source told NBC News.
Man who says he was detained for questioning tells reporters it was 'terrifying' and 'like being kidnapped'
A man who says he was detained for questioning as part of the investigation into Guthrie's disappearance has told reporters that he was "terrified" by the ordeal.
The New York Times and other outlets reported this morning that the person detained for questioning last night had been released.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department has not confirmed the release or the identity of the person questioned and declined to comment when NBC News asked overnight.
Speaking to reporters outside his house, the site of a police search last night, Carlos Palazuelos, 27, said: "Terrifying. Something I didn't do. I felt like I was being kidnapped, bro. They didn't tell me anything."
Palazuelos, a delivery driver, said he was pulled over by police while driving near his home yesterday and detained. He said he was asked about his whereabouts and where he worked and had his phone taken.
Asked whether he ever delivered a package to Guthrie's house, he said: "I don't know, it might have been a possibility."
Palazuelos said he was questioned because of suspicions his eyes resembled those of the masked person caught on doorcam footage at Guthrie's address, released by the FBI last night.
"All I know is they showed my in-law a picture of somebody wearing a mask or something and it supposedly looked like my eyes," he said.
Person seen in released photos and videos appeared to have 'some premeditation,' former FBI agent says
Bryanna Fox, a former FBI special agent and professor of criminology at the University of South Florida, said on the "TODAY" show this morning that she believes the person seen in photos and videos posted by the FBI yesterday appeared to have "some premeditation."
The person "came there intending to do something very terrible, but didn't quite think it all the way through," Fox said.
She said the person falls into a group of people she categorizes as "premeditated, but haven't quite gotten all the way there yet."
Fox also noted an image showing the person without a backpack, and a later video shows that he is clearly carrying one. She added that the person "behaviorally," probably has "a huge ego."
Investigation into reportedly detained person has been ongoing
This investigation into the person who says he was reportedly detained for questioning in the Guthrie disappearance case has been ongoing for a short time. The man who lives at the house searched by authorities says he has since been released from custody.
This individual wasn’t detained just because somebody picked up the phone and said, "Oh, I think it’s that person."
There could have been a number of factors in that person’s background, and evidence they uncovered that led authorities to believe they wanted to talk to them.
The search of the person's home was court-authorized, so officials had probable cause. This happens in investigations. Whether or not this person is ultimately charged, we don’t know at the moment, though they’re presumed innocent.
It's not yet clear how the FBI collected the video from Guthrie’s Google Nest camera
Shortly after Guthrie disappeared, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said that a camera affixed to her door had been disconnected, that she did not have a subscription that would have saved video and that investigators were trying to work with a tech company on the difficult forensic task of recovering any video.
Against those odds, they were successful. More than a week after her reported disappearance, that video was revealed.
An internet-connected Google Nest camera captured an unidentified person in a mask and gloves, carrying a backpack and a gun, approaching Guthrie’s home just before her disappearance. FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau was able to collect the video from “backend systems.”
It’s not yet clear how the FBI was able to collect the video. Experts told NBC News that, in some cases, it is possible to collect data from the complex infrastructure that has enabled cloud-based cameras to become a common household feature.
Person detained for questioning was detained during traffic stop
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said last night that deputies detained a person for questioning — who identified himself to reporters as Carlos Palazuelos — during a traffic stop south of Tucson, Arizona, yesterday.
Man who lives at searched property says he was detained and later released in Guthrie investigation
A man who lives at the house searched by authorities says he was the person detained for questioning in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie and has since been released from custody.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on reports of the release when asked overnight by NBC News.
The man, who identified himself as Carlos Palazuelos, spoke to Telemundo in Spanish outside his house in Rio Rico — the site of a law enforcement search last night. Palazuelos confirmed his house was searched as per a warrant. His front and back door was damaged, he said. Telemundo is part of NBCUniversal, as is NBC News.
He added that agents told him he looked like the person seen in security camera footage from Guthrie’s house, released by the FBI yesterday.
He said that while he was a delivery driver, he doesn’t remember if he delivered anything to Guthrie’s house.
Authorities said early this morning that the search at the property was over and that the investigation was ongoing.
