A person has been detained for questioning in disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, sheriff’s office says

RIO RICO, Ariz. — A person was arrested for questioning Tuesday in connection with the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, hours after the FBI released surveillance videos of a masked person carrying a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door the night she disappeared from her Arizona home.

Officers arrested the person during a traffic stop south of Tucson, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

The department and the FBI were conducting a court-authorized search Tuesday evening in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of Tucson, the department said in a statement. This was to take several hours.

The ministry did not immediately provide details on the person or location. The FBI referred questions to the sheriff’s office.

Guthrie disappeared on February 1 and since then the case has gripped the country. Until Tuesday, it appeared that authorities were making little progress in determining what happened to the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, or in finding who was responsible.

Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings released a series of video statements pleading for their mother’s return and indicating their willingness to pay a ransom. Authorities described Nancy Guthrie as mentally healthy but with limited mobility. She takes several medications and there was concern early on that she might die without them, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said repeatedly.

The community of Rio Rico, population 20,000, is about an hour’s drive from Guthrie’s home and about 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Videos released earlier Tuesday show a person wearing a ski mask and carrying a backpack. At one point, they tilt their heads down and away from a doorbell camera as they approach 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 out in the yard.

The videos — totaling less than a minute — gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside Guthrie’s home in the foothills outside Tucson. But the images do not show what happened to her and do not allow us to 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 scraped from data on “back-end systems” after investigators spent days trying to find lost, corrupted or inaccessible footage, Patel said.

“This will make the phone ring for a lot of potential leads,” said former FBI agent Katherine Schweit. “Even when you have a person who looks like they’re completely covered, they’re really not. You can see their girth, the shape of their face, potentially their eyes or their mouth.”

By Tuesday afternoon, authorities were back near Guthrie’s neighborhood, using vehicles to block his driveway. A few miles away, law enforcement was going door to door in the area where her daughter Annie Guthrie lives, talking with neighbors, crossing a drainage area and examining the inside of a culvert with a flashlight.

Investigators have said for more than a week that they believe Nancy Guthrie was arrested against her will. She was last seen at her home on January 31 and was reported missing the following day. DNA testing showed the blood on her porch belonged to hers, authorities said.

So far, authorities have released few details, making it unclear whether the ransom notes demanding money with deadlines already passed were authentic and whether the Guthrie family had contact with whoever kidnapped Guthrie.

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

Investigators hoped the cameras would immediately find evidence of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance from her home in a secluded neighborhood.

But the doorbell camera was disconnected early on February 1. While the software recorded movements at the home minutes later, Guthrie did not have an active subscription, so Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos initially said none of the footage could be recovered. Authorities continued to work to obtain the footage.

Heartbreaking messages from Savannah Guthrie and her family turned from hopeful to somber as they pleaded for whoever took Nancy Guthrie. In a video just before the alleged ransom deadline Monday, Savannah Guthrie appeared alone and spoke directly to the public.

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

Much of the country is closely following the case involving the longtime NBC morning show host.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump watched the new surveillance footage and was “purely disgusted,” encouraging anyone with information to call the FBI.

The FBI this week began posting digital billboards about the case in major cities from Texas to California.

Connor Hagan, an FBI spokesman, said Monday that the agency was not aware of any ongoing communications between Guthrie’s family and suspected kidnappers. Authorities also have not identified any suspects, he added.

Three days after the search began, Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings sent their first public appeal to whoever took their mother, saying, “We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen.” »

In the recorded video, Guthrie said her family was aware of media reports about a ransom letter, but first wanted proof that her mother was alive.

“Please contact us,” they said.

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

Then, last weekend, the family released another video, more cryptic and generating even more speculation about Nancy Guthrie’s fate.

“We received your message and we understand. We are now begging you 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 can have peace. This is very precious to us and we will pay for it.”

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Golden reported in Seattle and Seewer in Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists Darlene Superville in Washington, Ed White in Detroit and Mike Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.