The man was taken into custody during a traffic stop. Authorities subsequently carried out a court-authorized search of his home in Rio Rico, south of Tucson, Arizona, according to sources familiar with the investigation cited by CBS News, News.Az reports.
After being released, the man — identified only as Carlos — told reporters outside his home that he had no knowledge of Nancy Guthrie. “I don’t follow the news,” he said.
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Carlos, who is reportedly a delivery driver, said he noticed law enforcement vehicles following him while he was driving. He claimed officers did not question him and instead made him wait for hours in a parking lot.
“I hope they get the suspect, because I’m not it,” he said in a video posted on X by CBS reporter Andres Gutierrez.
A woman identifying herself as his mother-in-law earlier insisted that he had no involvement in the case. “They’re just invading my property,” she was quoted as saying by CBS.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that officers conducted a court-authorized search at a property in Rio Rico.
The detention occurred just hours after the FBI released new images and short videos showing a masked individual at Nancy Guthrie’s front door on the night she disappeared. Authorities said the person appeared to be armed.
“As of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie’s front door the morning of her disappearance,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on X.
He added that investigators had been working to retrieve footage from the home surveillance system that “may have been lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors — including the removal of recording devices.”
The two brief videos show the individual approaching the front door, examining the camera, then stepping away before picking up vegetation from the ground and using it to obscure the camera lens.
Savannah Guthrie shared the newly released footage on Instagram, urging the public to help identify the person. “Someone out there recognises this person,” she wrote on Tuesday. “We believe she is still out there. Bring her home.”
