(PHOENIX, Ariz.) — The man who was detained and released after being questioned in connection with the abduction of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, says it was “terrifying.”
The man, who said he works in Tucson and delivers packages for a living, said he was detained in a traffic stop in Rio Rico, according to ABC Phoenix affiliate station KNXV, which spoke to him after his encounter with law enforcement.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Tuesday they had detained a “subject” in connection with the investigation.
When asked about what happened, the man who spoke with KNXV said it was a “terrifying” experience and that authorities “didn’t tell me anything at the beginning.”
When asked if he delivered a package to Nancy Guthrie’s home, the man said, “I don’t know. Might have been a possibility. I don’t know.”
“I was detained the whole time,” he told KNXV. “I was being questioned, but they only asked me for my first name, my last name, my date of birth and my social.”
The man whom officials detained had been on the radar of the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department regarding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance prior to the public release on Tuesday of the images of a masked subject at Nancy Guthrie’s front door, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The individual, who identified himself as Carlos, was detained for questioning in Rio Rico after the FBI identified him using a series of electronic investigative tools, including cellphone usage information and traffic data, the sources said, without specifying the exact techniques.
A local judge from Santa Cruz County, Arizona, signed the warrant for the search of the man’s house, which was carried out overnight. He was questioned for several hours before being released without charge and is under no law enforcement restrictions, according to the sources.
Separately, investigators are studying every pixel of the new video the FBI released publicly on Tuesday to try to find any identifying feature, including the apparent weapon and characteristics of what the subject was wearing, according to the sources.
“In high-profile cases, these type of leads are typical,” retired FBI agent Brad Garrett told Good Morning America Wednesday. “It may happen again because it’s the type of tips you get. But having said that, it’s the type of tips that will resolve this case.”
Investigators also descended upon a home where a court-authorized search was conducted and a woman claiming to be the homeowner says someone called in a tip reporting Nancy Guthrie was there.
“You can go in and search my house. There’s nobody there. I have nothing to hide,” the woman told KNXV. “There’s nobody in my house and I don’t know what’s going on.”
She told reporters her son-in-law was the person detained by police but insisted he had nothing to do with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
The developments followed the first images released of a masked man approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door and as investigators continued to search in her neighborhood.
The images showed someone wearing a mask, gloves, a backpack and armed with a holstered handgun at the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson-area home around the time investigators suspect she was abducted on Feb. 1.
Savannah Guthrie later posted the images to her Instagram account, with the message, “We believe she is still alive. Bring her home.”
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