Man quizzed over disappearance of Nancy Guthrie released

A man has been released after being detained for questioning over the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie.

The man, who was detained during a traffic stop south of Tucson according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, told several media outlets that he had nothing to do with last week’s disappearance of Mrs Guthrie, 84.

The sheriff’s department said its deputies and FBI agents also searched a location on Tuesday night in Rio Rico, a city where the man lives near the US-Mexico border.

It was the latest twist in an investigation that has gripped the nation since Nancy Guthrie disappeared on February 1. Until Tuesday, it seemed authorities were making little headway in determining what happened to her or finding who was responsible.

Images released by the FBI marked the first major breakthrough in the case. They show a person who was wearing a gun holster, ski mask and a backpack approaching Mrs Guthrie’s front door and then trying to cover a doorbell camera.

The videos — less than a combined minute in length — gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside Mrs Guthrie’s home in the foothills outside Tucson. But the images did not show what happened to her or help determine whether she is still alive.

FBI director Kash Patel said the videos were pulled from data on “back-end systems” after investigators spent days trying to find lost, corrupted or inaccessible images.

Even though the images do not show the person’s face, investigators are hopeful someone will know who was on the porch that night.

“Even when you have a person who appears to be completely covered, they’re really not. You can see their girth, the shape of their face, potentially their eyes or mouth,” said former FBI agent Katherine Schweit.

Authorities were back near Mrs Guthrie’s neighbourhood on Tuesday, using vehicles to block her driveway. A few miles away, law enforcement was going door-to-door in the area where her daughter Annie Guthrie lives, talking to neighbours as well as walking through 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 taken against her will. She was last seen at home on January 31 and reported missing the next day. DNA tests showed blood on her porch was hers, authorities said.

Savannah Guthrie posted the new surveillance images on social media on Tuesday, saying the family believes their mother is still alive and offering phone numbers for the FBI and county sheriff.

The long-time anchor of NBC’s morning show and her two siblings have released a series of video statements pleading for the return of their mother and indicating a willingness to pay a ransom.

It is not known whether ransom notes demanding money with deadlines that have already passed were authentic, and whether the family has had any contact with whoever took Mrs Guthrie.

Authorities have described Nancy Guthrie as mentally sound but with limited mobility. She takes several medications and there was concern from the start that she could die without them, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said repeatedly.