Just hours after the FBI released videos Tuesday of a person wearing a gun holster, ski mask and backpack and approaching Nancy Guthrie's home in Tucson, authorities said they had stopped a man near the U.S.-Mexico border for questioning.
The man told several media outlets early Wednesday that he was released after several hours and had nothing to do with Guthrie's disappearance last week.
Authorities have not said what led them to stop the man and had not confirmed he was released. The sheriff's department said its deputies and FBI agents also searched a location Tuesday night in Rio Rico, a city south of Tucson where the man lives.
It was the latest twist in an investigation that has gripped the nation since Nancy Guthrie disappeared on Feb. 1. Until Tuesday, it seemed authorities were making little headway in determining what happened to her or finding who was responsible.
The black and white images released by the FBI showing a masked person trying to cover a doorbell camera on Guthrie’s porch marked the first significant break in the case.
The videos — less than a combined minute in length — gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside 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 Guthrie’s neighborhood on Tuesday, using vehicles to block her driveway. A few miles away, law enforcement was going door-to-door in the area where daughter Annie Guthrie lives, talking with neighbors 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 Jan. 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 Tuesday. She said the family believes their mother is still alive and provided phone numbers for the FBI and county sheriff.
The longtime 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 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.
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Golden reported from Seattle and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press reporters Darlene Superville in Washington, Ed White in Detroit, and Mike Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.