US questions person over disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, mother of TV host

Detention comes as FBI releases video of ‘armed individual’ outside 84-year-old’s door on day of apparent kidnapping.Published On 11 Feb 2026United States authorities questioned a person in connection with the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of high-profile news anchor Samantha Guthrie, who disappeared earlier this month in a case that has gripped the nation.Local and federal authorities have not confirmed any further details since Pima County Sheriff’s Department reported the arrest on Tuesday, but local media spoke to a man later that day who claimed he had been detained on suspicion of kidnapping the 84-year-old and released after questioning.Recommended Stories list of 2 itemslist 1 of 2US kills two people in attack on boat in eastern Pacific, one survivorlist 2 of 2US attorney general says ‘key participant’ in 2012 Benghazi attack arrestedend of listThe ABC15 channel reported that it had interviewed a man by the name of “Carlos” who claimed to have been detained by Pima County Sheriff’s deputies. “They didn’t even tell me what’s going on until the detectives got here… They told me I was being detained for kidnapping, and I asked them, ‘Kidnapping of who?’,” he said.The Pima County Sheriff’s Department had earlier said that deputies arrested a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson, adding that it was conducting a court-authorised search along with the FBI at a location in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of Guthrie’s home and about 24km (15 miles) north of the US-Mexico border.News of Tuesday’s arrest came shortly after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released surveillance videos of a person in a balaclava wearing a handgun holster outside Nancy Guthrie’s front door on the night she vanished from her home in the city of Tucson, Arizona.FBI Director Kash Patel said the “armed individual” in the black and white videos, which offered the public a first glimpse of who was involved in the February 1 kidnapping, appeared to have “tampered” with a front-door camera outside the 84-year-old’s home.Images provided by the FBI show surveillance footage at the home of Nancy Guthrie the night she went missing in Tucson, Arizona [File: FBI via AP]Authorities had already said they believed the victim, who is described as mentally sound but with little mobility, was taken against her will, with DNA tests revealing blood on her porch was hers, but until Tuesday’s arrest and the release of the footage, they appeared to be making little headway on the case.