A man who was detained in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has been released.
The individual was taken into custody during a traffic stop south of Tucson, Arizona, on Tuesday.
He said that he noticed officers were following him and his wife, so they stopped before the authorities turned on their lights.
He said they told him he was being detained for a kidnapping, which he was insistent he did not carry out.
"I'm innocent. I can tell you that. I didn't do anything. I didn't even know what was going on," the man, who identified himself as Carlos, told the Scripps News group.
Immediately following his release, we spoke to a man who says he was detained by Pima County Sheriff's deputies for "kidnapping" Nancy Guthrie. @FordHatchett @dannybavaro pic.twitter.com/3jj7mxSGFO
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) February 11, 2026
He added that he is a delivery driver and didn't know if he had ever delivered a package to Nancy Guthrie's house.
Tuesday night's development followed a rapid sequence of events that played out earlier in the day.
Scripps News confirmed that a small amount of money was deposited into the bitcoin wallet identified in the original ransom note tied to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, who is the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie.
The source of the deposit is unknown, and because it is so small, it does not appear to be an attempt to pay a requested ransom.
Hours earlier, the FBI released images and video from a doorbell camera showing the person they believe may been involved in the abduction of Nancy Guthrie.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the images of an armed individual in a ski mask are from Nancy Guthrie's home on the morning of her disappearance.
Patel noted that the videos were recovered using "residual data located in backend systems." Authorities previously said the doorbell camera at Nancy Guthrie's home was disabled in the early morning hours of Feb. 1.
Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Tucson-area home against her will. After her disappearance, a ransom note was sent to KGUN, a Scripps-owned station in Tucson, as well as to another television station and TMZ.
It demanded millions in Bitcoin and threatened Nancy Guthrie’s life if payment was not made by 5 p.m. local time Monday. Authorities have not verified the note’s authenticity or confirmed it was sent by her captors.
