Nancy Guthrie search continues as FBI canvasses roadways, investigators get over 4,000 calls to tip line in 24 hours

The FBI said Wednesday it was conducting an "extensive search" of nearby roadways near where Nancy Guthrie went missing. 

Authorities are focusing on roads, washes and pulloffs between Nancy Guthrie's home and any major roadways leading out of Tucson. They've also canvassed nearby gas stations and pulled surveillance video from surrounding neighborhoods. Investigators were following up on many of the thousands of tips that have come in over the last 24 hours in Wednesday's search.

The neighborhood where Nancy Guthrie lives sits in an area with a lot of thick brush and long, winding, narrow streets. There's a considerable distance between houses in the neighborhood. There are also no streetlights because of local laws aimed at cutting down on light pollution.

Watch more: How investigators are canvassing Tucson area in Nancy Guthrie search

An apparent ransom note for Nancy Guthrie demanded payment in bitcoin. While authorities have not confirmed if the ransom demand is legitimate, they have previously said they are taking the note seriously. Ben Weiss, a crypto reporter for Fortune, joined CBS News for analysis. 

"Historically, criminals flocked to bitcoin because they thought it was anonymous," Weiss said. "But what's happened over the past few years is that there are these blockchain whizzes that can look at the networks of transactions and they can also look at the transactions and often see where they're coming from."

"So there are some clues … you can get by looking at the blockchain and looking at that data," he added.

Watch the full interview here.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department has received more than 4,000 calls to its tip line in the last 24 hours, officials said Wednesday.

The department said in a statement that since Feb. 1, when Nancy Guthrie was reported missing, it has received a total of nearly 18,000 calls.

"The Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI continue to follow up on all leads," the sheriff's department said. "We thank the media and the public for the thousands of tips submitted through the various tip lines."

Anyone with what the department described as "actionable information" was urged to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or 520-351-4900.

Several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the investigation, the department said.

FBI agents were conducting an "extensive search" along multiple roadways Wednesday morning in the part of Tucson where Nancy Guthrie lives, the bureau said.

The FBI's Phoenix field office said on social media that numerous agents were carrying out the search in the Catalina Foothills area.

"We are asking the media and motorists to follow all traffic laws and to remain especially cautious when passing law enforcement personnel near the roadways," the FBI said.

Cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos says data from Nest cameras — like the one that captured video of a person outside Nancy Guthrie's door — is streaming constantly to Google and may not be deleted for some time, even for non-subscribers. 

"Internal storage uses a very lazy deletion mechanism, so the data wouldn't be available to users who didn't pay," Stamos said. "The video for non-subscribers would be marked for deletion, but depending on the exact implementation details the actual files might not be deleted for days and the actual data wouldn't be overwritten until the storage was needed."

Huge cloud companies like Google have many layers of abstraction in their storage systems, and each layer usually adds some mechanism of data backup/safety, which means there is some way to retrieve data within a window.

According to Google's cloud storage protection backup recovery overview, "Cloud Storage offers a variety of options to help you protect your data from accidental or malicious deletion and recover your data in the event of a disaster. These options can be useful for legal or regulatory compliance, as well as for protecting data that is critical to your business."

Two law enforcement sources told CBS News the FBI worked with Google to get the Nest camera video that was released by authorities on Tuesday.

Read more here.

A forensic analyst called the video showing a person at Nancy Guthrie's door a "gold mine" and said three things stood out to him that haven't "really been discussed in the media."

The first thing is that there is no audio with the video, which could be "by design based on law enforcement's release of that information," or indicate that the audio was turned off and not functioning, said Edward Baker, a forensic analyst certified by the Law Enforcement and Emergency Services Video Association.

The second thing is that the person appears to have "what could be described as facial hair" seen around their mouth in the opening of the ski mask. He noted that the man who said he was detained and released by authorities also had facial hair.

"I'm not saying that that's the individual," Baker said. "I'm saying there are similarities there observation-wise."

The third element that stands out is that the video has no color. And while the jacket in the video appears to be grey, for example, it could actually be blue, red, orange or another color, which is important for people to remember as they watch the video.

He said the video could help law enforcement "get over the edge" if someone is on their radar and allow them to use information from the video in a search warrant.

"In general, that video itself is a gold mine, not just in making the observations that we see, but if there were to be an arrest that takes place, there's a lot of information there post-arrest that you could make a comparison analysis to — the design of the clothing, the zipper, how it appears under infrared light, the backpack design, the reflective material on the backpack, and the ski mask as well," he said.  

No press briefings were scheduled as of Monday morning local time, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said.

A press conference will be scheduled if a "significant development" does occur, the department said in a post on X.

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing 10 days ago — on Sunday, Feb. 1, after she missed church. 

The search for her started that night, and authorities confirmed the following day that her disappearance was being treated as a crime.

As of today, authorities have not identified any suspect. 

Lance Leising, a retired supervisory special agent with the FBI, says he thinks the individual caught on video outside Nancy Guthrie's home is "not a career criminal" but added, "they have to have a criminal mindset in order to commit a heinous crime like this."

The video, which authorities released on Tuesday, shows a masked person carrying a backpack and what appears to be a weapon.

"If you look at the two still photos and the videos that [FBI Director] Kash Patel released, one of them, the subject is not even wearing the backpack or the weapon, potential weapon," Leising said on "CBS Mornings" Wednesday. "So what that says to me is he approached that door and turned around and got the backpack and got the weapon and then came back. The weapon is held in a very unusual way, it does not look very professional, looks very amateur."

He also notes that when the person approached the door "they have their head down as if they're expecting a surveillance camera above them, but then they also feel surprised that there is a doorbell camera there, which anyone who has done any reconnaissance would know that's there."

He described the subject's actions as "extremely amateurish."

"I do think that it gives investigators hope that if they're amateur at the door, they've made other mistakes and they're looking for that break," he said. 

Read more here.

Jason Pack, a retired FBI special agent, says "the pressure is on" after authorities released photos and video of a person at Nancy Guthrie's home. The person can be seen wearing a ski mask and gloves and carrying a backpack, and appears to be armed with a gun holstered on their belt.

The Pima County sheriff's office and the FBI are "looking for these next mistakes to happen, and they're gonna be ready to capitalize on them when they do," Pack told CBS News.

Pack notes the video shows where a weapon is located and the person's gait, adding "he doesn't appear to be moving very quickly."

"All of those things will tell profilers certain things that they're gonna look for and kind of narrow that timeline down," he said.  

It remained unclear early Wednesday what led authorities to detain a person of interest and search a home in Rio Rico, Arizona.

Carlos, a man who says he was pulled over by authorities investigating the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, told reporters outside his home that he had never heard of her or her famous daughter, Savannah Guthrie.   

Authorities have not confirmed that Carlos was the person of interest, and CBS News has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI for more information.

A man who says he was the person of interest being questioned in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie has been released.

The man, who only wants to be identified as Carlos, said he was detained after a traffic stop.

He spoke with reporters early Wednesday outside his home in Rio Rico, Arizona:

Carlos said he's a DoorDash driver, and that he was pulled over while making deliveries.

He said he was shocked, doesn't know who Guthrie is or why law enforcement thought he might be connected to her kidnapping. He said that, as a delivery driver, it's possible he was in Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood before to deliver packages, but he doesn't have any specific memory of doing so.

Carlos said he felt "terrified" and "like I was being kidnapped" when authorities took him into custody. "They didn't tell me anything at the beginning." 

"I didn't do anything. ... I'm innocent," he said, adding that he hopes whoever took Guthrie gets caught so he can clear his name.

Authorities haven't confirmed that Carlos was the person of interest or that the person of interest has been released. CBS News has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI about Carlos.

Nancy Guthrie still hasn't been found, a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff's Department told CBS News early Wednesday.

Angelica Carrillo made the statement as authorities prepared to conclude a search of a home in Rio Rico, Arizona, that followed the detention of a person of interest in the case at a traffic stop hours earlier.

Josephina Maddox told reporters outside the home that it is hers and her son-in-law is the person of interest but that he had nothing to do with Guthrie's abduction — assertions authorities haven't confirmed.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told CBS Tucson affiliate KOLD-TV early Wednesday that there have been no signs of Guthrie.

A woman in Rio Rico, Arizona told reporters her son-in-law is the person of interest being held in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie but had "nothing to do with it." There was no confirmation of her assertions.

Josefina Maddox told reporters outside a home authorities were searching that it's hers.

"(Investigators told me) they had somebody give a tip that the lady (Guthrie) was in the house," Maddox said. "... I don't know who she is. I don't know anything about her. ... I told them you can go in and check the house; there's nobody there. I have nothing to hide. ... They're investigating my son-in-law. ... He had nothing to do with it."

Her son-in-law is a delivery driver who works in Tucson, Maddox said.

"... They're just invading my property," she said. "I told him (an investigator) they're going in and out of my house, taking a lot of pictures and everything. I mean, like, I told him, we're not hiding anything. I gave him permission. You can go and search and there's nothing in my house. You won't find anything because we don't have nothing to hide."

Maddox said when she got home her son was outside the house, in handcuffs.

Maddox also said the silver vehicle stopped by the authorities when the person of interest was detained is her daughter's.

She said investigators showed her the surveillance videos from Guthrie's home that were released Monday to see if she recognized the person in them but her son-in-law doesn't own any of the clothing that person was wearing.

CBS Tucson affiliate KOLD-TV was among the outlets at the scene.

Local and federal authorities were searching the residence of the person of interest who has been detained in connection with the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, two sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News late Tuesday night.

The person was taken into custody following a traffic stop in Rio Rico, a community in southern Arizona located near the Mexican border, the sources said.

The search is under a court authorized warrant, the sources said. 

An FBI spokesperson had previously said the agency was assisting the Pima County Sheriff's Department with the search of the Rio Rico residence. 

The search was expected to take several hours, the sheriff's department said in a statement. 

A spokesperson says the FBI's Evidence Response Team is assisting the Pima County Sheriff's Department with a court-authorized search of a location in Rio Rico, Arizona. They said the search is related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation and that law enforcement will be at the location for several hours. 

Rio Rico is located south of Tucson and about 12 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

A senior Trump administration official told CBS News late Tuesday night that the White House is monitoring the situation in Tucson closely. 

Earlier Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had told reporters that she and President had been reviewing the latest surveillance video and photos, and that Mr. Trump's initial reaction to the situation was "pure disgust." 

Deputies from the Pima County Sheriff's Department "detained a subject during a traffic stop south of Tucson," and that person was being questioned in connection with Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, the office said. 

It did not specify if the person detained Tuesday night was the same subject seen in the surveillance video released earlier in the day.

Details of the operation to detain a person of interest in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie were scant, but the person was apparently taken into custody quickly on Tuesday night. It was not clear what brought law enforcement to the location or the person of interest.

A person of interest has been detained in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, two law enforcement sources told CBS News. The were detained in a city south of Tucson, the sources said.

It was not immediately clear if the person detained was the same person seen in surveillance video and images released by the FBI earlier Tuesday.

There was also no immediate word on the whereabouts or condition of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing for 10 days and was without medication her family said she needed to take daily.

Earlier Tuesday, FBI Director Kash Patel shared images and videos of a subject in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. The images, which were recovered from the home security carmera, showed a person wearing a ski mask and gloves. The person was carrying a backpack and appeared to also possibly have a gun holstered on their belt.

The FBI and the sheriff's department said the images were recovered from "residual data located in backend systems." Two law enforcement sources told CBS News the FBI worked with Google to get the Nest camera video

After those images were released, search and rescue teams, along with the FBI, began canvassing the nearby neighborhood where Nancy Guthrie's other daughter, Annie Guthrie, lives. 

It was not immediately clear if the subject seen in the videos was the person who was detained Tuesday night.

Members of the regional SWAT were activated to work with the Pima County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday night, Oro Valley Police told CBS News.