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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Person Detained For Questioning In Nancy Guthrie Case; Major Break In Nancy Guthrie Case, Law Enforcement On The Move; Patel Says, FBI Investigating Persons Of Interest In Guthrie Case; CNN's Breaking News Coverage Involving The Person Detained For Questioning Nancy Guthrie's Disappearance. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired February 10, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip.
And we begin with several making major breaking news updates in the desperate search for Savannah Guthrie's mother. Tonight, a source is telling CNN that a person has now been detained for questioning in the disappearance based on some investigative leads. The official stresses that the person located south of Tucson has not been charged.
This comes as the nation is getting its first images of an armed and masked person at Nancy Guthrie's home approaching the door in the night she went missing, wearing a jacket, gloves, and a backpack. The person tries to obstruct the door camera with a shrub.
In addition, TMZ is reporting that there has been activity for the first time in the Bitcoin account that is linked to the initial ransom note. An affiliate says $300 has been put in that account, and perhaps most urgently, the local SWAT team has been mobilized and agents are also searching the neighborhood of Savannah Guthrie's sister. And the Today Show anchor says tonight, someone out there recognizes this person. Bring her home.
Let's get right to Ed Lavandera. He's outside of the Guthrie house. Ed, what more do we know about this person who's been detained in any activity that might be going on around or about the location where you've been much of the day?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's just too soon at this point to know exactly who this person is. So, we have the very limited information that this person has been detained, according to this law enforcement official familiar with the investigation that the person was taken and detained by Pima County Sheriffs and FBI authorities. And this is a situation that is unfolding, we are told, south of Tucson. And so we continue to monitor this situation and try to figure out just the extent to how serious of a -- or how seriously connected this person might end up being to this case.
It has now been more than ten days since Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home, but this law enforcement activity, this major development that is unfolding tonight, coming hours after the FBI released these images, these haunting images of the suspect in this case, approaching the front door in the middle of the night where Nancy Guthrie lives in this neighborhood here in Tucson.
And this is the break, the clue that so many investigators were hoping to get because they knew that eventually a tip from the public would be able to lead them to whoever this person might be. And we know that in the hour since these videos have been released, it has triggered a flood of tips for investigators here in the Tucson area and for FBI officials as well.
So, perhaps because of the release of these images, that is why we are seeing the development here tonight of one person being detained for questioning in this investigation of the disappearance and the abduction of Nancy Guthrie.
PHILLIP: And, Ed, you know, just as we're talking here, for people who are just catching up to what's happened in this story, these images that you're seeing on your screen were released by the FBI showing for the first time the person who's believed to be the abductor here. And shortly after that, we now know that there was activity, SWAT activity that was seen by local news and by other outlets. What can you tell us about that and what connection that might have to, as you described it, the flurry of activity that's been going on over the last several hours?
LAVANDERA: Yes, we have. We did witness shortly earlier this afternoon around the neighborhood, around Annie Guthrie's, Savannah's sister and Nancy's other daughter, who lives about 15-minute drive away from where we are. There were law enforcement officers going back to that neighborhood knocking on doors, canvassing the area. We were told by several neighbors that they were trying to access people's property to look around. And it has not been uncommon over the last few days to see law enforcement activity in that particular area.
Remember, it's important to point out that that was the last place where Nancy Guthrie had dinner with family and was playing cards before she was brought back home here to her neighborhood in this part of Tucson.
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So, that happened several hours ago on there, and we've seen that continuously happening for several days, not just in that neighborhood, but in many areas around here, Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood, where investigators have been coming back asking people more specific questions about anything they might have seen or anything suspicious that they might have seen.
And now we're having this other major development where apparently authorities have now found someone that they have detained for questioning and where it goes from here. We will continue to monitor still too early. This is all breaking and developing as we speak here tonight.
PHILLIP: All right. Ed, we'll be staying close with you throughout this hour as this story develops.
We're back in the studio here with my panel. This is a very significant night for this case. And David Sarni, you're a retired NYPD detective. Talk to me about how they might have gone from the video and images that we've been seeing to a person that they are questioning now.
DAVID SARNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, you're talking about multifaceted investigation. You have different parts and different movements right now. You have a video of an individual. Is that video of the individual responsible for this ransom note? So, this is things that are going to be tied up with whatever comes in the investigation. So, we don't know if the person that's been detained is the person on the video, or a person dealing with the Bitcoin. And that's the thing. We have to see if there's a connection.
I guarantee you right now with that person detained, search warrants are being are being -- get obtained because now they're going to try to get any information, because now you have another -- a person. Is it the same person? We'll figure that out accordingly when this investigation continues.
PHILLIP: What's your take? I mean, do you think this is a more than one individual responsible?
SARNI: When you're dealing with a burglary, you would have usually one person. A night burglary is ones that we kind of consider dangerous at that point, because when there's always a confront -- there's usually a confrontation. When you're taking somebody, extracting someone from a house, regardless if she's only, she's 84, 150 pounds, that may not happen by one person.
So, you know, the video we have, we see things, but what don't we see? We don't see a vehicle, we don't see anyone else right now that might've been involved. So, it's more than likely another person was involved because if you're going to take someone from their house and extract them from their house and abduct them, putting them into a car or a vehicle or a van, someone's going to have to drive that, someone's going to have to maintain some sort of custody of that person while traveling.
PHILLIP: Yes. I want to talk about the Bitcoin of it all because that's the other development that occurred tonight. For the first time, this Bitcoin account that was in the ransom note that was received by a local news outlet and also by TMZ, there was activity. So, for people who are unfamiliar with Bitcoin, do you have any sense of why a dollar amount of perhaps $300 or less would've been put into that account and by whom? Because, I mean, it seems pretty clear that is not the amount that they were asking for in exchange for Nancy Guthrie.
MARC LOPRESTI, CEO AND SENIOR MARKET STRATEGIST, MARKET REBELLION: Yes, of course, Abby. And I think, I mean, first of all, prayers go out to the Guthrie family, and I hope tonight's the night that not only do we break this news, but that Nancy Guthrie is returned home safe. I think that's important to start with.
I think that dollar amount was put into that Bitcoin wallet by authorities. I think it was done to determine the identity or potential identity of the perpetrators. I actually think this was one person. I think the way you extract someone from a home is if it's someone that's known to you. They were masked to access entry to the house and evade the camera. But my suspicion is, particularly given some of the other news that we've heard, that it's going to be somebody that Nancy knew, unfortunately, as tragic as that is, and was not taken out by force. I think that's part of why you're not seeing those things.
But as it relates to the Bitcoin part, Abby, Bitcoin, contrary to popular belief, is a poor choice of currency for illicit activity. Everything is recorded on the blockchain and ultimately traceable. It can be evaded for some part of time, but as I think we're going to see here, they traced that Bitcoin wallet to the person that holds it. They made that deposit to confirm. And within 15 or 20 minutes of that transaction happening. The FBI swarms. That is not coincidence. It's not the grainy ring camera footage of someone in a ski mask that could be anyone. Crypto is going to be the thing that breaks this case.
PHILLIP: Yes. There's a lot that we don't know that perhaps authorities are purposefully not revealing. I mean, I think one of the big questions, to Marc's comments there, is what kind of entry did this person make into the home? And that I think seems to me a really key piece of information about what might have transpired.
The one thing though, Joey, that I think would give us all pause is that we do know that there was blood found. So, there was some kind of trauma that was inflicted on the victim here. So, it wasn't just someone going into their abduction without any sort of resistance, it seems.
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JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, presumably. I think though tonight, Abby, it's a major development. Why? When you look at the video that they've obtained, you have now a relative size of the person. You have a relative height, a relative weight, et cetera. I think that's important. And no bit of evidence is viewed in isolation. Remember what authorities have done. They've combed that home. They've combed it for DNA. They've looked throughout the home and we know you mentioned the blood. Obviously, that's a rich source for DNA, but there are other things, hair follicles, skin cells, footprints fingerprints, et cetera.
They've ripped open that septic tank, and people, what do they do? They flush evidence, right? Sometimes they do that, and so that's leaving no stone unturned. And so I think the fact now that you have some description of them.
In terms of this Bitcoin and the end deposit of this amount of money, think about what ends up happening, right? Now, a bank is not Bitcoin, I get it, but when oftentimes we're putting larger amounts in a bank, there's some nominal fee that's placed in there first to sort of test the account. And so I think that's significant. Who put the Bitcoin in? Don't know. Was it the family? Was it the FBI? Were they tracking this? But I do agree with you, David, I don't think it is coincidental that you have this amount come in there and then you have this detention, I won't call it arrest, a detention, at least a person of interest.
And in addition to that, right, they're going to be looking and they have looked, Abby. We know about the cell tower and what they've been doing there. You don't know whether they have now matched that description to other surveillance or other drones or other things that were in the area on previous days. This was well-planned and well- orchestrated. And so if this person, a person matching the description was there at some alternate time casing out the place, perhaps they did not have a mask at that time.
So, big development, right? Again, I think we should be tempered because it's a detention and certainly it's a suspect. But I agree, and, Abby, this is a critical point, you mentioned it, the authorities never tell you all they know and they shouldn't. Although you want public participation, it's critical, you don't want ever to reveal everything you have out there. I think it impairs the investigation.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, and, Donte, so now there is a person that is being questioned, perhaps. I mean, what do you think is going down in that conversation with this individual? This person is not a suspect. That's sounds like a technicality, but it's partly because they don't have probable cause to charge him with anything perhaps, right.
DONTE MILLS, NATIONAL TRIAL ATTORNEY: In part, I mean, they could be looking at him as someone who may have additional information on the captures, even if they don't believe he's the capture himself. But I think it's important to note this is breaking news. And, listen, they broke into the Olympics to talk about this case. It's a big case here in the United States.
On your show, we delve a little bit deeper. We can talk about the why this is important. It's important because we have a high-profile person who's been abducted. We want to make sure that these kind of cases get solved so we deter this from happening again. We don't want copycats to pop up. These things do continue to happen. So, it's important.
But I hear it when we go home and we're talking about this case, and people say, well, people are abducted every day. My sister, my cousin, my friend was abducted. They didn't get this kind of coverage. They didn't get these kind of resources, but we want to all rally behind this, get this case solved so people don't think they can get away with these types of crimes, and we continue to see these things happening. So, we should all come together. This is a good breaking development. Hopefully, it can lead to an arrest and she can come back alive.
PHILLIP: All right. We're going to go down to Arizona, where Jake Tapper is outside of the Guthrie home.
Jake, as we've been discussing, this is the most activity I think we've seen on this case in the time that Nancy Guthrie has gone missing. What can you tell us about -- I don't know if you've been in touch with the Guthrie family -- or about what is the significance of law enforcement finally having at least someone to question in this case? JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's been a monumental day. It started, of course, with the FBI providing for the first time in this ten-day ordeal, some tangible evidence about who actually did this, who actually, you know, walked into the home, broke into the home behind me and abducted this 84-year-old woman, Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC's Savannah Guthrie. Before today, there really was nothing except for these ransom notes, and I think they're still of questionable credibility.
So, today, we had the six still images and the three videos released to the public, once again asking for the public's health as Nancy -- as Savannah Guthrie did, and the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department did on Monday. And there was a lot of information in those videos and still images, the build, the gaite, the complexion, a lot of information about that person, about this individual.
And now this information, we don't yet know how significant it is, but, certainly, it is of significance that somebody has been brought to the Pima County Sheriff's Department with the FBI for questioning.
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And while the official with whom CNN spoke cautions that it's just for questioning, as of right now, nobody has been charged, that is how these types of things begin. And we were also told that this individual was brought in because of investigative lead.
So, it is a day of hope is the word that I've been using all day. I mean, I don't want to overstate the case because, obviously, this -- we're still talking about an 84-year-old woman with a weak heart, who has been away from her medication and her -- the phone that keeps tabs on whether her pacemaker is working. But at least there has been a significant movement in the case today that seems years away from where we were yesterday.
I want to bring in the deputy -- former deputy director of the FBI, Andy McCabe, who obviously is a CNN consultant and commentator as well.
Andy McCabe, the significance of this news, the idea that there is somebody that the FBI and Pima County sheriff were seeking for questioning and that person is now in custody and they are interviewing this person.
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes. It's an absolutely huge development in a day of many huge developments. But this one could very well be the biggest. They don't -- this person has not been charged with a crime yet, but investigators must have some level of reasonable suspicion that he is involved with this criminal activity. He might -- maybe they believe that he is the person depicted in the videos or the still images that we've seen. Maybe he has come to their attention on the basis of an investigative lead that we're not even aware of but that may have been prompted by the videos that we've seen.
Either way, you've got probably an FBI agent and a representative of the Pima County Sheriff's Department sitting in the room with this person right now and trying to engage them in a conversation that will ultimately get them to probable cause. It is at that point he can remain in detention, he can be charged and put through the system, and then we're making progress.
But let's remember, Jake, this is not the average big case where you're trying to find the person who did it. In those sorts of cases, once you develop a suspect like this, you may spend some time surveilling them, watching them go through their routines before you tip your hand and indicate that you're onto them and their possible guilt.
Investigators don't have that luxury of time here. As you said, we have an 84-year-old woman with a weak heart whose life may still be hanging in the balance. They have got to try to get this person to either incriminate themselves or cooperate with the investigation as soon as possible because the goal here, the first number one goal is to get Nancy Guthrie back.
TAPPER: So, the individual was discovered or sought. And found south of Tucson. For people who are not familiar with the geography of Arizona, Arizona is kind of just a rectangle. Phoenix is like here. Tucson is like here. It is the biggest major city in Arizona before you get to the Mexican border. What is the potential significance of that, Andy?
MCCABE: Yes, well, I think it shows -- it certainly opens up the possibility that if this is -- if this person is involved with a kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, that they likely got her away from her home neighborhood, out of Tucson, away from any place where she would be maybe more immediately recognized.
That distance that you just pointed out there and described, that distance from Tucson to the Mexican border is pretty desolate. You know, there are a few suburbs and towns along the way, but mostly, as you know, it's desert, it's scrub, it's, you know, area that if you had a house or rented some sort of structure, you know, you could come and go in that area pretty freely without having a lot of people see what you're doing, what you're up to, who you have with you, and that sort of thing. And then, of course, there's the border, which provides an even greater degree of anonymity and essentially escape from U.S. law enforcement activity.
So, it opens up a world of possibilities if the person who has Nancy Guthrie has taken her down in that direction.
TAPPER: You said earlier that it is possible that this individual brought -- first of all, we should just say it's possible that this is a lead that will prove fruitless.
[22:20:04]
We hope not. We think not, but it is obviously possible. But assuming it is not one, assuming that this is a lead that is solid and legitimate and is going to ultimately bring us to some sort of hopefully happy conclusion of this whole horrible ordeal, you said it's possible that this is from a lead that they were -- from a string they were pulling before that didn't have to do with the video, but it does seem like a lot happened today, right?
I mean, it seemed like yesterday there was kind of an impasse. Savannah goes on social media and basically asks the public for help, we need help, you know, and which seemed to me to be a message of we don't have any serious leads. And that's in fact what the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff had been saying.
We don't have any serious leads right now. We don't have any primary suspects. We need the public's help. And then the next day, lo and behold, a fantastic trove of information about the abductor, you know, this isn't just like some random video at a Circle K. This is at the house of Nancy Guthrie, and then this news.
In your experience -- obviously, we don't know the answer to this question, but in your experience, isn't it probable that there is a relation between the two?
MCCABE: I think it's overwhelmingly likely that this person is in custody because of the events that you just ticked off, the investigative progress that we have seen take place literally before our eyes mostly today.
I take the FBI at their word when they said yesterday they did not have a suspect or a person of interest. Certainly having someone who you were looking for and then taking them into custody makes that -- no matter what you want to call it, that person is at least a person of interest and more likely a suspect in your case if they're back in the office getting interviewed right now.
So, yes, I expect -- I mean, I think it's more likely than not that that person is in, sitting talking to FBI agents right now because of leads that were developed today. Whether it was directly from the video or whether the video, you know, inspired someone with other information to call in, that's hard to say, but this has been a whirlwind of progress, you know, after nine very slow days for the investigators.
TAPPER: And, Andy, just before I let you go, Kash Patel, the FBI director, told a reporter on a -- or a talk show host on another channel that he -- that there were persons of interest. In this interview, he often referred to persons of interest. Does that necessarily mean a conspiracy, or is he possibly talking about just lots of different leads that they're checking out, or either?
MCCABE: It could really go either way, Jake. You know, I hesitate to put too much significance on one offhand comment, one plural, right, in one offhand comment.
TAPPER: Yes.
MCCABE: So, that's a tough one to call. It could be that the lead that brought them to this person, they think they believe other people are also associated with that lead. It could be something else entirely. But at this point, it's just too early to tell. TAPPER: All right. Andy, thanks so much, Abby?
PHILLIP: All right. Thank you, Jake. We're going to be back with you as we continue to monitor law enforcement is on the move after detaining a person for questioning in the case of Nancy Guthrie. This is an unfolding story by the minute.
Stay with us. We'll be right back after a quick break.
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PHILLIP: We are back now with our breaking news. A person has been detained for questioning in the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie's mother.
We're going to go back to Jake Tapper, who is on the ground in Arizona in just a moment, but, first, I want to bring in former NYPD Lieutenant Darrin Porcher.
Darrin, as we are coming back on the air, we just received some information from the Pima County Sheriff. I'm going to read it to you. This is in an X post. They say, earlier today, Pima County's Sheriff Department deputies detained a subject during a traffic stop south of Tucson. The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation. We will release more information as it becomes available.
Darrin, I know that that is not a whole lot more and information right now is very scarce, but detaining a person that they are now questioning in a traffic stop south of Tucson, this is also an area, by the way, that, as we've discussed, that is not that far from the U.S.-Mexico border, what questions does that raise for you?
DARRIN PORCHER, FORMER NYPD LIEUTENANT: Well, the detainment is merely someone is not, that has not been convicted. Law enforcement arrests people and those people that are arrested are referred to as detainees.
They're convicts when they're tried and convicted in court. But what's relevant here is a person has been taken into custody for questioning, and one of the things that I truly believe came to fruition is once this video was introduced, it had somewhat of a galvanizing effect, which would have caused the alleged suspect to make a move that they may not have been comfortable doing, meaning something that was unplanned. And I believe law enforcement had already spotlighted this individual and they were able to capture him as it relates to this traffic stop.
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Oftentimes, law enforcement will do things such as push the envelope and put information out there with the hopes of an additional mistake being made, and I believe that's what occurred in this particular instance in question. PHILLIP: And speak to us about the tips that we know have been
flooding into law enforcement since that very important video and these images have been released. How does law enforcement even begin to sort through what might be tips that are completely unrelated, people who are just calling in because they think they've saw, they recognize something, how do they sort through the good from the bad and figure out what is relevant here?
PORCHER: You have a massive team of individuals that are actually manning the phones as it relates to these tips. You feel tips from a multitude of sources, whether they're emails, whether they're individuals that come directly into a police facility or the phone calls.
One of the things that you want to do is establish a level of cooperation. You have individuals that will call up and say, I saw someone wearing a clown suit, and of course, that would be someone that you would discount.
In addition to that, you have a lot of people that would call to introduce sympathy, meaning I hope that the person is caught, and so you discount those as well. It's an arduous task, but at the same token, you have to vet every single tip that comes in, because the tips come in in the strangest ways. Believe it or not, I give you an example here in the city of New York.
Homeless individuals can be quite credible as it relates to giving law enforcement tips, because these are individuals that are on the street and have a universal view of what's happening at the wee hours of the night, such as between that time frame 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. You have a certain population that's on the street, so as a result, you have to use that information as best as possible.
So when we transition into this situation here, we have to take consideration. We're looking for an individual that's been somewhat MIA over the last nine days.
And how can you connect that individual possibly to the scene of the crime? The people that are providing tips may not know all aspects of the individual or the crime that was committed by this individual, but they can give you salient pieces that you can piece together as law enforcement that creates a true picture in which you can do in terms of moving forward.
Now, bear in mind, the person that we have is a detainee, but we're going to have an interview with this individual, and we're going to corroborate what their whereabouts may have been, and in addition to that, we're going to use something that we refer to as a sobrite.
A sobrite is a piece of equipment that has the ability to analyze the cell phone and computer data. That is going to be quite telling in assisting us to finding out if this individual is making calls to other co-conspirators that were possibly connected to this. It's an arduous task, but I think the video was the focal point in law enforcement being able to capture an individual and speak to them as it relates to what their comings and goings would have been. PHILLIP: All right, Darren Porcher, stay with us. We're going to go
back on the ground with Jake Tapper.
Jake, over to you.
TAPPER: Thanks so much, Abby.
So for those of you who are just tuning in, the latest news is that an individual has been detained for questioning by the Pima County Sheriff here in the Tucson area and also by the FBI. The person was picked up at a traffic stop south of Tucson earlier. This is all in relation to the abduction of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC News Savannah Guthrie.
The person has not been charged, but this is a break in the case or a big development in the case coming after the release by the FBI of three videos and six still images from the camera that was on the porch of Nancy Guthrie's home when she was abducted early in the morning on Sunday, February 1st.
I want to bring in Casey Jordan right now. She is a criminologist and behaviorologist, and she joins us now to discuss this case. Casey, thanks so much for joining.
I guess the first question I have is when you look at these three videos and the six stills of the individual, and we should caution, we do not know that the person being questioned is the same person in the video. We have not established that. But when you look at those videos of that individual on the porch on February 1st, what do you observe? What is of interest and note to you?
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CASEY JORDAN, CRIMINOLOGIST; BEHAVIORAL ANALYST: There is so much that's of interest. For starters, okay, we just have the person is wearing because I think that this is what triggers most people who are watching at home and playing it frame by frame on their own laptops, double gloves and their neoprene gloves. They're not, they don't appear to be the thin latex would use, you know, in a doctor's office or for cleaning your house.
So we've got these gloves that might indicate this person works in the trades.
TAPPER: So, I'm going to stop you for one second. What did you say? What kind of gloves are they? Because you use the term, I don't think I understood.
JORDAN: Sorry, neoprene.
Neoprene is a much heavier rubber than you would see with latex. And you usually people working, for instance, in masonry, in concrete with chemicals, it's thick, but it's really hard. It really limits your dexterity.
So why would this person wear these neoprene gloves instead of latex gloves, unless they are really paranoid about their fingerprints being left behind in any capacity.
So you've got that, you've got a fleece, which I just by zooming in, I believe it came from American Eagle Outfitters. I found one that looked just -- so does he own this for the last 10 years or did he buy it at a thrift store? What about the gun dangling right in the belt in the middle between his legs?
It's a really weird place to carry your gun. And of course, we've got a flash in the mouth that many people conjecture is a gold tooth, or perhaps some kind of orthodontics or mouth hardware of sorts.
So, we have so many leads, I guess I'm just waiting for the FBI with all of their technological advances, you know, their biometrics, and they should be able to figure out, you know, the size of the shoe based on the square tiles. But we have an idea of how tall this guy is, what his weight is, you know, we definitely see some eyes, some eyelashes, lips, probably a mustache.
I guess I'm just very curious about, we're all watching this, but we would love the FBI to get back to us with kind of a checkpoint list of what we think this person might look like without the mask. But man, all this activity came down after that video was released. And it's no coincidence, I think the tips are pouring in.
TAPPER: The tips are definitely pouring in. The Pima County Sheriff told me that, and I believe the FBI has said as much as well.
So that's the physical, the physicality of him that you observed. And wow, that's a lot. That's a lot more than the common Joe like myself would have picked up from that.
What about his behavior? What about his gait? What about when he walks up to the porch and he seems to be dodging his head a little as if he's anticipating that there's a camera there? What about the fact that he seems to be trying to cover up the camera first with his hand, then with some shrubbery, some leaves or something that he plucked from the garden? What does that all tell you as a behaviorologist?
JORDAN: Amateur one. I mean, yes, he's approaching the door with his head down in case. And then he sees a camera.
And instead of turning around and going, oh, my gosh, there's a get out of here before my face shows. He goes out and picks weeds or flowers and tries to put them in front of the lens. A good professional kidnapper burglar would carry a can of spray paint and immediately spray that lens without even touching the camera and just leave it there, not even touch it, just kill the lens of it.
So this is a person who has ever done this before. There is a certain amount of hesitation, maybe vacillation. Just you would think this person is -- they've got a backpack full of supplies.
They must have case this place before. Cameras have been there for a while. And yet this person seems surprised to find a camera there and it doesn't change his mind. He just continues with the plot, presumably. So I again, there's so
much we have never seen before. We don't know if there's another person out there on the street or behind the house who is assisting.
But the one thing that kind of pokes out of his pocket, I played this frame-by-frame. I might be wrong, but I swear I see the top of a cell phone picking out of his right hand pocket of the jacket.
And if that cell phone is really there, whether it's on or off, angulate that with the cell phone towers and pretty much zero in on the number in that exact area, especially if it's triangulating with Nancy's phone inside to try to figure out who this could be.
I think we've got so much good information coming in now that we have this nest, you know, back end archived image. I just wish we'd had it sooner.
[22:40:00]
TAPPER: Let's hope you're right. And let's hope that Nancy Guthrie is still alive and well out there and that this leads to her coming home soon. Casey, fascinating stuff, thank you so much.
Back to you, Abby.
PHILLIP: We are now getting more word on the exact spot where this person was detained. A lot of new developments tonight. We'll have more on our special coverage next.
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[22:45:01]
PHILLIP: Back with our breaking news.
A person has been detained for questioning in the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy. A source is now telling us that this person was detained in Rio Rico.
You see there on the map, it is near the border with Mexico. It's about an hour south of Tucson.
Let's go back to Jake and Ed Lavendera. Ed, you're familiar with this area. What can you tell us?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's just north of Nogales, which is, you know, obviously one of the border areas crossing into Mexico. We've been, over the years, you know, done a lot of reporting through the area. You know, very remote.
You start getting down into this part of Arizona. It starts becoming very remote. It's also a place where, you know, Nogales sits literally right on the border.
The border wall goes right through town. So, you can literally take one step if that wall wasn't there and cross into Mexico. So, at that point, you know, it's interstate 19, which takes you south from Tucson all the way into Nogales, which is about 60 miles.
Obviously, the border infrastructure and all of the law enforcement presence that is down in this part of the world has changed dramatically in the last few years. So, you know, it's a very difficult place where, you know, you're not going to drive very far without running into some sort of law enforcement vehicle down there.
TAPPER: Right. So, Rio Rico is 51 miles south of Tucson. And again, my map here, if this is Arizona, for those people who are not familiar with Arizona, it's a, you know, kind of a rectangle.
And Phoenix is about here. Oh, you're showing it there, great. And Tucson is the biggest southern city and it's 60 miles from the Mexican border and 51 miles from Tucson, nine miles from the border, is Rio Rico.
And this area, tell us, Ed, because you've covered this mainly for immigration stories, but you've covered this area for years and years and years. Small towns, but fairly desolate, right?
LAVANDERA: Oh, absolutely. In fact, we started hearing news of this. I was calling around to restaurants in the area to see if there was any kind of activity that people were noticing in that area.
TAPPER: You would notice if there were like a helicopter or two police vans.
LAVANDERA: That's why I was calling restaurants because all of a sudden there's a cavalry of law enforcement that has shown up. It does not take long for word like that to spread. Although, you know, traffic stops and along the road, along that interstate from Nogales traveling up to Tucson, probably not terribly uncommon.
So if it was a small traffic stop, you know, might've been overlooked by people. But if it was, you know, we're still trying to figure out exactly how all of this unfolded this evening.
TAPPER: Yes, and just to make that point clear, because I think that the Pima County Sheriff's Department, not purposely, but they muddled it, muddied the waters a little bit because it's not clear. We had initially been told that this individual was detained as part of an investigative tip, a lead.
We don't know if it's related to the images, the video shown or not, but it also sounded from the Pima County Sheriff that the person was detained after a traffic stop. So I guess what we don't know is, was that traffic stop purposeful or were they just pulling people over?
LAVANDERA: Well, a lot of times in these cases, in a variety of cases, it is a traffic stop that they, you know, tail lights out and they're like, that's the reason that they can start, you know, pulling you over and they can start asking you questions.
Again, I don't know exactly how all of this unfolded tonight. If there was a specific description of a vehicle or a license plate or a specific person that they were looking at. But then, you know, if someone is pulled over, they start acting
suspiciously, you know, you start asking all sorts of questions. So it'll be incredibly fascinating to see how all this kind of plays out. But at that point, you know what you're, you said 51 miles so it's probably like another 10 miles to Nogales headed south.
You know, obviously it's going to beg a lot of questions like what exactly was happening here and what was the situation.
TAPPER: And Abby, the fact that this all came down so soon after this video was released, we don't know that it's but it seems as though that it would be very likely. And you heard Andy McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI say that it seemed very likely to him that it is related.
Somebody saw the video, the build, the gate, the details, and that led to this information. We don't know that to be a fact, but Andy McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI said it seems more likely than not. Back to you, Abby.
PHILLIP: Very clearly, there's a lot of momentum tonight in this case.
Back with my panel here in studio. And David, I want to talk to you about this traffic stop, because the fact of where it occurred, it seems not something that would happen by happenstance. So putting your NYPD detective hat on, what do you see there?
[22:50:06]
DAVID SARNI, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Now, when you have it, you have the subject at the residence, the crypto, you're going to have cell phones, cell phone analysis, geolocation, geofencing, whatever they're going to do.
They've been doing this analysis. Were they able to obtain a phone number, which then they were able to locate with an identification, and then follow this person and ping that phone?
You can't make an arrest based on we have nothing, but you're looking for that traffic violation, hate to say it, that's how it works.
PHILLIP: Right, somebody, you know, doesn't turn their indicator on.
SARNI: Right turn, left turn, wrong, failure signal, that gives the opportunity to create that stop. You can detain a person for a summons in lieu of arrest. So you could take that person in for that summons to make positive identification, whatever you're going to utilize, bring them back to the office, bring them back, and then you're going to be in that room talking to them.
And while you're doing that conversation, I guarantee you have the outside running everything about this person, trying to obtain search warrants, everything about this person that you can find out, I don't call it perpology in a sense, but you're also going to do any, try to get obtained search warrants for his residence, search warrants for the cars, everything you need to do, because if this person of interest, it wasn't happenstance that they just stop a person 50 miles away unless they have something to at least make that stop.
PHILLIP: And less than 15 minutes, 15-20 minutes from the border, I mean, that seems to me there's a sense of urgency there. As this person is in a vehicle, they are in transit.
SARNI: And that's the thing, this is an urgent circumstance, and that's the issue that you're going to have to, whatever, you know, you're going to deal with an investigation. The reality is this you have an abducted person who's 84 years old who needs medication. The time is of the essence, no matter what.
They're going to push this as hard as they can. And this person is detained in custody for whatever they believe, but right now that person is in custody for that possible traffic violation, along with other information. So they're going to work that side and talk to them and see what they can get on anything they can so they can assist them, maybe an admission or omission he made.
PHILLIP: I mean, it seems possible also, Joey, that this person could simply decide not to speak. Is that possible?
JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, AND CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. So we can't presume that there's going to be cooperation. Everyone has a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. I know many people may be rolling their eyes, but that's the reality.
What's critical to me, Abby, is what made the connection to have him become a person of interest, right? What specific information does the government have, law enforcement, that would suggest that he'd be a person you'd focus on? What is the connection? And then once they get this person, they have him in custody, would he be a person who had the opportunity to do this?
Would he be a person who has the motive? Is there a connection to the family? Was he in the area at some prior time? Where does he live? What does he do? What is his background all about? Would he have just the relationships in order to get access to her? Does he fit the description of the person that we saw in the athletic build, etc., of that camera?
And so we'll see. And we'll see also in terms of his cell phone. Was it in the cell phone in that area at that particular time? Is his cell phone, as we were talking about, connected to the Bitcoin account?
And so there could be a lot to be gleaned, Abby, even if he does not speak just the essence of who this person is, what their connections are, what their relationships are going to determine how, whether they have their person, whether they have their man.
PHILLIP: We do have Andy McCabe still with us, former FBI Deputy Director. Andy, you know, I want to ask you something a little bit more forensic about how we might have gone from a video that we didn't have previously, that we didn't know could be recovered, to somebody that they are now questioning.
And one of our earlier guests talked about, you know, is it possible that there was a cell phone in a pocket? How is it that authorities might be able to use these images to try to narrow down who they are looking for?
ANDY MCCABE, CNN SR. LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, AND FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: Well, you know, the use of the images are most valuable in their ability to inspire other people to call in and say, hey, I know a guy who has gloves just like that, or gloves and a sweatshirt and a backpack just like that. It's really much more, you need someone to step forward and connect an identity with that appearance that you've managed to put out with respect to the video.
But once you have that, that gets you to locating the person who, you know, let's say was pulled over on the road today 15 miles north of the Mexican border. One of the additional benefits of picking that person up while they're driving, so doing it as part of a traffic stop, you also get to search the vehicle to create essentially a list of the property that's inside it when you impound the vehicle.
You're not going to leave the vehicle on the side of the road there. You take it and pound it for safety and security reasons. And if you're going to do that, you get to look through it and catalog everything that's in it.
[22:55:03]
That could identify a cell phone, that could identify those distinctive black gloves or the backpack or anything else you've seen in the video. So all of these things have the potential to connect together in a very powerful way if you've got the right person.
PHILLIP: And do you believe, Andy, that the reason that we are at this point where they are talking to a person is because these images have given them the breakthrough that they've been looking for? Is that connection there for you?
MCCABE: I mean, I can't sit here and tell you how that perfectly connects because we just don't have that much specific information. But I think it's overwhelmingly likely.
Look, we know that the FBI said yesterday, we don't have a suspect. We don't even have a person of interest, right?
Not coincidence that Savannah Guthrie put out that plaintiff message yesterday telling people, see something, say something, call in.
At the same time, we know the FBI also is surging resources. They probably knew that they were going to get some sort of video to release today, and they knew they'd have more leads, and you need more people on the ground to run out those leads. You need boots on the ground to knock on doors, which we saw them doing today around Savannah's sister's neighborhood.
So I think all those things came together at a critical mass, and it is the images and the video and the still frame photos that really speak very loudly to the public, and hopefully that public is speaking back to law enforcement. PHILLIP: Yes, I want to come back in the room, Andy, if you'd stand by
for us.
Mark, I don't want to skirt over the Bitcoin of it all because that's another major moment that happened tonight. For the first time, $300 or so was dropped into that Bitcoin account that was included in the purported ransom letter that was received by news organizations including TMZ. As you were saying earlier in the show, you believe that came from law enforcement.
If it did, how do you think that might have helped them trace back the owner of that Bitcoin account, the creator of it, where ultimately that money was going?
MARC LOPRESTI, CEO AND SR. MARKET STRATEGIST, MARKET REBELLION: A simple answer would be the phone that's at issue. An earlier guest said that she noticed a cell phone that was in the pocket of the person at the door, the potential perpetrator.
Most people I know, myself included, my Bitcoin accounts are on my cell phone. One of the FAs, factor authentication, is my phone number. So my phone number is tied to my crypto accounts.
So if they triangulated that phone, if it is in fact the phone of the perpetrator or a suspect, they could very easily connect it to the Bitcoin wallet and use that deposit to further verify that this was a suspect.
PHILLIP: But can that information be hidden and obscured?
LOPRESTI: So it can be obscured, but it ultimately can be determined with appropriate technology. There's a number of companies out there. The government is one of the top firms or top organizations that have access to this technology.
Remember, the blockchain is immutable. It is a ledger that cannot be changed. The information is there. If you know how to get it, the government knows how to get it.
PHILLIP: And Donte, as we were discussing with Joey, it's going to be critical tonight whether or not they get this individual to speak to them and they're able to determine is this the person that they're looking for? Is there any information they can glean from them? What are this person's options and do you think there's a possibility that they might decide to speak?
DONTE MILLS, NATIONAL TRIAL, CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ATTORNEY: Well, it depends on what the person's options are.
If they still believe that they have an ability to get away with this, maybe they won't. If they think that, okay, the gig is up, they may try to cooperate to put themselves in the best position. But that's going to have to be tied to the safety of Ms. Guthrie.
I'm sure that the investigators are saying if she dies, it's going to be far worse for you. And that's a part of that negotiation that's there in the room. I don't want to discount the fact that the video and the photographs came out, I think that went a long way to identifying someone was there.
A lot of times on trial, it's surprising what witnesses noticed. It could have been the gait, it could have even been the way he raised his arm or the eyes that he had where somebody noticed that and said, here's the guy, this is who he is.
And then you have him going towards the border. Police may have identified him, been investigating him, but said, we don't want to let him get out of this country, so let's move in now.
We don't have a warrant, but let's use this traffic stop. He blew a stop sign, he did a rolling stop. Let's use this traffic stop to pull him over, get more information, get more investigation, and determine that this is one of the suspects we need and then they take him into custody.
LOPRESTI: I think you're going to find, I think you're absolutely right. I think one of the things we're going to find is that timeline, is that the traffic stop preceded the deposit of the Bitcoin.
[23:00:02]
I think that was just a further step in their investigation and preparation of their case against the suspect. And the timing of that deposit, which by some reports are 15 minutes before the FBI swarmed that house in that part of Arizona and took custody. Again, we're just hoping and praying that Nancy is returned safely.
PHILLIP: All right, everyone. We have much more breaking news coverage of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Our special coverage will continue right now with Laura Coates.
