Nicholas Bogel-BurroughsChelsia Rose Marcius\u00a0and\u00a0Jill Cowan<\/p>\n
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reported from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what to know.<\/h2>\n A man who was detained during a traffic stop by investigators looking into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has been released after questioning.<\/p>\n
In an interview early Wednesday, the man said he had not heard about Nancy Guthrie but hopes that she is found safe. \u201cI hope they get the suspect, because I\u2019m not it,\u201d he said, speaking on the doorstep of his wife and mother-in-law\u2019s home in Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/p>\n
The F.B.I. and the Pima County, Ariz., Sheriff\u2019s Department on Tuesday had carried out a \u201ccourt-authorized search\u201d related to the investigation in Rio Rico, Ariz., about an hour\u2019s drive south of Tucson, Ariz., the county sheriff, Chris Nanos, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
As of 1:20 a.m. local time on Wednesday, the department had not yet confirmed that it had released the person it had detained for questioning. But a spokeswoman, Angelica Carrillo, said investigators had \u201ccompleted their search of a property in Rio Rico.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators questioned the man after he was detained during a traffic stop south of Tucson, more than 10 days into the search for the 84-year-old mother of the \u201cToday\u201d host Savannah Guthrie.<\/p>\n
Outside a home in Rio Rico, a woman said the man was her son-in-law and that investigators had broken down her door and were searching the house. She said her son-in-law had been delivering food when he was stopped by the police. She insisted that the masked figure in a newly released surveillance video was not him.<\/p>\n
The footage, released earlier, shows a masked person on Nancy Guthrie\u2019s porch around the time that she is believed to have vanished from her neighborhood near Tucson early on Feb. 1. The person is wearing a ski mask, gloves and a backpack, and appears to be armed with a pistol.<\/p>\n
Cable news pundits and true crime enthusiasts have spent more than a week analyzing the scant details of Ms. Guthrie\u2019s case as they have trickled out. The authorities said early on that they were investigating the disappearance as a kidnapping, and Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have released a series of videos pleading with whoever is involved to reach out to them. They said they were prepared to listen to ransom demands.<\/p>\n
It was not yet clear whether the authorities believe the person being questioned is the same person in the video, according to a second law enforcement official familiar with the case. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what we\u2019re covering:<\/p>\n
Chilling video:<\/strong>\u00a0The 44 seconds of silent black-and-white surveillance footage released on Tuesday shows a masked figure approaching Ms. Guthrie\u2019s house and raising a gloved hand to block a Nest doorbell camera. The camera was eventually disabled.\u00a0Read more\u00a0\u203a<\/p>\nFootage delay:<\/strong>\u00a0Federal authorities said the doorbell video released on Tuesday had been \u201cpreviously inaccessible,\u201d but declined to explain why. Experts said it likely took longer to find the video because Ms. Guthrie did not pay for a subscription to the Nest service.\u00a0Read more \u203a<\/p>\nRio Rico:\u00a0<\/strong>The town where officials detained a person for questioning has long been a key transit point for smugglers because of its location near Interstate 19 and the wild desert hills that stretch across the border with Mexico. A Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed near the town of about 20,500 in a\u00a0shootout with armed bandits\u00a0in 2010.<\/p>\nTimeline:<\/strong>\u00a0Ms. Guthrie\u2019s older daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, were the last people to see her before she vanished. Mr. Cioni drove Ms. Guthrie home from dinner. Hours later, at about 1:47 a.m., her front door camera was disconnected. Investigators believe that she was most likely taken soon after.\u00a0Read more \u203a<\/p>\nRansom demand:<\/strong>\u00a0The authorities had said last week that they were reviewing a message sent to a Tucson television station, but did not confirm that it was related to a purported ransom note sent earlier, which demanded millions of dollars in Bitcoin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Feb. 11, 2026, 11:17 a.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 11, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nLaura Chung<\/p>\n
Digital currencies like Bitcoin are hard to track and often used by extortionists.<\/h2>\n Image<\/span><\/p>\nA Bitcoin wallet listed in a note claiming to be from Nancy Guthrie\u2019s kidnapper received a small payment, according to a Tucson, Ariz. television station.<\/span>Credit\u2026<\/span>Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nA Bitcoin wallet listed in a note claiming to be from Nancy Guthrie\u2019s kidnapper has received a small payment, according to a Tucson, Ariz. television station, thrusting cryptocurrency into the center of a case that has gripped the nation.<\/p>\n
The episode highlights why digital currencies have become a common tool in ransom demands, and how difficult they can be to trace.<\/p>\n
Several news outlets received a supposed ransom note last week demanding payment to a Bitcoin wallet. One of them, KGUN, a Tucson television station, said on Tuesday night that the wallet had received a payment for less than $300. It remains unclear whether the person who sent the note is actually connected to Ms. Guthrie\u2019s abduction.<\/p>\n
Since Bitcoin emerged in 2009, it has become a\u00a0common payment method\u00a0in extortion schemes, including ransomware attacks and kidnappings, because it allows transactions to be conducted outside the traditional financial system.<\/p>\n
Unlike bank transfers, Bitcoin transactions do not require names or physical locations. They rely instead on a string of characters known as a Bitcoin address.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other alternative option that you have if you\u2019re a kidnapper, for example, or you\u2019re engaged in some other form of ransom demands, is you ask for a briefcase brimming with cash to be dropped off somewhere,\u201d said Anton Moiseienko, an associate professor of law at Australian National University.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that requires physical contact. Someone needs to leave cash. Someone needs to pick it up. Bitcoin can operate across countries, geographies, continents and so on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Tracing a cryptocurrency transfer presents two main challenges: identifying who owns the account and where the money ultimately goes, said Dennis Desmond, a cyber-intelligence lecturer at Australia\u2019s University of the Sunshine Coast and a former F.B.I. special agent.<\/p>\n
He likened the challenge to searching for a needle in a stack of needles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the funds are immediately transferred to other wallets, aggregated, consolidated, and then again shipped out to other wallets, or hundreds of wallets in different countries, it\u2019s very difficult to recover those funds,\u201d said Mr. Desmond.<\/p>\n
Still, cryptocurrency transfers are not as difficult to trace as criminals may assume. Each transaction is recorded on a publicly viewable ledger known as a blockchain.<\/p>\n
The authorities, often\u00a0working with specialized cryptocurrency-tracking companies, can monitor transactions from a particular wallet and determine whether the money is moved to other wallets or digital exchanges, Mr. Desmond said.<\/p>\n
From there, the authorities may be able to gather identifying details, such as associated IP addresses, when a wallet was created and how frequently it has been used.<\/p>\n
For example, in 2021,\u00a0federal officials recovered most of the Bitcoin ransom\u00a0paid by Colonial Pipeline after a ransomware attack shut down the company\u2019s computer systems, prompting fuel shortages and a\u00a0spike in gasoline prices. The authorities\u00a0did not disclose\u00a0how they retrieved the funds.<\/p>\n
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Feb. 11, 2026, 4:42 a.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 11, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nNicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/p>\n
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\nA man who was detained in the search for Nancy Guthrie was released after a few hours.<\/h2>\n Video<\/span><\/p>\nCarlos, who declined to provide a last name, told reporters on Wednesday that the police detained him for several hours before releasing him.<\/span>Credit<\/span>Credit\u2026<\/span>Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nA man was released from custody early Wednesday morning after being detained for questioning in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of the \u201cToday\u201d show anchor Savannah Guthrie.<\/p>\n
The release of the man was a blow to investigators, who are entering their 11th day of trying to determine who may have abducted Ms. Guthrie\u2019s 84-year-old mother and where she is now.<\/p>\n
The man who was released, a 36-year-old named Carlos, said that he had been in his car on Tuesday evening in Rio Rico, Ariz., about an hour\u2019s drive south of Tucson, when police officers asked him his name and then detained him.<\/p>\n
He was held for several hours, he said, before eventually being released with wrists swollen from handcuffs.<\/p>\n
Carlos, who declined to give his last name, gave an account of his detention in a brief interview on the porch of the home he shares with his wife and mother-in-law in Rio Rico just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday, after the police had combed through the house.<\/p>\n
He said he had not heard of Nancy Guthrie, who was abducted from her home near Tucson on Feb. 1, but hoped that the police found the culprit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they get the suspect, because I\u2019m not it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey better do their job and find the suspect that did it so that they can clear my name.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff\u2019s Department, which is leading the investigation along with the F.B.I., said only that investigators had finished searching a property in Rio Rico, which is near the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n
The detention and release of the man came a day after what appeared to be the biggest break in the case, when the authorities were able to recover\u00a0footage from Ms. Guthrie\u2019s doorbell camera\u00a0that showed a masked, armed person at her doorstep on the night she went missing.<\/p>\n
Savannah Guthrie has pleaded with anyone who recognizes the person in the video to reach out to the authorities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Feb. 11, 2026, 3:22 a.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 11, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nNicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/p>\n
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The Pima County, Ariz., Sheriff\u2019s Department has not yet confirmed that it released the man it had detained for questioning. But a spokeswoman, Angelica Carrillo, said investigators have \u201ccompleted their search of a property in Rio Rico.\u201d Sheriff\u2019s department vehicles left the home where the man is staying a few minutes ago.<\/p>\n
Image<\/span><\/p>\nCredit\u2026<\/span>Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Feb. 11, 2026, 3:14 a.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 11, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nNicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/p>\n
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The man who was detained by the police earlier tonight for questioning was released. In an interview on the doorstep of his wife and mother-in-law\u2019s home in Rio Rico, Ariz., he said he had not heard about Nancy Guthrie but hopes that she is found safe. \u201cI hope they get the suspect, because I\u2019m not it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Video<\/span><\/p>\nCarlos, who declined to provide a last name, told reporters on Wednesday that the police detained him for several hours before releasing him.<\/span>Credit<\/span>Credit\u2026<\/span>Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Feb. 11, 2026, 12:35 a.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 11, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nNicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/p>\n
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
A woman outside the house being searched in Rio Rico, Ariz., said the man the police have detained is her son-in-law. She said that investigators have been swarming her house, and broke down the door, but that she knew nothing of any crime. After speaking with reporters, and complaining about how the police had treated her family and house, she walked past the yellow crime tape toward her door.<\/p>\n
Feb. 11, 2026, 12:34 a.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 11, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nNicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/p>\n
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\nThe woman who said her house was being searched said her son-in-law was working, delivering food, when he was stopped by the police and detained. She said he spends the weeks in Tucson, working in the shipping business and staying with his mother. The woman said her son-in-law and daughter have been saving to rent their own apartment. She was adamant that the person in the doorbell camera video released by the police today was not her son-in-law.<\/p>\n
Feb. 10, 2026, 11:36 p.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 10, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nNicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/p>\n
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Police officers have cordoned off Camino Agosto, a road near Interstate 19 in Rio Rico, Ariz., about an hour\u2019s drive south of Tucson, where investigators are carrying out a search related to the investigation into Nancy Guthrie\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n
Image<\/span><\/p>\nCredit\u2026<\/span>Ty Oneil\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Feb. 10, 2026, 11:08 p.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 10, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nNicholas Bogel-Burroughs<\/p>\n
Reporting from Rio Rico, Ariz.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The F.B.I. and Pima County Sheriff\u2019s Department are carrying out a \u201ccourt-authorized search\u201d in Rio Rico, Ariz., about an hour\u2019s drive south of Tucson, related to the investigation into Nancy Guthrie\u2019s disappearance, a sheriff\u2019s department spokeswoman said. She said the operation is expected to last several hours. It comes after the police detained someone for questioning in connection with the case.<\/p>\n
Feb. 10, 2026, 11:06 p.m. ET<\/span>Feb. 10, 2026<\/span><\/p>\nKim Murphy<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rio Rico, Ariz., where officials detained a person for questioning related to the Nancy Guthrie disappearance, has long been a key transit point for smugglers because of its location near Interstate 19 and the wild desert hills that stretch across the border with Mexico. A Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed near the town of about 20,500 in a shootout with armed bandits in 2010.<\/p>\n
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