Person Of Interest In Nancy Guthrie Case Detained After Activity On Bitcoin Ransom Account Detected

Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on January 31, and authorities are reporting that they have finally detained a person of interest.

The update comes just a day after Nancy's daughter, broadcast journalist Savannah Guthrie, pleaded for her mother's safe return.

On February 10, the Pima County Sheriff's Department posted an update on X, saying that they have detained an individual in relation to Nancy's case.

"Earlier today, Pima County Sheriff's 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," the post read, adding that more details will be released to the public when available.

No other details regarding the person of interest were revealed, and it isn't known whether the individual is the same person captured on the security camera outside Nancy's home. As The Blast previously reported, the FBI retrieved footage that had been previously inaccessible.

The footage shows a masked person approaching Nancy's home and attempting to disengage the camera.

A few days following Nancy's disappearance, the Guthrie family received a ransom note demanding $4 million to be paid in a Bitcoin account by February 5. If it was not met by that time, the family was told to pay $6 million by February 9.

Per The Blast, both deadlines passed without activity in the Bitcoin account.

On February 10, however, TMZ reported that there was activity on the  Bitcoin account provided in the ransom note at 4:34 p.m. PT. Sources involved in Nancy's case told the outlet that their theory is that whoever abducted the 84-year-old grandmother is from the Tucson area.

Tucson news channel KGUN also confirmed the Bitcoin account activity, posting an update on social media saying that the transaction was "less than $300."

In the initial stages of the investigation, authorities were not able to retrieve data from Nancy's security camera because she didn't have an active subscription. However, specialists continuously worked on accessing the footage using "residual data located in backend systems," per FBI Director Kash Patel.

The FBI released still images of the masked individual seen outside Nancy's home. The black-and-white images show the person wearing a mask, dark gloves, and carrying a backpack.

The video showed the individual walking through the home's archway with their head down and attempting to cover the camera with some plants. They also attempted to tamper with the camera.

On January 31, Nancy spent the day with family at her daughter Annie's home, where they played games and had dinner. She was dropped off at her own home, where she lived alone, at about 9:48 p.m. Her son-in-law waited for her to go inside the house before driving off. Nancy's garage door closed at 9:50 p.m, as reported by CBS News.

The doorbell camera was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. At 2:28 a.m., Nancy's pacemaker was disconnected from her phone.

On February 1, a friend alerted Nancy's family that she didn't show up at church that morning, prompting them to head to their home before noon. Authorities arrived at Nancy's home at about 12:15 p.m. to investigate.

On February 2, the Pima County Sheriff's Department announced that they were treating Nancy's case as a crime, saying, "We saw some things at the home that were concerning to us." Blood droplets were found by the front door, and they were later confirmed to be Nancy's.

As of February 11, authorities are questioning the person of interest who was detained. As previously stated, it has not been confirmed that the detainee is the same person seen in the surveillance video.

It's also important to note that a person of interest is different from a suspect. A person of interest is an individual whom authorities believe has pertinent information about a case. This can be a witness to the crime, someone who was close to the victim, or the perpetrator of the crime.

A suspect, on the other hand, is someone believed to have committed the crime. It is possible for a person of interest to later be named a suspect when more information has been established. As of writing, no suspect has been named in Nancy's case.

Meanwhile, the Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI are doing a court-ordered search in Rio Rico, Arizona, which is located 60 miles from Nancy's home in Tucson.