Man Detained in Nancy Guthrie Case Speaks Out After Release: ‘I’m Innocent’

A man who was detained Tuesday in connection with the kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, has been released.

The man, who only wanted to be identified as Carlos, spoke with reporters early Wednesday and said authorities made a mistake.

“I’m not happy,” he said. “I’m innocent.”

Carlos did a lengthy interview with Phoenix news station ABC15 Arizona and said he was held for hours before detectives let him go.

“They arrested me for kidnapping, which I don’t know what’s going on,” he told a reporter from the TV station.

Carlos said he’s a delivery driver from Rio Rico, Arizona — near the U.S.-Mexico border — and may have delivered a package to Guthrie’s house in Tucson. Otherwise, he had no clue about the case. He recalled being taken into custody while in the car with his wife.

“My wife was driving. They were following me. And once I saw they were following me, I pulled over. They didn’t even have to put a traffic stop or anything,” he said. “I got out of the car and they arrested me as soon as I got out the car. They didn’t even tell me what was going on.”

Local sheriff’s detectives and an FBI agent surrounded the vehicle, he said.

“They told me I was being detained for kidnapping. I asked, ‘Kidnapping of who?’ And they told me this lady, I don’t know her name,” he explained.

Carlos hasn’t been following Nancy Guthrie’s case at all. He noted that he works in Tucson, which is about 60 miles from Rio Rico.

“I might have delivered a package at her house, but I never kidnapped anybody,” he said. “I answered their questions and right now, they told me that I’m free to go.”

The reporter asked how he feels about the ordeal, Carlos laughed but said he’s annoyed. “They broke into my in-laws house,” he explained.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona issued a statement on Tuesday night saying  deputies had detained “a subject” earlier in the day, “during a traffic stop south of Tucson.”

Carlos was taken into custody on the same day FBI Director Kash Patel released photos and surveillance video of an armed individual walking up to Guthrie’s front door in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, the day she was abducted.

Guthrie, 84, was last seen on Jan. 31, when she was dropped off at her home in Tucson after having dinner with her daughter, Annie Guthrie, and son-in-law.

The FBI released a statement this afternoon saying agents are “conducting an extensive search along multiple roadways in the Catalina Foothills area” of Arizona in connection with the case.