RIO RICO, Arizona — A person of interest has been detained for questioning in connection with the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, according to sources and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office.
The man, who has not yet been identified, was pulled over in Rio Rico by Pima County sheriff’s deputies who had been trailing him, law enforcement sources told The Post.
The sheriff’s office said the individual is being questioned about Nancy’s disappearance and authorities are searching his home in Rio Rico, a tiny border community roughly 60 miles south of Tucson.
The individual doesn’t appear to be a member of the Guhtrie family, according to TMZ, and hasn’t been called a suspect.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed that federal investigators are probing “persons of interest” during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night.
“Without polluting the investigation, I will say we have made substantial progress in these last 36-48 hours, thanks to the technical capabilities of the FBI and our partnerships and I do believe we are looking at people who, as we say, are persons of interest,” Patel said.
The development follows the release of video and several images of an armed, masked kidnapper at the doorstep of the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.
Patel credited the footage as a break-through in the case coming 10 days into the frantic search for Nancy, who remains missing.
“Not only were we able to get this type of information [Ring doorbell footage], but we were able to exploit information pursuant to our private sector partner engagement that showed us that there might be persons of interest in and around the area related to this event,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“With any investigation, you are a person of interest until you’re either eliminated or you’re actually found to be the culprit or the culprits involved, and that’s the stage we’re at right now,” he added.
Despite the promising development, Patel remained cautiously optimistic, saying he didn’t want to give the public “a falase hope.”
“The FBI is making advancements, and I don’t want the people out there to have a false hope of what we are putting forward, but we have made significant steps in executing this investigation,” he added.
It’s not immediately clear if authorities have determined whether Nancy is alive or unharmed.
The major development comes more than a week after she vanished. She was last seen on Jan. 31 when she was dropped off at her Tucson home by her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, following a dinner with him and her daughter, Annie.
Additional reporting by Victor Nava.
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