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(PHOENIX, Ariz.) — The man who was detained and released after being questioned in connection with the abduction of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, says it was “terrifying.”

The man, who said he works in Tucson and delivers packages for a living, said he was detained in a traffic stop in Rio Rico, according to ABC Phoenix affiliate station KNXV, which spoke to him after his encounter with law enforcement. 

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Tuesday they had detained a “subject” in connection with the investigation. 

When asked about what happened, the man who spoke with KNXV said it was a “terrifying” experience and that authorities “didn’t tell me anything at the beginning.”

When asked if he delivered a package to Nancy Guthrie’s home, the man said, “I don’t know. Might have been a possibility. I don’t know.”

“I was detained the whole time,” he told KNXV. “I was being questioned, but they only asked me for my first name, my last name, my date of birth and my social.”

The man whom officials detained had been on the radar of the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department regarding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance prior to the public release on Tuesday of the images of a masked subject at Nancy Guthrie’s front door, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The individual, who identified himself as Carlos, was detained for questioning in Rio Rico after the FBI identified him using a series of electronic investigative tools, including cellphone usage information and traffic data, the sources said, without specifying the exact techniques. 

A local judge from Santa Cruz County, Arizona, signed the warrant for the search of the man’s house, which was carried out overnight. He was questioned for several hours before being released without charge and is under no law enforcement restrictions, according to the sources.

Separately, investigators are studying every pixel of the new video the FBI released publicly on Tuesday to try to find any identifying feature, including the apparent weapon and characteristics of what the subject was wearing, according to the sources.

“In high-profile cases, these type of leads are typical,” retired FBI agent Brad Garrett told Good Morning America Wednesday. “It may happen again because it’s the type of tips you get. But having said that, it’s the type of tips that will resolve this case.”

Investigators also descended upon a home where a court-authorized search was conducted and a woman claiming to be the homeowner says someone called in a tip reporting Nancy Guthrie was there.

“You can go in and search my house. There’s nobody there. I have nothing to hide,” the woman told KNXV. “There’s nobody in my house and I don’t know what’s going on.”

She told reporters her son-in-law was the person detained by police but insisted he had nothing to do with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

The developments followed the first images released of a masked man approaching Nancy Guthrie’s front door and as investigators continued to search in her neighborhood.

The images showed someone wearing a mask, gloves, a backpack and armed with a holstered handgun at the front door of Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson-area home around the time investigators suspect she was abducted on Feb. 1.

Savannah Guthrie later posted the images to her Instagram account, with the message, “We believe she is still alive. Bring her home.”

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(El PASO, Texas) — The contract for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement tent facility in El Paso, Texas, is under review, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed in a statement.

Camp East Montana, a detention center on the grounds of Fort Bliss, was opened in August by the Trump administration. The facility has faced criticism from immigrant advocates following the deaths of three detainees and a current measles outbreak.

“ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “The contract for Camp East Montana was inherited from the Department of War. DHS undergoes rigorous audits and inspections of our facilities to ensure they are meeting our high standards.”

“DHS is reviewing this facility and contract,” Bis added. “No decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination, or award.”

Last year, Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia-based company, was awarded $1.2 billion to build the 5,000 bed, short-term detention facility with an estimated date of completion of Sept. 30, 2027, according to a Department of Defense notice.

Acquisition Logistics did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

While DHS has not provided a reason for the review, a current measles outbreak has renewed calls from legal advocates who say detainees are not getting proper medical care.

DHS confirmed to ABC News that there are currently 14 active measles cases at the facility. In a statement, Bis claimed medical staff were quarantining all detainees that may have come into contact with those infected.

“This is the best healthcare than many aliens have received in their entire lives,” Bis claimed, contradicting repeated claims of medical neglect and abuse at the facility made by the ACLU in December and by attorneys with clients being detained there.

Crystal Sandoval, an accredited representative with Las Americas Advocacy Center, who attempted to meet with a potential client on Tuesday, says she was denied entry into the facility because of the outbreak. Sandoval says she was the first person who was granted access into the facility in August 2025 and has been sounding the alarm about what she calls widespread medical neglect.

“I’ve had people be like, ‘I want to be deported because I’m not getting my diabetic medication and if I continue like that, I’m going to have a diabetic coma,'” she told ABC News.

Lawmakers have also increasingly called on DHS to provide more transparency about who they’re contracting with it, and to shut down the facility.

“For months, we have sounded the alarm on the horrific conditions at this facility—from the tragic and preventable deaths of three individuals to the current measles outbreak that has put hundreds at risk,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., on Wednesday. “This $1.2 billion contract was awarded to a company with zero experience in detention management, and the results were as predictable as they were disastrous.”

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(NEW YORK) — The judge overseeing Luigi Mangione’s murder case in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is set to issue a critical ruling Monday on what evidence and testimony prosecutors can use during the accused assassin’s murder trial.

New York Judge Gregory Carro is considering Mangione’s request to prohibit prosecutors from using the evidence that police seized from Mangione’s backpack — including the alleged murder weapon and writings that prosecutors say amount to a confession — as well as Mangione’s statements to law enforcement when he was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the shooting.

Mangione’s state murder trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8, and Carro’s decision will help define the contours of the high-profile criminal trial. If he limits the use of evidence from Mangione’s backpack, prosecutors would be barred from showing the jury the purported murder weapon, writings allegedly outlining his escape route, a fake driver’s license, and thousands of dollars in cash.

Prosecutors would still have available surveillance footage of Thompson’s shooting death, as well as fingerprint and DNA evidence and a phone retrieved by police.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett — who is overseeing Mangione’s federal stalking case — reached a ruling in January allowing the use of the same evidence during Mangione’s federal trial, which is scheduled to begin in January 2027. In that case, Judge Garnett decided that the evidence in the backpack would have inevitably been discovered by law enforcement. 

However, defense lawyers have argued that the search of the backpack without a warrant violated Mangione’s rights, and have repeatedly urged Judge Carro to block prosecutors from using the evidence. 

“At the hearing, Altoona law enforcement officers repeatedly attempted to justify their warrantless search of Mr. Mangione’s backpack … instead, all these officers demonstrated was an utter disregard for a defendant’s constitutional rights and a shocking ignorance of basic search and seizure caselaw,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote in a state court filing. 

Lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney’s office pushed back on those claims, arguing the officers acted “in deliberate and painstaking fashion” when they searched the backpack.

“At every step, the Altoona officers responded to this unexpected and alarming situation reasonably,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote in a court filing, adding that officers later obtained a warrant for the bag “establishing an independent source for recovering the backpack’s contents.”

Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a husband and father of two, on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.

As Mangione prepares for his upcoming trial in September, his supporters continue to fund part of his legal defense. Earlier this month, on Mangione’s 28th birthday, his legal defense fund surpassed $1.5 million.

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