A DELIVERY driver who was questioned over the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has maintained his innocence after being detained for hours.
Carlos Palazuelos, 27, was in custody for eight hours on Tuesday before being dropped off at his home in Rio Rico, Arizona, about 60 miles south of Nancy’s house in Tucson.
Carlos Palazuelos, 27, was questioned by cops for hours over the disappearance of Nancy GuthrieCredit: CBS
Savannah Guthrie’s mother has been missing since February 1Credit: Getty
Officials blocked off the road to the home in Rio Rico, Arizona, as it was being searchedCredit: AP
The property is about 60 miles from Nancy’s house in TucsonCredit: AP
Carlos was detained just hours after a surveillance video capturing a masked man outside Nancy’s home was releasedCredit: FBI via Getty Images
Palazuelos vowed he was innocent as investigators searched inside the property on Tuesday night, and claimed he had no clue who the Guthries were.
He said he was driving with his wife and their children when cops pulled him over around 4pm.
“They didn’t even tell me what’s going on until the detectives got here […] they told me I was being detained for kidnapping, and I asked them, ‘Kidnapping of who?’” he told ABC affiliate KNXV.
Detectives, sheriff’s deputies, and FBI agents then arrived on the scene and took him to the station. Palazuelos said he was there from around 4pm in the afternoon until midnight.
read more on nancy guthrie
NIGHT STALKER
Clues in chilling new Nancy Guthrie videos that could lead cops to suspect
HORROR SIGN
Eerie clue ‘missed on Nancy Guthrie’s door’ where intruder ‘tampered with cam’
“They wanted me to answer their questions, like where I was and all that,” he said.
“I answered their questions then they said I was free to go.”
At one point while speaking with reporters, Palazuelos exclaimed, “What the f**k am I going here? I didn’t do anything to be honest, I’m innocent.”
Palazuelos said cops told him he had “been at her house,” but he explained he was a delivery driver and may have dropped off a package there.
Most read in Entertainment
SAD GOODBYE
FRESH CLUE
LAST WORDS
CURVE APPEAL
The distraught dad told reporters he was terrified during the questioning as he worried he was “going to lose everything.”
The delivery driver said that Pima County police have told him they are not looking into him anymore, but that the FBI may be in touch if they have further questions.
The search of the property has been completed, and authorities are now looking at multiple “persons of interest,” officials told CNN.
MOTHER-IN-LAW SPEAKS
Palazuelos’ detainment came after haunting footage was released that showed an armed intruder outside Nancy’s home on the night she was kidnapped.
A woman who identified herself as Palazuelos’ mother-in-law told reporters she was shown the eerie video by investigators.
“It doesn’t look like him. No, not at all,” the woman, who said her name was Josefina, told NewsNation.
Josefina, Palazuelos’ mother-in-law, said she had no clue why her family was being investigatedCredit: NewsNation
Josefina said the Rio Rico home was hers and that her son-in-law and his family were staying there because they had been evicted due to financial troubles.
She was stunned by the raid, but insisted that her family had nothing to hide.
“They already asked us a lot of questions about him. Like I said, I have nothing to hide,” she said.
“You can go in my house. You can search anything you want. There’s nothing to hide.
“I don’t know the lady, I don’t know about the lady. I saw her [missing] on Facebook.”
What we know about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance
Today host Savannah Guthrie’s mom is missing after she was abducted from her home Tucson, Arizona on February 1
Blood drops were seen on the front steps of her home
Nancy’s son-in-law was the last person to see her as he dropped her off following a family dinner
Local and federal authorities initially admitted they had no suspects, and no leads
Multiple news outlets have been sent ransom letters that contain specific details about Nancy’s home and clothing
The first ransom deadline passed five days after the abduction, and a second deadline which was said to have “much more serious” conditions also passed
911 reports were made of a suspected trespasser lurking in a neighbor’s yard weeks before the abduction
Cops seized a car from Nancy’s home and removed a roof camera
Eerie new footage was released showing a masked and armed intruder at the home
A delivery driver was detained in connection to Nancy’s disappearance, but he was released hours later
SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed to Fox News that federal investigators were probing “persons of interest” just hours before the arrest was made.
“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.
He added that the first priority was to find Nancy, adding that the bureau’s outreach to the private sector has shown “there might be persons of interest in and around the area related to this event.”
“The agency’s first priority was finding Nancy and right behind that is to find any others involved in this kidnapping case to make sure they’re brought to justice,” he said.
HORROR VIDEO
The subject captured in the surveillance appeared to be tampering with the camera placed outside Nancy’s door just hours before she was taken from her bed.
The intruder was cloaked in a ski mask and dressed in a jacket and pants with a gun shoved in the waistband, along with black gloves and a backpack.
The search for the masked individual’s identity is ongoingCredit: AFP
The armed intruder appeared to obstruct the camera’s view with a plantCredit: AFP
In one clip, the individual is seen stepping back, searching the ground, stepping off the front porch, and pulling a plant from the lawn.
The masked perpetrator then appeared to shove the plant in front of the camera to obscure its view while busting up the camera.
Nancy has been missing since February 1, and investigators said they have been hard at work trying to recover footage from her home that was lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to devices being removed.
They said this video was “recovered from residual data located in backend systems.”
In a statement shared along with the footage, the Pima County Sheriff’s and the FBI begged for tips and asked anyone with information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
Shortly after the photos were released, Savannah reshared them on her Instagram and gave a brief statement.
“We believe she is still alive. Bring her home,” she wrote, adding information on how to contact the FBI.
