TUCSON, Ariz. — Friday night’s dramatic search of a home in Rio Rico, Arizona, just north of the border with Mexico, marked the first in the investigation for the missing Nancy Guthrie outside a property belonging to a family member.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI conducted a court-authorized search of a home in the desert community of about 20,000 people, where an individual, Carlos Palazuelos, was staying. Palazuelos had been pulled and briefly detained for questioning.
Several hours later, early on Wednesday morning, investigators left the scene.
Until Tuesday night, the only properties searched belonged to Nancy Guthrie herself and her eldest daughter, Annie.
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Authorities searched Nancy’s home on Sunday, Feb. 1, after she reportedly did not attend a weekly group meetup where she normally watched a livestreamed church service with acquaintances.
In the evening hours of Friday, Feb. 6, the FBI returned to Nancy’s home, cleared the media away and searched the property again, including on the roof.
A Fox News drone captured an agent appearing to remove a white cylindrical device from a ledge overlooking a courtyard on the property. Authorities later removed a blue SUV from Guthrie’s garage and towed it to an impound lot.
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Annie Guthrie’s home has also been searched twice, once on Wednesday, Feb. 4, three days into the investigation, and again on Saturday Feb. 7.
Authorities also stopped by the home briefly on Feb. 6, around the same time as the second search at Nancy’s property. They briefly viewed the side yard on the property, and then left.
The Feb. 7 search, which NBC’s Tom Winters reported was “consented to,” was intensive. Investigators entered the home with what appeared to be a white suitcase and a brown bag, and stayed on the property from about 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Authorities have also conducted multiple extensive searches in both Nancy and Annie’s neighborhoods. The latest canvassing effort took place Tuesday evening, as the FBI went door-to-door in Annie’s neighborhood.
That effort came on the heels of the first major update in the case.
On Tuesday afternoon, FBI Director Kash Patel released images and video from a doorbell camera on Nancy’s property showing a masked individual covered head-to-toe, wearing a backpack, gloves and armed with a firearm, approaching the home’s entrance.
There are still no suspects in the case.
