Luke Daley and his mother were both detained while a SWAT raid was conducted on their Tucson, Ariz., home on Feb. 13.

Man who was detained with his mother in Nancy Guthrie case breaks silence

Luke Daley and his mother were both detained while a SWAT raid was conducted on their Tucson, Ariz., home on Feb. 13.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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March 3, 2026 6:06 p.m. ET

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Luke Daley; Nancy Guthrie. Credit:

Arizona's Family (3TV / CBS 5)/YouTube; Savannah Guthrie/Instagram

An Arizona man is speaking out after he and his mother were detained and released last month in connection to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.

A SWAT raid was conducted on Luke Daley's home on Feb. 13, Fox News reported. The property is located roughly two miles away from Nancy’s house, where she was last seen on the night of Jan. 31 after being dropped off by her family.

Daley’s 77-year-old mother, who lives with him, was also detained during the operation. The pair were ultimately released without being charged after being held for several hours, and neither is a suspect in the case.

Savannah Guthrie and mother, Nancy Guthrie.

Savannah Guthrie/Instagram

The 37-year-old spoke out about being detained in an interview with *True Crime Arizona* host Briana Whitney, where the host noted that many people on social media believe that Daley is the masked individual seen in footage taken by Nancy’s Nest doorbell camera on the night she disappeared.

When asked if it was him, Daley responded, "It's not me. I don’t see the resemblance of it looking like me. Absolutely not. I have nothing to do with this case."

Daley's attorney, Chris Scileppi, told PEOPLE that his client was the subject of two search warrants that were issued and served on Feb. 13. "Daley and his mother were both detained by law enforcement while the search warrants were being executed," the attorney said in a statement. "Neither Daley nor his mother were arrested in connection to this case or any other."

Scileppi asserted at the time that Daley has "no link whatsoever to Nancy Guthrie and has no information related to her kidnapping," adding, "Like the entire Tucson community, both Daley and his mother are hopeful that Nancy will be returned to her family unharmed."

Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie, on the 'Today' set in 2023.

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Savannah Guthrie embraces family members while visiting memorial at missing mother Nancy's house

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While speaking with Whitney, Daley explained that he was pulled over in a Culver's parking lot after being followed by two police cars. "They had me cuffed in the back of a cop car, detained. I was asking them like, 'What am I being detained for?'" he recalled. "And they wouldn’t tell me anything, they just said that the detectives would be there to talk to me."

It wasn’t until the FBI arrived on the scene that Daley realized that the stop was "probably about the Guthrie case."

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He continued, "I'm like, 'This should be easy. I have nothing to do with this, so it should be not a big deal to clear my name and move on.' But the whole time during the questioning, it seemed like more of a fishing expedition for them to try to get me to say something… I'm like, 'All you'd have to do is look at my phone and see my location. It was nowhere near anywhere.'"

Daley also stated that he didn't "trust the FBI" given the amount of "pressure on this case" as the search continues to reunite Nancy with her family. "The whole time while I'm sitting in the back of the cop car I'm panicking thinking that I'm gonna be framed for this, or they're trying to pin this on me somehow," he said.

He stressed that he "didn't even know" that he lived near Nancy's house until after her disappearance and had never met her. However, he acknowledged that he "knew who she was" because his mother had been following developments in the case.

In addition to searching his home, Daley said he was detained for "for or five hours" and that his cell phone and vehicle were taken. The latter has since been returned.

He also claimed that people on social media are "pushing this narrative and trying to make connections with things that are basically… circumstantial. Like saying my eyelashes match the guy in the ski mask picture, which I'm sure you could find anyone's picture and find similarities."

Daley noted that he’s hoping that Nancy returns safely. "I, like everyone else, I want to see her come home," he said, sharing the wants "the actual suspect to be found" and to "have actual verification that I was cleared by the FBI and the sheriff" moving forward.

"I hope that she's safe. I hope they find her," he said of Nancy. "I just want to move on with my life… it's been hard. I can't go anywhere, everyone gives me dirty looks [when] they see me in my car."

Daley isn't the only person who has been detained in relation to the case. Law enforcement held a different person of interest for several hours before being releasing him on Feb. 11.

Nancy's daughter, *Today* cohost Savannah Guthrie, announced in a Feb. 24 Instagram post that the family has increased their reward for Nancy's recovery to $1 million. "Someone knows how to find our mom and bring her home," Savannah wrote.

Listen to Daley discuss being detained in the video above.

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