Luke Daley, a convicted felon, was briefly detained with his mother during a SWAT raid during the probe into Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping. The 37-year-old on Thursday issued a statement, explaining what really happened on February 13 when FBI agents and a SWAT team swarmed their home, which is only two miles from where ‘Today’ host Savannah Guthrie’s mother is believed to have been abducted from.
Is Luke Daley facing charges over Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping?
No. Daley was subject to two warrants, one on his mother’s house and another on his Range Rover, his attorney Chris Scileppi said. They were both detained, but not arrested.
“Mr. Daley and his mother were both detained by law enforcement while the search warrants were being executed. Neither Mr. Daley nor his mother were arrested in connection to this case or any other,” Scileppi told 12 News.
“He has no link whatsoever to Nancy Guthrie and has no information related to her kidnapping. Like the entire Tucson community, both Mr. Daley and his mother are hopeful that Nancy will be returned to her family unharmed,” the attorney added.
Luke Daley’s criminal history
The 37-year-old Tucson local served 18 months in prison after he was convicted of solicitation of drugs, criminal damage, and flight from law enforcement convictions. His imprisonment was during the 2019-2020 period, 12 News reported. He was arrested in 2022 for selling drugs and sentenced to four years of probation. Last year, Daley was arrested in Marana for possession of fentanyl and a gun.
Update on evidence in Nancy Guthrie case
Meanwhile, police said on Tuesday that the DNA from gloves found near Nancy Guthrie’s home did not match any entries in a national database.
“There were no DNA hits in CODIS,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said, referring to the national Combined DNA Index System.
“At this point, there have been no confirmed CODIS matches in this investigation,” the department said, suggesting that other DNA samples had been put through the system.
The sheriff’s department said it’s looking to feed DNA evidence into other “genetic genealogy” databases. It did not elaborate.
The 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie was reported missing from her home on February 1 after spending the previous night with family, police said. Her blood was detected on the porch.
A porch camera recorded video of a man with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, a jacket and gloves. The FBI said the suspect is about 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall with a medium build.
Gloves were found about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home. The FBI has said that the gloves appeared to match those worn by the man in the video.
“There is additional DNA evidence that was found at the residence, and that is also being analyzed,” the sheriff’s department said.
In addition, the department said it’s working with experts to try to locate Guthrie by detecting her heart pacemaker.
(With inputs from The Associated Press)