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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Prison Detained For Questioning In Guthrie Case Released; FAA Closing Airspace Over El Paso, Texas For 10 Days; Canadian Police: Nine People Killed In Mass Shooting. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 11, 2026 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:24]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Rahel Solomon. It is Wednesday, February 11th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York, 3:00 a.m. in Pima County, Arizona, where we begin with breaking news.

It is now day 11 in the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today Show" host Savannah Guthrie.

Late Tuesday, the FBI and the Pima County sheriff's department had detained a person for questioning in this investigation. But our affiliate KNXV now reporting that person has been released.

They were picked up during a traffic stop in Rio Rico, which is about 60 miles south of Tucson, near the Mexico border. Authorities also searched a home in Rio Rico after that person was detained. But we're told that that scene is now cleared.

A law enforcement source tells CNN that authorities still don't know where Nancy Guthrie might be. A CNN team on the ground in Rio Rico spoke with the woman, who claimed that it was her home that was being searched. And here's what some of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if they came out telling us that they had somebody gave a tip that the lady was in my house. I don't know her name.

REPORTER: Nancy Guthrie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know it at all. I don't know who she is. I don't know anything about her. They only said that they gave a tip that she was in my house. And I told them, you can go in and search my house. There's nobody there.

I have nothing to hide. There's nobody in my house, and I don't know what's going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: These developments come after the FBI released new video and images on Tuesday captured by Nancy Guthrie's Nest doorbell camera. They show a masked, armed individual attempting to block the camera in the early morning hours of February 1st hours later, Nancy Guthrie was reported missing by her family, and authorities maintain their belief that she was abducted. They still have not publicly identified any suspect but FBI Director Kash Patel says that the agency is looking at potential persons of interest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR (via telephone): 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. But as you know with any investigation, you are a person of interest until you are either eliminated or you are actually found to be the culprit or the culprits involved, and that's the stage we are at right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Joining us now to discuss is CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. He previously served as chief of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan police department, among other positions, and is now a partner at 21CP Solutions.

Commissioner, I appreciate you being on this morning.

As we said the person who had been detained has now been released the search of that home in Rio Rico has now concluded. What does that tell you about what stage this investigation is at?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, in any investigation, you're going to get a lot of tips especially after you put out a video like that. People are a little more aware apparently this stemmed from a traffic stop. I don't know what prompted an officer to stop this vehicle, but you're going to get a lot of tips that just don't lead anywhere.

But all you need is one that does and so police are going to follow up on every single tip. I don't know the content of the information that they got, but it led to a search of a home. But it turned up negative. So, they'll move now in a different direction. There -- they are in the process now of going through hopefully hundreds, if not thousands of tips that have come in since the release of that video.

SOLOMON: Uh-huh. And, commissioner, as I said, you've led multiple major cities in terms of their police departments. Help me understand the thinking that goes into deciding whether to release images to the public. Because on the one hand, obviously you get the tips that come in. On the other hand, you alert the perpetrator that you are now onto them.

And so, help me understand the thinking that would have gone into releasing these images. SOLOMON: Well, if you get an image and you're able to identify an

individual, then you don't want to necessarily put it public because you don't want that person to know that you now know their identity. It gives you a chance to capture them.

But when you get to a point where you just don't know who they are, you don't have any leads as you believe at the time will lead you directly to that person. You're going to release it to the public. I mean, when you crowdsource something like that, it means an awful lot because people are able to take a look at an image, even if the face isn't visible just from the gait, the way a person walks or some other identifying characteristics. They can make that one phone call that's going to make a difference and that's why, especially in this case, because they didn't have anything the first few days.

And so, now they at least have these images and they put them out publicly hoping that someone will recognize this individual. And there are a lot of clues in this particular video that you see.

[05:05:05]

SOLOMON: And what clues do you stand out as the most important?

RAMSEY: Well, there are a few things. One, there is one of a still photo with the individual standing there, and you don't see a firearm in the front like you do in the other. So that would make me think there's either a vehicle or somebody very nearby to give him the backpack, to give him the weapon, those things that you see later on. You can look at that backpack and I'm sure now they're reaching out. They already have reached out to manufacturers to try to identify, you know, the stores that sell that particular backpack and then check to see who may have purchased something recently or within a given time frame. The type of weapon he's carrying.

And when you look at that, the holster, a holster doesn't look like it's made for that particular weapon. It's awful long. It looks more like it's for a revolver than it is a semiautomatic. And when you look at the -- at the handle, the grip of the weapon that looks like a semiautomatic. I'm no firearms expert but that kind of stands out to me.

And so, you can see the person also probably has a mustache, at least a goatee. Something underneath the lip, perhaps even a beard. So, the more you analyze it and they're able to really take and blow it up and see a lot more than we can see just from these images here. But there are a lot of things that have put them on a different path, perhaps but I think they still do not have an identity yet. If they did, they would already have somebody in custody more than likely.

SOLOMON: And what did you make of his demeanor? I mean, I just thought it was striking how it seemed like he was in no rush. He didn't seem frazzled by the camera. He goes over to the shrubbery. I mean, I'm just I'm very curious about just the unrushed demeanor that we see in this video. What did you make of that?

RAMSEY: Yeah, I saw that, too. And you know, from everything I've heard from the CNN reporters on the ground there, this is a very secluded area with a lot of shrubbery and other growth. That conceals the homes of individuals.

This person has been in that area before and felt comfortable that he's not going to be seen across the street or, or something like that.

Now, somewhat of an amateur. I mean -- you know, grabbing a handful of twigs to try to, you know, cover the camera lens is not something that a skilled burglar or somebody else would do. They would be prepared to either have spray paint or they'd have tape. They'd have something to cover the lens of the camera.

But this person was awful calm. They just took their time. And that's something that's very noticeable in this particular video. The backpack also -- I mean, it is stuffed. It is filled with a lot, of lot of things. I don't know what's in it, obviously, but he had a lot of things in that particular backpack.

So, he was prepared to do something if he's going to take someone by force. You know, it could have flex cuffs in there. It could have, you know a gag of some kind you know, who knows what's in that backpack? But it's -- it is pretty full.

SOLOMON: Yeah. Commissioner Charles Ramsey, we appreciate the time this morning. Thank you.

RAMSEY: Okay, you're welcome.

SOLOMON: And authorities continue to ask anyone with information to contact the Pima County Sheriff's Department at the number on your screen, 520-351-4900 or you can also just contact the FBI.

We're also following breaking news in El Paso, Texas, where the Federal Aviation Administration is closing the airspace around that city for the next 10 days. According to the FAA's website, it's due to what the agency calls special security reasons. The restrictions will also apply to parts of southern New Mexico, around the community of Santa Teresa.

I spoke last hour with Robert Moore, who is the founder and CEO of the news group "El Paso Matters", and he says all of this is just a really big mystery right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MOORE, FOUNDER AND CEO, EL PASO MATTERS (via telephone): Local government officials were caught off guard by this. I think the military officials at Fort Bliss were caught off guard. But basically from what we understand that they're from a ten mile radius around the El Paso International Airport, essentially a no fly zone now. That includes military aircraft, medical evacuation helicopters, law enforcement, nothing -- nothing can fly.

We've never seen anything like this here. At least since -- since 9/11, when everything was grounded. The FAA is not talking. I was able to get through to an FAA official who actually was the one who put out the notice, and he said he couldn't even tell me what it was about not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't know. He was just told. Get this notice out now.

[05:10:01]

And so, it's this area around El Paso international airport. And El Paso is the nation's 23rd largest city. So, this is a big deal. And then to the west of El Paso in southern New Mexico, there's another pretty large area along the Mexican border that's also essentially a no-fly zone now.

The city government in El Paso put out an advisory an hour or so ago that basically all flights are grounded. And for people to call the airport but, you know, this is about a lot more than just air passenger travel, it's going to shut down all commercial flights, all private flights all transportation of goods that come by air this is kind of a major industrial hub, along with Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. So, this is going to be very, very disruptive. And we just don't have an explanation at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead for us, our coverage continues as authorities release new video in the apparent abduction of Nancy Guthrie. How investigators were able to recover the footage and the latest on the investigation, coming up next.

We are also following a mass shooting in Canada. The country's deadliest school shooting in decades. We'll have the latest on the investigation here. We'll be right.

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[05:15:49]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

And back now to our top story. Authorities have cleared the scene after searching a home in southern Arizona as part of the investigation into the apparent kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie. The home is located in Rio Rico, which is not far from the Mexican border and about 60 miles south of Tucson, where Guthrie was last seen. A person was detained during a traffic stop in Rio Rico and was questioned by law enforcement according to a source but that person has been released, according to CNN affiliate KNXV.

Now despite these developments, authorities still have not been able to locate Guthrie.

We're also following some other major breaking news out of Canada, where authorities say that at least nine people are dead after a shooting at a high school and a home in a remote part of British Columbia. We recently obtained footage of roads blocked off outside of the school. Dozens of people there were hurt, and the suspect, who may be female, is dead. Canada's prime minister wrote that he is devastated by the horrific shootings and that he joins Canadians in grieving with those whose lives have been changed irreversibly. British Columbian authorities also weighing in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID EBY, PREMIER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: The devastation these families face. You know, it's just impossible to understand what they're going through without going through it yourself but I can say for myself, and I'm sure for many British Columbians, many Canadians, it makes us think about our kids safety when they're going to school. We take it for granted. You go to school, you come home safe. And events like this give us pause.

NINA KRIEGER, BRITISH COLUMBIA MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY & SOLICITOR GENERAL: This is only the beginning for so many who have families who have been impacted by todays tragic events. We are actively mobilizing trauma and crisis response supports. We are sending trauma informed counselors to the region to support kids and their families during this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Investigators have not identified the shooter or the victims.

CNN's Paula Newton explains what is known about this tragic incident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's utter shock, not just in British Columbia, but throughout the country as the details of this begin to become clearer.

Now, police are not giving very detailed updates. But what we know is that at least nine people have died and also apparently a suspect in this incident. Police say was found deceased of a self-inflicted injury.

I want you to listen now to the RCMP giving their latest update.

SUPT. KEN FLOYD, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: Multiple injuries and multiple deceased were inside the school as officers progressed through the scene, locating them and triaging those events. We also located two deceased at another scene.

NEWTON: So just to understand what happened here, this was a small community that was put on alert for an active shooter in the early afternoon and police arrived at the school and you just heard there from RCMP as well, though, at least a couple of dozen people were treated either at the local clinic or had to be airlifted for the injuries.

Police not saying anything really about those injuries, also not saying who the suspect is, what they know about the suspect, except saying that it is a link to the alert and the description in the alert. The description was of a woman in a dress with brown hair.

They are asking for patience as they try and sort out these details, but you can imagine that in this community right now. The trauma people are dealing with, they were in lockdown for so many hours and so many parents and relatives and loved ones unable to even go to the high school to find out what was going on. They themselves in lockdown and now everyone trying to determine exactly what happened, where their loved ones are, and really the kind of support, continuing support that this community will need after such a tragedy.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Still ahead, more on our breaking news in the Nancy Guthrie case. We'll have the latest developments on the investigation into her apparent kidnapping when we come back.

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[05:24:20]

SOLOMON: Back now to our breaking news from Arizona. CNN affiliate KNXV reporting that a person detained for questioning in the Nancy Guthrie case has now been released. The Pima County sheriff's department also says that investigators have completed their search of a property in Rio Rico, which is south of Tucson, near the Mexico border. It added that the investigation is ongoing. Source says that authorities still haven't been able to determine the location, though of Nancy Guthrie.

For more on all of this, I want to bring in former NYPD detective and New York law school professor Kirk Burkhalter.

Kirk, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Let's just start with the newest information. A person was questioned and then released. According to local media, there, a house was searched. That search is now complete.

Where do things stand, in your opinion, in terms of this investigation?

KIRK BURKHALTER, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, I would say that we are certainly not back to square one, but we're back to where we were prior to this person being searched. What is interesting is the authorities had to have some information that they felt was somewhat concrete in order to stop the vehicle. About an hour and a half away and they certainly had to have probable cause in order to search the home that was connected with that vehicle.

So there may have been some developments or some further information. We don't know if it was from the video or elsewhere that the authorities have, but they've been keeping information fairly close to the vest, as they probably should during the course of this investigation. SOLOMON: Let me ask. TMZ founder Harvey Levin said yesterday that a

bitcoin account attached to the purported ransom letters has seen activity. He was very guarded in terms of what he could say when he -- when he spoke with Erin Burnett but a Tucson TV station said that there's less than $300 in the account. What do you think is going on here?

BURKHALTER: So, you know, this is very interesting. First you know, bitcoin account is something that the authorities are likely to be able to trace. The small amount of money may indicate that the account was just opened or opened fairly recently. And I would suspect it required some type of minimal deposit in order to activate the account. One can't just open up a bitcoin account or an account, you know, for instance, at a local bank without making some form of deposit.

So I would think that perhaps that's what we see, that $300 is reflective of the activity. The issue of releasing the information that we, you know, that the authorities know the account is active, may now encourage the persons involved, the abductors have you to no longer use that account and use something else. However, the horse has left the barn as far as possibly being able to trace the origin of the account.

SOLOMON: Yeah. I mean, understandably, there's always this tension in terms of what authorities release to the public versus what they need to keep close to the vest because of investigative reasons. Let me ask about this video that that was released yesterday afternoon it seemed to be.

I mean, I think the biggest breakthrough that we've seen with this case, at least publicly, when you look at the video, you see the person is armed at least in some of the videos. You see, the person is clearly wearing a mask. You can see his eyes, his eyelashes pretty distinctive eyelashes, his lips, the mustache.

When you -- when you saw this video and the images, I mean how helpful was this to you?

BURKHALTER: So it certainly was helpful because there are some things regarding the video that are quite interesting. First and foremost for me was the firearm. This seems to be some form of very generic holster, as opposed to be one that is specific to a specific firearm. The way the suspect or the person in the video is wearing the firearm towards the front of their body as opposed to the side is very interesting.

And what is interesting about the video is that it is particular to that one person. So, we all can look across the room or look across a crowd and perhaps pick out someone that we're familiar with based on how they walk their movements where they might carry their bag. Do they carry it across their shoulder or on top of their shoulder and so forth.

So the most important thing about this video, and I think that's the reason why it was released, is someone out there knows who this person is or has a very strong suspicion as to who this person is based on what they can see from the video.

Now, the devils in the details here as to whether that party will contact the authorities. We certainly have throughout recent history, have had family members contact the authorities when they recognize a family member has committed a crime so, you know whether someone recognizes this person as a family member or close friend or coworker, someone in neighborhood but based on, you know the gait and how they're carrying their bag and so forth.

It is likely -- well, I wouldn't say it's likely, but it's quite possible that someone may contact the authorities. I believe that is why the FBI released the video in an attempt to gain some assistance from the public.

SOLOMON: Kirk Burkhalter, we appreciate the time this morning. Thank you

BURKHALTER: You're quite welcome.

SOLOMON: Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Pima County sheriff's department at the number on your screen, 520-351-4900 or contact the FBI.

Still to come, President Trump and the Israeli prime minister are planning to discuss Iran in the coming hours. We'll hear what Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for when we come back.

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