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Laura Coates Live

The Search For Nancy Guthrie; Aired 12-1a ET

Aired February 14, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

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LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Welcome back to a second hour of the special edition of Lara Coates live, the search for Nancy Guthrie. And there is major breaking news. We've got police activity happening about two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home. SWAT is involved. Forensics involved. The Sheriff's Office says they will soon release a written statement about just what is going on. I'm going to get straight to CNN's Ed Lavandera, who's on the scene.

Ed, there was a whole caravan of vehicles that that drove right past an area that had previously been closed, including SWAT. What have you been seeing? Oh, wait. I'm hearing he's reporting out there. He's talking. All right. Let me tell you what I'm seeing. First of all, as we talk to Ed in a second -- Ed, can you hear me?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Laura. Laura, apologies. We were trying to kind of figure out some things to do here to get some better reporting for you tonight. But right now, as I think you guys watched on camera just a short while ago, you saw a long line of vehicles. Some of those trucks that shift from the Sheriff's department had forensics mark -- forensic teams going in. It was a really long line of car, more than a dozen cars that went in. And a lot of those vehicles and those types of trucks that Pima County has, we have seen in some other locations and some other scenes where they have been collecting evidence and that sort of thing.

So clearly that kind of work is going on here to tonight. And we should also point out, and I think you might have mentioned this a little while ago, but we're -- bears repeating is that Pima County authorities say that there will be no press conference tonight, but that they will issue a written statement. So you can kind of parse what you will from that. Ultimately, what it means, I think, will be at least some sort of clarity and update on exactly what was found here.

Now how much clarity we get on the reasons and what brought them here, what kind of investigative leads brought them here is not exactly clear. But we do know that there have been tens of thousands of tips that have been called in to investigators in the last few days, especially after the video was released of the front doorbell camera and that haunting images of the suspect approaching Nancy Guthrie's front door. And that has triggered an avalanche of tips for investigators. They -- we've been told that they've been pouring through those as much as possible. And, obviously, they've been prioritizing those that they think are the most better -- the best quality tips. They've been prioritizing that and going after that. But what is remains just really striking about this particular scene is that this is all happening within the same neighborhood of Nancy Guthrie.

Remember, we've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how this suspect got into the neighborhood, got out of the neighborhood. And then and I don't want to suggest in any way that this is whatever is happening here, leads us to the person. I don't want to get that far ahead of ourselves. But if you will, kind of -- this is the back of my phone. Kind of imagine this neighborhood that Nancy Guthrie lives in is almost like a rectangle. There are four major intersections around here. So we've spent a lot of time kind of trying to figure out how the roads are so windy. It's kind of like a spider web. You have to be pretty knowledgeable of the area or at least have studied it to kind of figure out how to get to her home. And that's what's been so perplexing about all of this. It's like, how does someone reach this particular home if you didn't have a reason to be on the street where she lives?

So it's what's really striking at this moment as we as we watch all of this unfold just a few roads away from where she lives.

COATES: Ed Lavandera, I'm going to stick with you. Come back to when you have something. I know you were reporting, and you're trying to get more information. I want to tell our audience what we know so far, okay? So tonight, we have seen an increase of police activity. Remember, earlier in the week, you had law enforcement who executed a search warrant, detained somebody from a vehicle 50 miles south of this area in an area called Rio Rico. We know that person was questioned over several hours, was ultimately released as well. We know there's been thousands of tips coming in. There's been a lot of activity trying to figure out whether surveillance footage was captured from different homes in the area, including the intersections that Ed Lavandera rightly pointed out.

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Now we are two miles away from Nancy Guthrie's home. We learned from a neighbor just moments ago. This is a residential area, that this is an area where the homes are not very close together. The Catalina Hills, they're more spread out. This topography has been a challenge already within that same two mile radius. We are learning, or two mile radius of the home, a glove was found. It has been sent down to Florida to be processed. I spoke to a woman who is very familiar with the lab that they chose as opposed to Quantico, did not question the effectiveness of that lab.

And, of course, there are questions about what that DNA would ultimately reveal. And now, just moments ago, we saw a caravan of over a dozen vehicles where there's no access points for the media to go. We're talking about SWAT, forensics, and other vans as well that were in the area that's residential. This is striking because up till now, the Sheriff and the Sheriff's Office has been criticized about having the crime scene, his words of Nancy Guthrie's home, opened up, reopened, the media, different people who were influencers, others including pool cleaners able to go on the premises.

Now within two miles, they're looking at this area. I want to go back to a Retired FBI Special Agent, Michael Harrigan, as well as an FBI Counterintelligence Operative, Eric O'Neill, to help me break this down because this is very significant. Describe for people who are watching that caravan of people going through. Begin with a SWAT team. To have a SWAT team on location, what does that tell you about what type of situation they may have expected to confront even in a residential area?

ERIC O'NEILL, FORMER FBI COUNTERINTELLIGENCE OPERATIVE: Yes. Certainly. So whether this is a serious situation or not, whether it becomes something that's a major break in the case or not, the FBI and the Sheriff's department are taking it very seriously. They, close off the street, and you close off the street because you want to isolate the situation. You don't want citizens to come through in cars. You know that, it is potentially dangerous, and so you send in SWAT. And SWAT are the experts. They know how to handle a hostile situation and control the situation as well.

COATES: And we don't know if they are identifying a suspect in that area. We are -- we don't have a lot of daylight into what's beyond that barrier. But we do know from the video that the person who they are calling a suspect is armed. There were questions about whether that person was familiar with having a weapon, the type of holster, the placement of it in the waistband suggested to some firearms experts this person did not have a facility with guns. Otherwise, they wouldn't place it in a precarious position. But the fact that SWAT is involved, to his large -- larger point, and they are normally confronting dangerous situations you were a member of SWAT. What would you have been trained to do in an area like this?

MICHAEL HARRIGAN, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, I think what you're seeing here, Laura, is that the SWAT was there first. So normally what will happen is, SWAT will make entry into a residence or into a building or actually affect the detention of someone, a suspect.

COATES: And this is local law enforcement or is this the FBI? Who has SWAT? Got it.

HARRIGAN: It would be the same. And I was on both a local and the federal SWAT team, and they operate on the same principles.

COATES: But they come in first?

HARRIGAN They come in first. They breach a residence. They go in. They secure it. And then --

COATES: What does that mean, secure it? Are they going room-to-room? What are they doing?

HARRIGAN: Well, it depends on the nature of the search warrant that they have. But normally, they'll go in. When they secure it, if it's an armed and dangerous person, like you astutely pointed out that the individual seen on camera had a firearm. So you have to assume that everybody, that is a suspect is going to be armed. So they're going to go in, they're going to breach the residents, potentially, if that's what they're doing. And then they go room-to-room, make sure there's nobody there. Or if they're after somebody, particularly, they'll go ahead and detain them, hold them there, and then the forensics and the investigators will come in right behind them, and the investigators will be the ones then they pass off. The detained person to, who will do the interview, do the handling of the person.

COATES: We actually see some from a local news. There's a drone footage showing over two dozen or more presence of law enforcement in the area. This is not just a small amount of police activity happening. I mean, we are showing you live pictures and views right now. You see somebody with a truck and a couple cones. What's beyond that barrier is far different. It is very significant. So, walk with you, secured the area. You've delivered the person. Now what's happening?

O'NEILL: Well, now the forensic team comes in. So there was a tip or there could be any a dozen different ways that they decided that they're going to move in the situation, which is probably a residence. It's a very residential area. It's probably not the side of the road. It's probably a residence.

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And if you remember what happened in the prior HRT, Hostage Rescue Team, SWAT action against the delivery driver, I mean, they came in through the back and the front, broke those doors, which someone's going to have to pay for. And it turned out he had an alibi, but so they're taking it incredibly seriously.

Now forensics --

COATES: So no warrant will be needed for, you have a SWAT team coming in, this is exigent enough that the warrant situation is not the issue any longer.

O'NEILL: Yeah. You have to have a warrant. Yes.

COATES: Okay. But even though -- even if a SWAT team is called --

O'NEILL: Yes. You have the warrant. So either they're looking for something or a person. And if they detain the person or they control the person, and then the forensics will come in on a door -- on a warrant to search for something. Now we don't know there's something.

COATES: Forensics though, okay. Break this down. Because when people think about forensics, they might think to themselves, okay. I've got some fingerprints. I have to go to the lab. I have DNA, I want to put over. It might not occur to them that there is a immediacy or an urgency of having a forensic truck come in. What exactly are there is their role? It's not purely sort of research based. It's proactively accumulating and acquiring evidence from the scene, right?

O'NEILL: Right. So they could be searching for something, or they could be retrieving something, right? And so we don't know which. And or maybe it's a person of interest, and they're going to go see what they can find. But they're the specialists who can look over a crime scene without disturbing evidence, who collect evidence, and do it all legally so that it can be used in the future.

COATES: When you say not disturbing evidence, that's probably a daunting proposition, not knowing what you're looking for.

O'NEILL: Well, they're able to go through and catalog, so maybe they find that backpack, right? And so what you bring up, it's disturbing evidence. What I mean there is you open -- you close a crime scene, then you open the crime scene, then you close the crime scene, and all sorts of people come through in in that open period. Well, now you've disturbed all the evidence, right, with people who'd -- who aren't forensically trained and don't know how to preserve it.

COATES: And now, interesting enough, although I show the map again, we are two miles -- about two miles away from Nancy Guthrie's home. Now some things we do know from the proximity of this. Remember Ed Lavandera pointed out, again, everyone's been trying to figure out how this person who would have come in to abduct Nancy Guthrie, and that's the word choice that is being thrown around, obviously, by law enforcement in their investigation, how the person could have come in or out of the community.

They went as far as 50 miles away down to Rio Rico as well. We are now within and watching live images of two miles within the area, also the radius within which a glove was located as well. We don't know if that glove was actually connected to the crime scene that the Sheriff called Nancy Guthrie's home, but this new area may not have been a place that's been opened or closed or activity disturbed. Does the fact that you've got this caravan of law enforcement entities going in? What does that tell you about what sort of information they are acting on? The bigger the presence, the greater the credibility?

HARRIGAN: I think absolutely, yes. When you have that many forensic vehicles going in, they're going there to do a search. They're going there to search something, recover something.

COATES: It's highly coordinated too, right?

HARRIGAN: It's highly coordinated. If it was just simply talking to a person that could be a witness, it wouldn't be at that level. Again, when you have SWAT combined with forensics and combined with the investigators, it's likely that they're looking to somebody who had some involvement. They got some information alleging some involvement here of somebody. So that's what they're looking for. It could also be, like Ed was saying, it's also evidentiary recovery. There could have been information that somebody, could be potentially associated with this case had stayed in that house or was seen at that house. So now the house becomes the target, where they want to go in and they want to search the house and obtain evidence, even though the person may be long gone.

So now SWAT would still go, because you never know if the person was in the house, he could be in the house now. So you have to operate under that tactical level where you have to assume he's there, if he wasn't. COATES: It's been about an hour or so since we were aware that there was police activity in the area. Before our own Ed Lavandera was on the scene, we know that they had set up a kind of barricade for to limit access points to this underlying area just beyond this Sheriff's truck that we are seeing on camera right now. So, conceivably, we don't even know if this was in fact a surprise of SWAT going to a particular area. You would think that whoever is in this zone might be tipped off by a huge caravan of vehicles, but SWAT could have come within or before that we even were aware they were in the area.

O'NEILL: Yeah. They would want a surprise. They -- they're not going to -- they would probably have moved in, and then the police would have cordoned off the area and controlled the area, so that citizens aren't going to come through in their cars, so that media can't get down in there, so that they control the entire situation.

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I mean, any law enforcement action like this, especially if it's going to be dangerous, you have to control the area before you make the arrest. So I suspect, SWAT isn't going to want them to have a heads up they're coming. They like that element of surprise. Well, Mike, you were the SWAT guy. You don't want everyone to know that you're coming, right.

HARRIGAN: Exactly. I would say there would be minimal staging. Normally, were SWAT will do, they'll stage somewhere in the vicinity, maybe get together, organize their approach, and then they're going to roll right in there and likely get out of their vehicles and go right in. They don't want a delay. Unless there's a reason, unless they're backup for the investigators where the investigators are going to knock on the door. That's a different scenario, but you just don't know at this point, at what level this is or how serious this was. This could be another dead end. This could be a critical advancement in the case. We just don't know until we get some more information from them.

O'NEILL: But I think the point is with 12 cars going there --

COATES: More that.

O'NEILL: -- I mean, they're -- they clearly think this is critical. They do.

COATES: We will. We're awaiting more information, and we're going to get it to you as soon as we can right here. We're going to go to a quick break. When we come back, we're going to pick the brains of our law enforcement as well and get more from Ed Lavandera on the scene. Right beyond that truck, a huge police presence including SWATs and forensics. More in a moment.

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COATES: Let's go back to the scene in Tucson. Two miles, two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home. There is a heavy police presence on the scene, and it is connected to the Guthrie case. Ed Lavandera is there. What are you seeing?

LAVANDERA: Well, just a one quick development. We are hearing from us our CNN affiliate, KOLD, here in Tucson that they got a brief message from the Sheriff here in Tucson, who says that the authorities here are "Actively working a lead." And that that presence that Law Enforcement President, Laura, has just continued to intensify. We've seen a number of vehicles continuing to pour into this section of the neighborhood, and we just saw another stream of vehicles going in as well.

Several trucks that, we know, in recent days have been involved in evidence collection. We've seen forensic trucks that only all of that continues to materialize, and it's -- just the -- this level of activity is rather in intense. So, we have seen that, and hearing from the Sheriff that they are "Actively working a lead." And now that the million dollar question is, what exactly is that lead? What will it amount to? And where does this -- this go from here? But given the amount of activity, given the amount of vehicles and Law Enforcement Officers that have descended on this little part of the neighborhood here. This looks like a scene that's going to last several more hours to at least.

COATES: It's unbelievable. I mean, to think about what has happened in such a short amount of time. I want our audience to know who that they've been watching this live feed happening. It is deceptive. It appears as though there's some calm scene, just one truck behind you. But we're learning as well from KOLD, our CNN affiliate local in the area, they have drone footage. They're seeing well over two dozen law enforcement vehicles in the area.

And, Ed, as you were reporting earlier, you're talking about you've got forensics. You've got SWAT trucks as well that went by. And we're learning from our own former SWAT member, Michael Harrigan, who is a Retired FBI Special Agent, that that is something that's very significant about either securing the area, retrieving, or otherwise. We're a presence of them.

Ed, when I'm watching this and seeing everything unfold, can you describe some of the types of vehicles you saw go by? I saw forensics and SWATS. What else stuck out to you?

LAVANDERA: Yeah. What stood out to me also is the number of unmarked vehicles we -- they're going. We kind of at least traditionally what I've experienced in scenes like this. I suspect that means that there's a lot of federal investigators here on the scene as well. And, obviously, that has been a point of contention here just so, how well Federal Law Enforcement Officers have been working with the local Pima County Sheriff's Department. The Sheriff spent a great deal of the time today strongly pushing back on those accusations that his department had cut off access to evidence from the FBI early on in -- in for DNA evidence.

And he says that that's just simply not the case, that from the very beginning, FBI agents and Sheriff's deputies have been working side by side, working alongside each other in two different command posts and sharing all these leads and all this information. So here at the scene tonight, obviously, we're seeing a great deal of law enforcement activity, but just we're seeing Sheriff's deputies, presumably FBI investigators here on the scene as well. So that kind of is interesting as they've all descended on this part of Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood.

And we await word as we heard from a little while ago, the Sheriff officials saying that there will not be a press conference tonight, that there will be a written statement to explain or get some update on what is unfolding here tonight, and we hope to kind of get a better sense of that as soon as we can.

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COATES: Ed Lavandera, please stand by for us. This is a very fluid situation. We are working every single lead. We have confirmation from our own KOLD affiliate that there is a lead that's actively being pursued. Make no mistake. This scene on your actual television screens of a single truck is deceptive. Beyond this, you've got more than two dozen law enforcement vehicles, including a SWAT team, including forensics, who are all descending in a residential neighborhood. Show me the map. It's about two miles or so from Nancy Guthrie's home.

And I remind you all, it was within two miles they found a glove that is currently being processed for DNA evidence. We heard earlier from an interview with Ed Lavandera and the Pima County Sheriff that they have DNA. What is next? I wonder if there's a connection. I will not get ahead of our skis, but there is a huge police presence going on right down this residential road, two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home.

I want to bring in Former FBI Special Agent, Daniel Brunner and Retired NYPD Detective Dave Sarni. Gentlemen, there's a lot of police activity happening right now. I begin with you, Daniel. The idea that you've got this caravan of law enforcement vehicles, SWAT, we saw forensics. We've seen a lot of activity. What are you taking away?

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, as a case agent, I'm taking away that this is a significant development. Obviously, the SWAT team is there to clear the residents, make sure that everything is clear as far as explosives, weapons, and make sure that there are no other locations. Mike was saying, excellent job of what the presence is for SWAT.

Following that, obviously, a court ordered search warrant will be executed where they're going to go through methodically. This amount of coverage, this amount of vehicles, this is going to be methodically done, methodically done step-by-step to make sure every piece of evidence is collected correctly. Every piece of evidence is taken in properly with connection to the search warrant because, obviously, something gave them probable cause to go to this house, that there was something in the house that was related to this investigation.

So, obviously, this is a significant development and making sure that all hands are on deck for this operation is what Pima County wants in. I'm sure the FBI is there too. COATES: I want to bring you into this conversation, Dave Sarni, because we saw a caravan of vehicles going into the area. One big concern for people trying to understand what happened to Nancy Guthrie, and where she is, is different exit points and where the vehicles could be going from there. I don't know this area from the map alone to see if there is another way that cars are exiting. I'm not seeing an ambulance. I'm not seeing other vehicles quickly coming to the scene. What do you take away from the fact that you've got this huge law enforcement presence led by a SWAT team?

DAVID SARNI, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, I always say thank you for having me. This is people think it's chaotic, but it's organized chaos. The field team, the teams know what they were doing when they went to the house. They got the search warrant. Some vernacular. They do -- they hit the door whether it's a no knock or a knocking notice, whatever. We don't know from the distance we're at. A warrant is executed. People in there are extracted where they are part or parcel to the search warrant itself will be determined, obviously. The location got the search warrant, and then they'll say we have -- they had a search warrant based on probable cause. They're going to freeze that set. You're going to have your ECT, your forensics team, your crime scene technicians will be going through that.

Once, the tactical teams leave that location, detectives may take those individuals and speak to them back at the office. But now you're going to go in that location. And, again, people shouldn't be concerned about it because there's a reason why it's cordoned off. It's because the police are doing their job. We've been asking for them for the last two weeks to get something, get something. Obviously, they feel there's enough, and that's not just feel. They have enough for a search warrant to be executed. They have enough to bring those evidence collection teams into that location. So my concern is primarily we don't know the answers what we'll get.

I don't know what the press office will say. I don't know what the Sheriff will say. Hopefully, it's very minimal because you don't want to give anything away. But they're doing their job, and let them do their job, and we'll get the information as it comes out as the agencies believe we should get the information. You shouldn't look give everything up anyway.

COATES: And we are still watching as everything unfolding. We certainly saw the presence of vehicles going into the area. No indication of which vehicles remain, if SWAT is even on the scene any longer, or other vehicles. We do know that they have cordoned it off to your larger point, and we don't have a lot of daylight into it, which frankly is probably a good thing for the execution of law enforcement's tactics and what they need to do. Let me go back to you, Daniel, on this because we are within two miles of Nancy Guthrie's home.

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And we have previously had this conversation about how the Sheriff identified her home as a crime scene. People took issue with the reopening of that particular home. They thought it was premature and had questions about it. What does it tell you that this area has been cordoned off? Does this suggest that there was a, either lesson learned or that this is part of a strategy to make sure that they can work expeditiously in a way they've been trained?

BRUNNER: Well, think it's a combination of all of those. I think that they especially learned the lessons learned from the first time, the amount of coverage the news is getting, the amount of eyes that are upon this. And they know they can't mess this up. They can't. They have to make sure that this is done correctly, as is it always should be, always should be done correctly. But they're going to take the extra step, the extra caution of setting the barricades back even further. Let's not get anybody inside the zone, inside the area. Let's not create more of a chaos, more of a problem for the evidence response teams and the SWAT team members that are clearing the area.

So I believe that absolutely they learned their lessons, but they're in their conducting -- they're moving forward having, hopefully in coordination with the FBI, and then making everything is done correctly from the get go, from the beginning, and everything is done correctly because of the high attention. If these individuals that are take -- have been taken into custody turn out to be the subjects, then everything that is collected, everything that is put in will see its day in court. As you know, Laura, everything will be put, everything will be scrutinized by their defense lawyers. So everything needs to be done correctly.

COATES: Dave Sarni, we know this has not been done in a vacuum in terms of the call to action from law enforcement, the solicitation of information of any leads, the video footage that came out just earlier this week. What impact or how impactful is it that this may be following a lead? Is that hopeful to you?

SARNI: Well, it's impactful for the fact that we have seen throughout this the numerous leads that have come in. We've had a white van. We've had a ransom notes. You've had the video footage of the sub -- of a suspect at the door. They've seen other videos and trying to correlate with all of them. They're all different leads. Is this lead -- is this investigation now, the search warrants being executed, is it based on any of them? We will not know at this time.

I don't think you will know until they surmise everything we have A, B, C, D together. At this time, and Daniel said it best, is they're going to do it the safest way they can, the most meticulous way they can because anytime you're doing a search warrant I don't know the size of this, I don't know the size of the location. We know nothing about that, but it's going to go top to bottom. Tyvek suits going in that location, photographing the location, photographing everything about it, and any trace evidence, evidence they have to look for, whatever may it be, will be properly documented, invoiced because the chain -- you want to keep the chain of custody because what you're doing, not necessarily, is just executing warrant and getting the property.

You've got to make sure and Daniel is absolutely right about this because you want to make sure that you are ready for a trial ready case, and you want to have this prosecution, because probable cause is one thing to convict, and it's I'm not saying this is anything, but we speculate. But in criminal justice, you are innocent of proven guilty court of law, and the way in which we convict people is based on beyond a reasonable doubt. So this is what we have to do with any case. If we bring in information and evidence, we want to make sure we give a strong case to the prosecution so they can do their job also.

COATES: Daniel Brunner, David Sarney, thank you both so much. There's a lot of focus on the types of vehicles that have gone in, including a forensics vehicle that was seen going in as a part of the caravan. I've got an expert on forensics with me next.

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COATES: We are watching footage of police activity about two miles from the home of Nancy Guthrie where we've seen a caravan of cars going into a particular area. We know that law enforcement vehicles are there. Forensics on-site as well. We don't have daylight beyond this police barricade. We got Ed Lavandera on the scene. Ed, what are you seeing right now? What has been happening?

LAVANDERA: Well, that scene here still remains very much the same, despite to having seen just a steady stream of investigative and law enforcement vehicles heading into this section of the neighborhood near Nancy Guthrie's home. That continues. But, again, I don't know how far down the street they are, but it remains very, very quiet, at least being able to hear given the number of officers that are down there. It's been very quiet from our vantage point here. But I wanted to update a little bit on the statement that we are anticipating to get at some point tonight from Pima County Sheriff's officials here.

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I was told that, they are awaiting some help for -- not help, but they're waiting for the FBI to, I believe to chime in on or exactly lean into, like what -- how they're going to prepare this statement and share whatever it is that they're going to share here at this point. So, clearly, all of that work is continuing to go on down there. And part of the process here is, the communications efforts in both the Pima County Sheriff's Department and FBI Communication Specialists have to get together and they formulate these statements, and they then pass them out to the media here that are covering the events. So that is one of the things that we're waiting for, and presumably, both of those teams are communicating and drafting whatever it is that they're going to share with us here shortly.

COATES: Ed Lavandera, thank you. And, again, it makes sense, part of the coordination from your own interview earlier today with the Pima County Police Chief who talked about there being coordination between the FBI and also local officials. Stand by for us. Give us what you have as soon as you have it. I want to bring in Forensics Expert and Former Police Detective, Mike McCutcheon to the conversation. Mike, we keep meeting like this, and today, a lot of developments. A forensic vehicle entered the area moments ago. What does that tell you about the scene?

MIKE MCCUTCHEON, FORMER POLICE DETECTIVE: So with all these vehicles going in here, you're going to see a couple of things. They are going to first set up a command center. Once the SWAT team goes in and they make the scene safe, that's the first thing that has to happen at any crime scene where you're going to process. Once the scene is safe, they're going to set up the command center, and they are going to process that crime scene to locate anybody who is in that house. So they're going to be looking at, they're going to do a 3D scan of each room of that house, so they can go back and actually manipulate that those photographs to see everything.

Once they have their evidence that they want to collect and after it's photographed, they are going to be looking for DNA. They're going to look for digital evidence, cameras, laptops, thumb drives, anything that can hold digital data. Look for any type of DNA that could place other people in the house. This has been about two weeks. We want to know, is this one person, five people? So they're going to look for DNA or any identification of other people in the house. And that could be as something as different types of food that you see that two people were eating there or three people were staying there.

So they're going to want to know how many people were there. They're going to be looking for clothing, certainly for firearms. They're going to look for blood -- any blood evidence, those fingerprints to. Again, try to place anybody in that house. And then the second or other thing is all those people may not be in the house. They're going to be securing that crime scene, which we see that they're doing here by keeping people out of that that area for sure.

COATES: They're going to cross reference a lot of what you said to things they may have already taken from the home of Nancy Guthrie, which the county Sheriff said was a crime scene. We know that there are different pieces of evidence. I know a glove, they said, was going to be looked for -- for DNA in different areas. So what they've taken from Nancy Guthrie's home? What they may be looking at wherever they are right now? Describe that cross referencing process that then takes place to try to figure out whether there is connective tissue.

MCCUTCHEON: So DNA evidence or any evidence, whether it's footwear, DNA, fingerprints, they're only as good as what you can compare it to. So if we have this glove and there's DNA evidence, able to be identified on that glove. If we don't have anything, any person's DNA to compare it to, we don't have a good piece of evidence. So if there's DNA evidence in the house, whether or not a person is there and we can collect their DNA to compare it to the glove, but if there's no one there, we can collect DNA samples from that house and see if a person who was in that house has the same DNA as that was on the glove.

So maybe the homeowner's DNA, we take that. It doesn't connect to the glove, but there's a toothbrush there or a -- some food or a glass, and the DNA from that matches the DNA that was on the glove, now you know that that person whose glove was left at the crime scene or near the crime scene was also in that house. So whether or not as an actual person or we're just saying, we know that these two items are connected. Whether we have a person or not.

COATES: One data point that everyone's been focusing on is the only real crumb that we were able to see, and that, of course, is the video footage that was recovered from residual data that was looked at and viewed from that doorbell camera.

[00:45:00]

They identified that person as a suspect. They approximated that person's height about 5'9" or 5'10". They said average body build. They said that it was a man as well. Now let's and I don't know this to be the case, but let's say that they are looking at this particular place where they have the law enforcement there. They're going to try to compare whoever might be inside that home to that description as well, looking at things like shoe size, maybe from photographs, maybe trying to estimate the size of that person's body to see if somebody matching that description would be in that home as well.

MCCUTCHEON: Sure. And why the SWAT team goes in first is because there may be people in the house that they're going to identify. And when you have a search warrant, you have to be able to search the people in the house, then you have to add that in the search warrant. Just because a person is in the house doesn't mean they're doing anything criminal. So you have to have a part of your search warrant has to say that you can search the people that are in the house as well.

And so they -- the people that are in there, they're certainly going to compare. But then again, just as I mentioned earlier, anybody that's been in there, anything that can tie it back to the evidence that you have, whether it be clothing that would fit that description or fit a person of that size, any of that stuff is going to be compared to the small pieces of evidence that they recovered at the -- at Nancy's home.

COATES: So much happening right now. Really, a wealth of information that we're waiting to glean. There is a statement that is forthcoming, a written one from the Sheriff's Office. We're told from our own Ed Lavandera that it will at least be reviewed and approved, or lack of a better word, with the FBI who have been working together. Remember, the President of the United States said all hands on deck to try to find Nancy Guthrie. We will be right back, taking a quick break. We're going to see what is next as we wait to understand why this police activity is underway just two miles from Nancy Guthrie's home on now the 14th day of her disappearance.

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COATES: We've got live footage right now. A lot of police activity, a caravan of law enforcement vehicles two miles from the home of Nancy Guthrie, where we're told from our affiliate KOLD. There's drone footage of at least two dozen law enforcement vehicles, and we're awaiting a written statement from the Pima County Sheriff's Office in connection with possibly the FBI that is forthcoming later this evening. There will not be a press conference. Back with me, Michael Harrigan and Eric O'Neil, my law enforcement experts in this space.

Look. We have been watching this picture, deceiving. There is a lot of police activity happening down there. There's forensics truck at one point. There was a SWAT truck that was seen not only going, but then leaving as well. You were a member of SWAT. Talk to me about the presence of all these law enforcement vehicles that are there following what the Sheriff says is a lead.

O'NEILL: Right. I'd say this is all hands on deck. I mean, it's a serious situation where they controlled, as we've all been saying, they controlled the situation with a SWAT team. Forensics are there now. I've guarantee you forensics are going to be there for hours. I suspect it's a house, and we know that, they had a tip that brought them there. And we didn't just see SWAT cars and forensics cars, there were personal cars, right, coming in. So this is one of those situations where it's all hands on deck. Everybody's there. And I think this feels like the next biggest break in the case since the FBI was able to produce that video.

COATES: And there's been thousands and thousands of tips since then. The coincidence is very apparent.

HARRIGAN: Absolutely. I mean, the crush of information that's coming in up to this point has been overwhelming for the investigators. So for them to actually go out now and deploy these kind of assets appears to be, exactly, what Ed said was, it's an incredible amount of, information here, and it's an actionable lead. I think they have something here that that really, rises to the level of them doing this deployment, especially after dark. So I expect something significant to come out of this. Either it's going to be some suspect information or evidence, but there'll be, I think, a pretty good announcement by the Sheriff's department at some point here. They'll have to make a good statement on this.

COATES: What does it tell you that we're within two miles is? And we're four -- almost now 14 days into disappearance. Does it surprise you the proximity of the falling of this lead in that area?

O'NEILL: Not at all, because we're getting tips from neighbors. And so this had to be a good tip from somebody who saw something, and that's usually the way these cases get broke these days. Somebody saw something, called it in. It looked like a great actionable lead. They followed up on that tip and then saw something or learned something that created this almost crisis situation of vehicles and manpower on this one location.

COATES: There is so much information that's been coming in. We are waiting for a statement -- a written statement from the Pima County Sheriff's Office who has been, as he told our own Ed Lavandera today, working in connection with the FBI, joined at the hip, I think was the phrase he used. [00:55:00]

The tips have been coming in. A huge police activity as we speak. Drones show two dozen or more law enforcement vehicles in a residential neighborhood two miles from Nancy Guthrie. If you know any information, there is the tip line. We are going to stay on this story. I want to thank you all for watching because you know what? Elex Michaelson picks up our breaking news coverage in just a moment.

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