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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

New Evidence Emerges Overnight in Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 14, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: This is CNN breaking news. Welcome to an extra hour of The Story Is. I'm Elex Michaelson. We are following breaking news out of Tucson, Arizona, where there is a flurry of police activity. The sheriff's department has just said is a joint investigation at the request of the FBI. They say no more information will be released tonight.

The sheriff said earlier they are actively working a lead near Nancy Guthrie's home. The focus of intense police activity appears to be a home about two miles from Guthrie's home. More than a dozen law enforcement vehicles have been seen at that location.

CNN's Ed Lavendera is there live right now. Ed, what's happening now?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're starting to see a number of the law enforcement vehicles that drove into this neighborhood within the last few hours starting to leave the scene. We saw one of the forensic trucks just leave. But the real headline of this moment, as we've been talking about and have been told for the last several hours that there would be a statement from investigators here as to what was unfolding in this part of Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood.

We are now told that a statement will not be coming tonight. There is no press conference scheduled. My guess is that this presumes that whatever situation is unfolding now remains very fluid and will continue to be very fluid. Let me give you a little bit of the lay of the land about where -- where we are here.

As you mentioned, Elex, we were about two miles. We were within the basic neighborhood of where Nancy Guthrie lived. You can get to this area without getting onto any of the major roadways that -- that -- that surround the neighborhood. And then we're kind of sitting on a bluff here in the foothills of northern Tucson. You can see the city lights in the distance. There have been a steady stream of law enforcement vehicles that have come into this neighborhood tonight. And as the sheriff said, they were following a lead here. But what that lead is, the clarity on all of that, we still just do

not know. And it doesn't sound like we're going to get it anytime soon here as investigators continue to work the scene. Let me also update you on what some of my colleagues. We have a producer who is another couple of miles away down the road from this neighborhood at a restaurant, where we have witnessed investigators going through a car there as well.

Again, I must point out, we do not know if it is connected to what we're seeing here in this neighborhood, but given the amount of law enforcement activity we're seeing here and that happening so close by, just, you know. So we're presuming that it could very well be connected. But we are working to get more information on that. That's the best we can tell you here at this point.

But this comes a day -- on a day where the sheriff here in Pima County told us that they have identified DNA evidence on the -- on the property, that it is not connected to a Guthrie family or landscapers or caretakers.

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They do not know who the -- who that DNA belongs to, but it is a key piece of evidence, obviously. And obviously the video images of the suspect at the front door of Nancy Guthrie's home is -- is a vital, what the sheriff says, probably the biggest piece of evidence they've gotten so far. And that has generated tens of thousands of leads for investigators. And again, we do not know if one of those leads that has come in in recent days is what we're seeing unfold here tonight. Elex.

MICHAELSON: And we have not seen the sheriff do a press conference tonight. We have not seen the sheriff do a press conference in some time. But he did sit down with you today for a one on one interview. What were some of the other big headlines out of that? What -- What stood out to you about that conversation?

LAVANDERA: Well, one of the things that kind of prompted the sheriff. He did a round of interviews with various news media organizations today, but it was really prompted by reports that -- that essentially accused the sheriff and the department of withholding key evidence from FBI investigators, key DNA evidence. The sheriff was pushing back strongly on that today, saying that FBI investigators and sheriff's deputies and investigators have been working side by side, sitting at the same table in the same command post out here at the scene.

Like we've seen here tonight, we've seen sheriff's deputies and FBI investigators descend on this part of the neighborhood. So that was really what prompted that. But that (ph) gave us a chance to talk to the sheriff about other parts of the investigation. And that's how we got the -- the information about the -- the DNA evidence which hadn't been confirmed until today, and that has developed since he last spoke publicly last week. And also got some clarity on, you know, one of the things we asked about was this huge piece of evidence, this video from the front door, has been so monumental in this investigation. But we do know that there were other cameras like that on the

property. So, I asked the sheriff if -- if the company and the efforts that were -- that were done to resurrect the video from that front door camera was being done to find the -- resurrect video on the -- on those other cameras. He said that -- that that is being done. They do not know if they'll be able to do it, but that work is continuing as well.

And what is so huge about that is obviously it would provide different angles, different perspective as to what happened in those early morning, Sunday morning hours of February 1, when Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will from her home. And that is something that is now something that happened two weeks ago. We're now entering -- about to enter the third week of this investigation in the search for 84 year old Nancy Guthrie.

MICHAELSON: It really is remarkable. Ed, and -- and I just, you know, knowing the sheriff, knowing some of the politics here, as you mentioned the breaking news, the sheriff's department says they're going to give us information forthcoming. Two hours go by, they don't say anything. Then they put out a statement saying that we're not saying anything at the request of the FBI essentially. What do you make of that? Of what's going on there?

LAVANDERA: Yeah, no, I can understand why that's probably frustrating for people. Having -- Given the lack of, you know, clear information we're getting and clear picture of what's unfolding. I think at this moment it's probably safest to presume that whatever is happening here at this scene and whatever they're discovering or whatever prompted them to come here, and obviously whatever might be happening at that scene nearby, that it's just -- remains a fluid situation.

Perhaps, you know, people are being questioned, perhaps the homes are being searched. Whatever it is, you know, it hasn't been processed. Some of that work takes time. That's why it's key that we notice like the forensic vehicles were here this evening and as well as another, you know, huge long line of investigative vehicles and trucks that we've seen as part of evidence collection on other days that we've been here in Tucson since this investigation and search has continued.

So, you know, it could just be a situation where it's going to take some time to get -- to get clarity on what is unfolding here. But I think it's safe to say that many of these investigators will be here throughout the night.

MICHAELSON: Yes, they will, as will we. Ed Lavandera, who has been tireless in excellent reporting on this. Thank you so much for being up with us tonight.

Joined now here on set by Gil Carrillo, retired lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and once again retired FBI supervisory special agent and CNN law enforcement contributor, Steve Moore. Gentlemen, thank you. Gil, you're just joining the conversation. So, I'm curious about your thoughts of what's happening tonight. How do you read it? GIL CARRILLO, RETIRED LIEUTENANT, LA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: I don't read it at all. I let -- Let it take its course. They're working in collaboration with each other. They know best what's going on. The need for the public, I said from the very beginning, the need for the public to know everything that's going on is detrimental to the case. They don't have to know. The only people that have to know are the people that are working it, and

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The only people that have to know are the people that are working it, and they've, I believe they've done a good job up to this point.

MICHAELSON: Based off of what?

CARRILLO: Based on the fact that they keep the news at arm's distance, not giving them their -- The news is following their actions and it makes it really tough on an investigation and the investigators if you have to chase what the news is saying. And as the fact that they said they're going to release a statement and then they're not going to release a statement, it has no bearing.

They've just decided maybe something after they said we're going to make a statement, then the next thing that happens is that he said, ah, we better not release it because. Heads (ph) get together, and that decision, I'm sure, was made jointly with each other. Nobody's really taken we're going to do as I say. You know, it's -- They're working together.

MICHAELSON: That statement certainly sounded like the FBI was strong arming in (ph) them. That's how -- That's how -- Is that how you read that, Stephen?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: I -- I -- In any relationship, there's going to be some disagreements. And I think what they're dealing with here, and what Gil was saying is that there's a kind of a both sides get to veto anything. It's -- It's -- So, yeah, there's -- there's going to be some disagreements along the way, especially when you get into things that are happening pretty quickly. And one agency will -- will have a feeling that one thing is more important than the other agency.

And the other thing here, and I don't want to make too much of this, but the -- the sheriff's department, sheriff's office is very connected to the community. The sheriff is elected, the people patrol, and they are really, they answer to the community more than the FBI who might be transferred in, transferred out, and really respond to Washington rather than Tucson. So, the concerns of the sheriff's department may differ from the strategic concerns of the FBI

MICHAELSON: Right. And you got political considerations too. If you're an elected sheriff, --

MOORE: Absolutely.

MICHAELSON: -- you got to communicate with the public. MOORE: Right.

MICHAELSON: And so there's a communication strategy. And the FBI is not concerned about that. And -- And so then that creates some of the tension. And it's interesting here on our set right now, our panel is one person from the FBI and one person from a sheriff's background. So both of you kind of have seen this in -- in different perspectives.

CARRILLO: (inaudible)

MOORE: It actually happens.

CARRILLO: It's -- It's really (inaudible).

MICHAELSON: I mean -- And you've been in those situations, too. I mean, how does that work? The sort of the joint relationship?

CARRILLO: I've never had a problem with working joint relationships. You know, is what I've referred to jestingly, the swine level. The working investigators, those that are in -- in the trenches, they get along just fine. The uncertainties come from on top for political reasons, for whatever reasons they want to give up. That's where it happens. At the swine (ph) level, we just focus on work.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. I mean, but you understand also the frustration for people in the public who are clearly interested in this. There is so much misinformation and disinformation that is being put out online. You see that much of a law enforcement presence goes into something and there are questions and rumors and -- and wrong information out there. So having some sort of information flow is helpful.

CARRILLO: Well, it is if you want to satisfy the curiosity of the cat. Is there a real need for them to know? At this point, like I said, the guy in the trenches could care less. Their focus is on the bottom line. Let's get Nancy Guthrie back, and then we can work on getting the suspect.

MICHAELSON: Right.

CARRILLO: You know, so that's -- Whatever they're doing or not doing is with a goal to get her.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. And the head of the FBI does not have to get reelected. The head of the sheriff's department does have to get reelected. And sometimes that's a different --

CARRILLO: Sure.

MICHAELSON: -- perspective. Let's bring into the conversation right now John (ph) Curtis (ph), who also has background in the FBI. John (ph), thanks again for joining us. How do you see sort of what is going on right now? The limited information that is being given to the public and what that might be telling us? Can you hear us? Apparently there's such limited information, that it's not getting to him. So we appreciate it. Hopefully we can get that technical situation going better. We got -- He's hearing about as much information as the sheriff's department have given us tonight, which is pretty much nothing. So we continue to try to figure out kind of what's going on.

But -- But -- Do you -- You talk about the appetite for the information here, and there's a lot of it, but then there is -- There does, I'm sure, come to be a tipping point in that, right?

MOORE: Well, and I think what's happening is we're going into a different world.

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MOORE: You know, I don't want to speak for Gil, but the FBI I came into, you didn't need to talk to anybody, and you -- you avoided at all costs talking to the press. I came in before the Internet was a big thing. You know, they did have telephones, but they -- now there's an actual involvement, and -- and you can actually have problems working with a community if they feel that they are being locked out.

And so we are probably into a different -- different era where, in order to -- where we're going to have to deal with huge interest by the public and the press that you didn't have before, where people, I just checked my -- checked my phone a minute ago. There are threads and threads and threads. And like you say, some of the stuff that people are -- are saying and hypothesizing are just insane.

MICHAELSON: Insane.

MOORE: And -- And so it may be --

MICHAELSON: Conspiracy theories, stuff that doesn't make sense, bad video AI deep fakes, all this. And -- And likely maybe some of these ransom notes were also insane. And -- And based off of that, too. Right?

MOORE: Yeah. You know, I liken it to this. I used to, after 9/11, I worked overseas quite a bit on Al-Qaeda. And I would be gone for two weeks, and I would come home, and my wife said, what have you been doing for the last two weeks? And you can't tell her, you cannot tell your spouse what you've been doing specifically. But there has to be a way to say, I was near this area and I was looking for people, or I was -- There has to be a way in that situation to at least satisfy a minimal curiosity and a minimal need to know. And maybe we're getting to that point with the public generally.

MICHAELSON: Let's bring back in Senator Scott Curtis. Can you hear us now?

SCOTT CURTIS, FORMER FBI AGENT: Yeah, I can hear you.

MICHAELSON: Okay, thank you very much. We're sorry about the technical problems. It's late, and we're all doing the best that we can. So let's talk about what's going on right now. You have experience with the FBI. In terms of some of the clues that we know that the FBI have been given in the last few days. There's DNA in Nancy Guthrie's house that does not belong to Nancy Guthrie, and not from her kids, not from people that she knew well. There's a backpack that we know is sort of the make and model of that. How is that sort of helping the FBI narrow the search? What do you

think is kind of going on behind the scenes now?

CURTIS: Well, like you said, every little bit of evidence here that can help narrow the scope will benefit law enforcement here. The big question with tonight is how does this residence fit into the bigger picture here with this investigation? Is this a location that relates to the individual with the backpack as seen on the video footage from Nancy Guthrie's house? Or is this location a tip related to somebody else who potentially is involved in this crime? Or does this relate to the individual who's sending demands to TMZ saying that they have information about the individual wearing the backpack? We just don't know at this point.

MICHAELSON: What are sort of, if you were working this case, what would be the thing that you would be most focused on right now?

CURTIS: Identifying the individual with the backpack from the video footage. That's the strongest evidence we have right now connecting somebody, a subject to Nancy Guthrie, to the residents there. Incentivizing the public, people who are related to that individual, who are friends with that individual, incentivizing them to call in a tip and to give up that individual. It was nice that they raised the -- the reward to $100,000 there. I think it should be even more because we want to flush out anybody that is close to that individual who is wearing that backpack to call in to law enforcement immediately.

MICHAELSON: We're looking at some new pictures, Scott, maybe you can help us analyze this. This is just happening right now. The first time we've gotten a look at this. This is near this residence that they're looking at. Looks like they were looking at this particular car, which looks like a Range Rover that's parked there. But we have seen activity near this residence and a lot of different folks potentially being questioned tonight.

And we're watching this, and we see now, at 12:19 a.m, FBI agents standing by, some taking pictures.

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And it seems like they're in several different locations tonight.

CURTIS: Yeah, well, the next major breakthrough in this case that I predicted was going to be identifying the vehicle that was used by this perpetrator or perpetrators of this abduction of Nancy Guthrie. So maybe them pulling over these vehicles maybe that's matching a description that some somebody called in, or maybe matching some video footage maybe they got from a local commercial establishment of a make and model of a vehicle that matches these vehicles now that they're pulling over.

MICHAELSON: We got to sneak in a quick commercial break. Scott Curtis, thank you for staying up with us real late on the East Coast. We are continuing to follow live pictures in multiple different locations. The FBI out and working right now past midnight in Tucson, Arizona. Our coverage continues right after this.

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MICHAELSON: Welcome back to an expanded edition of The Story Is. I'm Elex Michaelson. We're following breaking news out of Tucson, Arizona, where there's been a flurry of police activity. The sheriff's department says at the request of FBI that they are not putting out more information tonight. The sheriff said earlier they are actively working a lead near Nancy Guthrie's home. The focus of intense police activity appears to be a home about two miles from Guthrie's home.

We've seen lots of law enforcement vehicles sent to that location. Both local law enforcement and FBI as well. For more, I want to bring in law enforcement and litigation expert Sunny Slaughter. Sunny, welcome back. We were just looking at a nearby scene where we saw police there. We saw focus on some vehicles there. But it looked like police actually right before we went to you left that scene. So it seemed like maybe nothing too serious there. But everything that's happening anywhere near all of this is getting increased attention with this many cameras focused on Tucson.

SUNNY SLAUGHTER, LAW ENFORCEMENT & LITIGATION EXPERT: Yes, exactly. And you know, they may not have found what they were looking for, but let me tell you, they are looking for a vehicle. Nancy Guthrie did not walk away from that scene. She was removed, likely in a vehicle. And one of the things that they can be doing is, when you look at outside of her home, you see the gravel and the dirt.

So, there are tire tracks there that they could potentially match up with a vehicle. And remember, there was also blood found by the door, but it doesn't mean that blood was not somewhere within that gravel. So, that could be traced -- traced back to tire marks, tire tracks, and even the bottom of the shoes of the individual. I was thinking about that earlier. So this -- this is going to keep happening. They're going to look for things, identify what they need to identify.

And if it doesn't pan out in the way, they're going to keep moving. This is a fluid investigation. And because everyone's watching, this is what happens in investigations. It doesn't mean that just because someone was detained that they are the person. They're going to keep pulling at the threads until they find out where Nancy Guthrie is, who has her, what happened. And this is just -- we're watching it play out in real time.

MICHAELSON: If you were working this case, what would be your main focus right now?

SLAUGHTER: My main focus would be finding out who has her, where they have her, not the why of it, but where could she potentially be. And I would be leading this in the exact same way of looking at everything. There were 14 or 15,000, I think clues or phone calls that came in. Law enforcement has to investigate all of those.

Unfortunately, it's a daunting task. But I would be focused on where she is and trying to locate her. Like, who is that? We have to find out who that individual is in the video. That is the key person. That is who I would be looking for. Who is that person? And unpacking that backpack, where they got it from, the clothes, the shoes. And as we're focused on that individual, everyone, each of my team, would be focused on where those pants could be, where they -- where that jacket could be, where the backpack is, where the gloves are, and who that person is. Trying to get facial recognition going back and looking at video from five weeks ago, five months ago.

Could she have been stalked and not known it? There is (ph) just a lot. But it's that person in that video that is going to provide and produce the most information for law enforcement. And it's not one person. I believe it's multiple people. But we do need that one individual right there in that video.

MICHAELSON: Sunny Slaughter, thank you so much for sharing your perspective. Really appreciate it, joining us at 2:30 in the morning in Washington. We appreciate you staying up with us.

SLAUGHTER: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Still to come, CNN speaks to Nancy Guthrie's neighbor. Why she said it would be hard to notice a kidnapping or disappearance in that area. That's next.

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MICHAELSON: We continue to follow breaking news in Tucson where there's police activity near the home of Nancy Guthrie. It is still continuing after midnight in Tucson. We do not expect to hear more information from the sheriff's department tonight after the FBI apparently told them not to. But we did see in the last 20 minutes or so, a lot of focus in a parking lot, a Culver's parking lot, which is just nearby, this new police activity.

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We saw FBI there focused on a car processing that scene. This is video from just a short time ago. We have seen law enforcement actually leave that scene. But this is interesting that this is happening. And this is the first time we've seen this image, which was taped a little earlier. Let's bring back into the conversation right now Steve Moore and Gil Carillo, who are here to talk about what we are seeing. Guys, what did you -- What -- What -- What do you make of that? What's going on there?

MOORE: Well, it's -- it's a little ominous that they had held a sheet up before they opened a -- opened the hatch of the vehicle. I -- I don't think they found anything. But the fact that they thought that they possibly might find something is -- is concerning.

MICHAELSON: And you know, technically, we don't know that this was related to the Guthrie investigation, but the fact that the FBI there certainly seems like quite a clue. MOORE: Yeah. To me -- To me that -- that kind of cements that it's -- it's somewhat -- some -- at least somewhat involved.

MICHAELSON: We've been talking, Gil, about the importance of a vehicle. You know, as we -- as one of our earlier guests mentioned, it's not like Nancy Guthrie just walked out of there. There is some sort of getaway car.

CARRILLO: Yes, yes. All that's going on there tonight in the vehicle and the excitement and them holding, covering something up, it doesn't faze me at all. You know, they're working. They know what they're doing. That cover up right there, I've said all along the public wants to know, but so do the suspects want to know what's going on. And so maybe they're putting that up just so they don't see what they're processing or what they're looking for or what they take or don't take out of there.

But once again, I just sit back, relax, and watch them do their job, because I know they're working as hard as they can, putting big effort into it, and I've said from -- they're going to get it solved. You have the finest minds in the world right there on that location with all the -- with everybody around the world.

MICHAELSON: I mean, they -- they -- they couldn't have more resources. Right?

CARRILLO: No. No, it's --

MICHAELSON: I mean, it's every resource at the disposal in the entire country to do this.

CARRILLO: It's -- It's around the world news grabbing. I was on the -- earlier today speaking with Australian news. They're asking questions about it. It's all over the world. And I just think that that's what they're doing.

MICHAELSON: Yet it's still not solved.

CARRILLO: No.

MICHAELSON: You know, despite the fact that all of that attention has been there for weeks.

CARRILLO: Cases don't get solved in a day, cases don't get solved in an hour like they do on -- They get solved when they get solved, you know, when they get enough -- You have to --

MICHAELSON: But there are cold cases sometimes, right?

CARRILLO: There -- There are cold cases. This one is far from being cold.

MICHAELSON: Yeah.

CARRILLO: Far from being cold. But you work them as hard as you can. Then if there's nothing more to work, then the case starts getting cold. Right now they're still putting every effort they can and it's far from being cold. It's just not -- And they're taking the time because once again, once you do make that, if there is an arrest, once you do, the time, the wheels of justice really start pushing you. You want to get all your ducks in order before you do anything big and before you release anything. You want to have everything together ready to -- ready to move. So once you get your grip on somebody, you don't have to let them go.

MOORE: You know, there's -- there's a, I tried to explain a while back to somebody about what an investigation is like. And -- And I said it is not like getting clay and building up a sculpture. It's like taking a block of stone and chipping away everything that doesn't belong. It's a process of reduction, not building up. So what you have to do is, is eliminate people as you go along. And each -- each time you eliminate somebody, there has to be a reason for it.

And so because of the mechanism of investigating, because it's reductive, you -- you will have times where you say this looks pretty good until it doesn't and you have to stop. I don't know that I've ever had a significant case where there wasn't, you know, a detour where I thought I was going here and the case took me there. And I think that's the -- that's the hard part of explaining to the public that it's not going to be linear. You know, you're not going to go directly there. You may have some detours that you weren't really hoping for.

MICHAELSON: Meaning like they put out the description and the guy's 5'9" or 5'10". So all of a sudden you don't have to worry about people that are 6'4".

MOORE: Yeah.

MICHAELSON: Right.

CARRILLO: Exactly.

MICHAELSON: So now that's off the list. So now you can just focus on people with that height, which, of course, is average height, and pretty much the most --

CARRILLO: Sure, sure.

MICHAELSON: -- amount of people possible in that height.

MOORE: We eliminated about 10 people in the state of Arizona, right?

MICHAELSON: Yeah. Yeah. In terms of where do you see this going this weekend?

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What do you -- What do you think sort of the next steps in this investigation?

CARRILLO: Well, I don't think there's -- they're going to stop. They're going to work -- Somebody's Valentine -- The family -- Valentine's weekend is gone.

MICHAELSON: Right.

CARRILLO: They're going to continue working it, and I don't really expect until they get some kind of results from the lab. You got to give them a couple of days for those. I really don't expect much to come out of it until Monday, unless they come up with they've locate the victim or now they've made an arrest. Not a detention, but an arrest. There wouldn't be much more news to come out over the weekend at all. I don't expect them to come up with anything.

MICHAELSON: I mean, the big story of this day we talked about with Steve earlier tonight is the DNA in the house and the backpack. You know, potential make and model.

CARRILLO: Sure.

MICHAELSON: What do you do with those if you're the detective?

CARRILLO: The DNA goes to the lab. Let -- Let -- Let the scientists figure it out who it is. Then you got to work on who that goes and get familiar DNA if the guy's never been in custody. The backpack, then you go back to the manufacturer, you find out who sold them, where they were sold at, then you go back and look at records, which still takes time because you may have to do subpoenas, search warrants, and then they can eventually, if it was sold, I understand there's a Walmart within a couple of miles of this place.

If -- Fortunately, you know, you take skill. You take luck over skill any day. You'll find out that it was purchased there. They can find that make and model by computer. It was sold there. And they have a film of somebody buying it, video of somebody buying it, making the purchase.

MOORE: And even if you don't have video, even if for some reason, say, they -- it was purchased two weeks ago and the film's been overwritten. These days, people have loyalty numbers that they punch in. They use debit cards, they use credit cards. It -- It -- Everything -- Everything can lead somewhere.

MICHAELSON: Steve, Gil, thank you. We're going to take a quick break. More coverage right after this.

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[02:45:00]

MICHAELSON: Let's get you up to speed with the latest on Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. We're keeping an eye on law enforcement activity about two miles from her home in Tucson, Arizona, and the sheriff's department says they are not releasing any new details tonight. CNN crews on the ground some marked sheriff's vehicles and a federal evidence truck while a SWAT car was at the scene earlier is now gone.

At different location nearby, investigators were looking at a car in a parking lot, collecting evidence from inside and outside that vehicle. We're not sure how this car may or may not be connected to the Guthrie case, but officials are looking for the vehicle they believe Nancy Guthrie was taken in. As investigators continue combing through clues near where Nancy Guthrie was abducted, her neighbor says it would be difficult to notice a disappearance in the area due to how vast it is. Here's what she had to say when speaking with CNN. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARLA HANDLER, NANCY GUTHRIE'S NEIGHBOR: They are just on every street asking questions, talking to all our neighbors, trying to inquire, you know, where Nancy is, trying to gather evidence. We really feel like, you know, the investigators, the FBI, all of the security personnel on the -- on the -- in the neighborhood is really doing an outstanding job and really just turning over every rock to find something.

We have a lot of elderly people that live in this neighborhood, and it's very difficult. The homes are not right next to each other. They're really spread out in the Catalina Foothills, not like other cities. So very difficult to see. If there's a disappearance, a kidnapping in one home, the next house would not even know about it. That's how we're so separate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem joining us. Juliet, your reading of what's happening right now.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah, you know, it's obviously hard to tell. I'll agree with everything that Steve said in terms of the timing and -- and the sort of preparation for it, means that there was some hint, some clues to get them to this home. We're seeing this in real time. The only question I have is -- -- is, is anyone in custody? That is the most important thing right now. It's one two, three people.

Who are they? And why did law enforcement go into this -- into this home or -- or building? I should say that under any warrant, law enforcement is allowed to detain someone. So, the fact that they got the warrant and the fact someone -- people are detained doesn't - doesn't make -- doesn't necessarily prove, you know, that anything bad has happened. But it does mean that there was enough -- enough evidence to get law enforcement into that area, lots of law enforcement, as we're seeing, and that the people there, if detained. That's the key question we have right now.

We should be hearing relatively soon, and we'll hear from media if they see that people have been detained. If -- If it's -- If it's -- If there's nothing subsequent to this raid, we may be seeing something similar. As we saw a couple nights ago, someone is taken as a person of interest. Maybe there's a clue that law enforcement is following.

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But it ends up being, you know, the inability, just because of the number of clues coming in, to separate, you know, the -- the sort of -- the -- the good noise from the bad noise. That's where we are right now is just ability to separate a lot of that information.

MICHAELSON: Yeah. And you mentioned the concept of people being detained. We know that there are reports on social media that there may have been some people detained. CNN has not been able to independently confirm that so far. The sheriff's department has not put out a written statement so far, even though they advertised that about an hour and a half ago or so.

Not sure what the holdup is there. But some of that may be that this complicated arrangement right now, Juliette, that's happening between the sheriff's department and the FBI, which so far seems to have not been super easy day in and day out.

KAYYEM: Right. That's exactly right. And I will say that no confirmation here. The only question one should have right now is, is there -- are there people actually detained? Because then that would suggest that whatever was in the warrant would be something about the people who may know something about the case. And that, I will tell you, that's the only thing -- That's the only question I have right now is -- is -- is did this result in any detentions that are real?

The second question, of course, is then what does that mean for finding Nancy Guthrie? That's all that matters tonight. The fighting that you're seeing in law enforcement, or the reporting that we're doing about some of those tensions, some of it is natural. I will tell you, almost every case, you're going to see those natural tensions. The law, the two things put a lot of pressure here on this case. One was just it's -- it's a long time now. It really is.

I mean, I think about that every day for Savannah Guthrie and the family, like to sustaining (ph) this kind of horror for that long. And -- And so the tensions tend to -- tend to play out over (ph) the (ph) time. The second is, of course, the interest, the media interest. I think the human interest in this, I'll tell you, I've done a lot of stories for CNN, and I don't think it's voyeurism. I don't think it's bad. I -- I -- I think I am amazed at how many people who aren't really, don't really follow things like this will ask me about it.

What do I think? I think there's -- I think, you know, there's just something so horrible for the family. People feel connected to Savannah -- Savannah Guthrie. But also your own fears about something like this happening in the middle of the night. And so I think that that -- the -- the focus of this also adds to a lot of tension. I wanted to say something. If you say you're going to have information, I don't know why you would ever say you're going to have information until you know what you're -- you're willing to say. It's not like it takes hours to build up the media.

And so I never like delays in any of these cases between the promise of information and when the information comes because that either means -- it means that there is a story that they're -- that they're trying to figure out how to tell. And I worry about that. If there was nothing there, we would have heard. So, that's what we're waiting for right now.

MICHAELSON: Essentially saying, why say we're going to tell you something? Either tell us something or don't say anything. Right?

KAYYEM: It's -- It's very -- yes --

MICHAELSON: You're creating -- creating expectations that are unnecessary.

KAYYEM: Yeah, it's a habit (ph). Yeah, yeah. It's a habit of, I think old media or, you know, of we're going to have a press conference, you know, in - -in -- Or we're going to tell you something as if, you know, 24/7 news did not exist. And I think in that vacuum, one does worry about what is going on. The -- The -- The -- Law enforcement should either say we're going to have no information tonight or try to at least give some information like what you were just saying.

Social media now creates it's -- a new storyline that makes it very difficult to manage. It's where misinformation comes out, disinformation comes out, and lack of trust. And what we need is trust and confidence in institutions, especially when -- when dealing with such a horrible incident.

MICHAELSON: Well, we've got the entire team at CNN working overnight tonight to try to do the very thing you're talking about, which is to suss out what is misinformation, what's good information, what's verifiable so that our viewers are getting that and not just a bunch of conjecture, which social media is full of on this night, as we really are trying to figure out what exactly is happening there. Clearly something big is happening. Juliette Kayyem, thank you for sharing your perspective and helping us to go through that mission tonight. We appreciate it.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Juliette for joining us earlier. And thank you so much for joining us late into the night. I'm Elex Michaelson reporting from Los Angeles. CNN's Ben Hunte picks up our breaking news coverage next.

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I'll see you back here Monday for The Story Is and it's regular airtime, which is 12 a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Pacific Time. Thanks.

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