Morning Wire - Finding Nancy Guthrie: Last Night’s SWAT Bust - Ep. 10

Episode Date: February 14, 2026

What to make of last night’s massive police operation in Tucson, Arizona? SWAT and the FBI rolled out in full force as the search for missing grandmother Nancy Guthrie intensified. But was that response warranted — or was it overkill given the lead they were chasing? And law enforcement locates mystery DNA in Nancy's home, sparking hopes of a major breakthrough. We speak with retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer. Ep. 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is significant activity. I mean, getting a search warrant based on probable cause, making a stop, detaining someone, taking them down to the Sheriff's Department. That's a lot. And you don't do that without having some significant information. What can we make of last night's massive police operation in Tucson? SWAT and FBI rolled out in full force as the search for missing grandmother Nancy Guthrie intensifies. But was that response warranted? Or was it overkill, given the last? lead they were chasing. We are, you know, starting to see a pattern where law enforcement, if they're focusing on a target, they may bring out all of the bells and whistles, the entire SWAT team, multiple law enforcement vehicles, maybe simply just to question someone because they don't want to run the risk of any type of backfire. And law enforcement locates mystery DNA in Nancy's home, sparking hopes of a major breakthrough. I'm Lyndon Blake and this is finding Nancy Guthrie, a daily wire true crime investigation. It is Saturday, February 14th, day 14th in the search for Nancy Guthrie.

Day 14 comes off a very chaotic action-filled Friday night. You had Pima County Sheriff Department send their SWAT team out. You had the FBI swarming this house in Tucson near Nancy's home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood. So at this actual home, you have a male and female reports say a possible mother and son that came out of this home and they complied with law enforcement. But the scene that's getting a lot of attention is that third person that was detained Friday night. This was a man. He was detained in a nearby Culver's fast food restaurant. And he was reportedly heading to the house that was being searched where the other two people were detained.

But this man at Culver's was connected to this range rover. And there's a lot of speculation and a lot of eyes on this range rover because it got towed away. So in all, three people detained two different scenes, but I want to really zero in on this Ranger Rover. The trunk of the car was shielded by this tarp, and that raises the question, what were they looking at in the trunk? We don't know, but they were looking at something in the trunk, and then the Ranger Rover was towed off. There's also images, I'm trying to paint this picture. This guy is outside the range rover. He's in handcuffs. Again, this person's being detained. And you see FBI and the agencies having a cell phone and one of those cell phone devices that

we've talked about all week that extracts information from a cell phone. That was at the scene of this range rover too. We're told that the FBI is going to release a statement on what they were looking for in this range rover a little later today. But again, just it can. It can't chaotic scene. I cannot describe to you how much law enforcement was out in force. Just a lot of people responding. This all happened after on Friday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nano said they found DNA inside Nancy's home that did not belong to Nancy. Now, we don't know if those labs are back, and that's what tipped off this big search last night, but something tipped off the search. Former FBI agent, Jennifer Coff Endeavor is with me now, and she has some thoughts on what actually went down last night.

Thank you so much for having me. So much happened Friday night. Can you please take us through what they were trying to accomplish last night? Well, this is interesting, especially if we compare it to the operation that took place a few days before this operation on the 11th, I believe it was. And there's some differences I see here. First of all, in both operations, you did have a search warrant, which told me, in both operations, there was probable cause that at least convinced a judge enough to let law enforcement enter the House, which is a huge, you know, Fourth Amendment consideration for any judge, especially in these late night hours. So basically enough information to say, listen, this case in these circumstances are related to Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.

Secondarily, in this case, we saw a range rover actually be towed away. on a flatbed, and I found it interesting that they shrouded that range rover. You spoke about the three detained. There was one individual that was pulled over in this range rover. And again, as with the other operation, that's the most dangerous kind of arrest that you can do. You're arresting somebody in a vehicle that can cause death. There's other vehicles around that can cause death. So that's why you saw SWAT. Special weapons and tactics, they train in these types of car stops. Even though no arrest or conclusion really came out of what happened Friday night, does that mean that this is a dead end in the case? I don't think this is necessarily a dead end. And I say that

because they took that range rover. So I think it's too early to say for sure whether this is going to ferret out to be an excellent lead, but definitely law enforcement is acting on those leads that they believe rise to the level of probable cause. They're going to continue to execute these sorts of actions. Anytime you're talking about somebody that has the capability of going into a house and kidnapping an 84-year woman, who, by the way, still hasn't been seen, and we're on day 14. So, you know, that's ominous, I think, hanging over this whole investigation. They are capable of violence. And there could have been other tips regarding their violent nature.

But I believe this is standard protocol when you think you're going to be arresting possibly a kidnapper or an associate of a kidnapper. What is your takeaway now after all that action as we're in day 14? As we're moving forward, do you still? think they're on to something or is it cooling off? Oh, I think they're on to something. Look, there are so many leads coming in and so much more that they know behind the scenes. They put all of this together. I think something's going to break early because of that footage that they released. Somebody is going to come forward with the identity and the location of that individual. I just, I hope that this is the break.

But again, he says no arrests. And this could be a peripheral player. So right now, haven't heard from the FBI, just Pima County Sheriff saying they followed a lead last night. It led to no arrest. But we're told the FBI is expected to release a statement today on specifically the Range Rover situation from the Culver's parking lot. I'm going to stick to what I've said.

I think it's very strange that we have. not had any formal press briefing since all this has developed. It's been now well over a week since we've officially heard from the people running this case about what is going on. But maybe in the FBI statement today, we'll have an understanding of the work that's being done to find Nancy. I'm Lyndon Blake. This is Finding Nancy Guthrie, a daily wire true crime investigation.