A convicted felon has admitted that he and his mother were briefly detained during a SWAT operation related to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, yet he insists there’s no link to the kidnapping charges.
Luke Daly, 37, along with his 77-year-old mother, was taken into custody on February 13, when FBI agents and local SWAT teams arrived at their Tucson, Arizona home—located just two miles from where Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother allegedly vanished from her bed.
According to Daly’s lawyer, Chris Scileppi, there were warrants out for a search of both Daly’s mother’s house and her Range Rover, but he argued that these matters are “unrelated” to Guthrie’s disappearance.
Scileppi stated, “Mr. Daley and his mother were detained by law enforcement while executing a search warrant. Neither was arrested in connection with this situation or any other.” He specified that “Mr. Daley has no connection to Nancy Guthrie and no information regarding her abduction.”
Scileppi added that both Ms. Daly and her mother share a common wish with the rest of the Tucson community: for Nancy to return safely to her family.
Daly has a previous criminal record that includes an 18-month prison sentence for drug solicitation, criminal damage, and evading law enforcement between 2019 and 2020. It seems he was already known to local authorities, as 12 News reported.
He faced more legal troubles in 2022 when he was convicted of drug sales, resulting in a four-year probation sentence. Early last year, he was arrested again in Marana on suspicion of possessing fentanyl and a firearm. Although the state sought to revoke his probation, the judge opted to let him stay in the community.
The search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, continues into its third week after she was believed to have been kidnapped from her home during the early hours of February 1. Despite receiving thousands of tips and surveillance footage showing a masked, armed individual at her door that night, authorities have yet to identify a suspect.
DNA evidence collected from Guthrie’s residence, along with a black glove found nearby, will be submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) to match against the DNA of known offenders.
While Mr. Daly’s criminal past ensures his DNA will also be added to CODIS, there haven’t been any confirmed matches from the evidence gathered so far.
However, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office announced that during a search of the Catalina Foothills home, they discovered new biological evidence that is not linked to Guthrie, with the DNA profile currently undergoing lab analysis.
