EXCLUSIVE: Tucson felon confirmed as man detained, questioned and released in connection to Guthrie kidnapping case

TUCSON, Ariz. — A Tucson criminal defense lawyer has identified his client as the man who was detained, questioned and released last week in relation to the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case. 

RELATED: ‘We tell that monster, just let her go’: Pima County sheriff holding on to hope Nancy Guthrie will be found alive

37-year-old Luke Daley and his 77-year-old mother were both removed from their home two miles away from Guthrie’s home in the evening hours of Feb. 13.

Daley’s attorney in other unrelated criminal cases, Chris Scileppi, issued the following statement to 12News:

Scileppi Law can confirm that Luke Daley was the subject of two search warrants issued and served on February 13, 2026. Mr. Daley and his mother were both detained by law enforcement while the search warrants were being executed. Neither Mr. Daley nor his mother were arrested in connection to this case or any other. Mr. Daley has no link whatsoever to Nancy Guthrie and has no information related to her kidnapping. Like the entire Tucson community, both Mr. Daley and his mother are hopeful that Nancy will be returned to her family unharmed.

These search warrants, one at Daley’s mother’s home and one on his Range Rover car, are the last time we’ve seen law enforcement mobilize on a target in the Guthrie case. 

In an interview with 12News Tuesday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos explained how they narrowed on Daley has a target. His full quote is below:

“We develop a lead and we follow it, and we get it going. And pretty soon it’s, oh, wait, we’ve got this. Oh, wait, we learned this about this person. Maybe that person is a person of interest. Maybe he’s a suspect. We develop it. We come back in here and we talk in our own command room right here, somebody from the county attorney, get some legal advice and other FBI agents or other detectives from other agencies. We share this. We go the US attorney at the FBI command post, same thing, and they come up with a strategy. They say, okay, let’s get a search warrant. So we go to a judge who either agrees with us or doesn’t he signs that warrant. We now have a court order that process goes through the day based on the leave we’re following. So in this case, that gentleman, whether it was the one in Rio Rico or the one up here on the north side, at 1st & Orange Grove, we developed a person of interest. We surveyed him. He left. Both of them left their residences. We made a traffic stop on both of them, held them. Per our court order, we had to search the homes. Those homes, people are inside them, family, friends, whatever. We can’t have them there. While we search, are they being detained? Of course not. They’re free to leave, but they can’t be in the home. We knew we were looking for one person at that home, and the other person we’re looking for is Nancy. Nancy wasn’t there. The person of interest gave us a statement, gave us his whatever the warrant was for, maybe petition for physical characteristics of buccal swabs or photos or finger we got everything we needed, and he is set free now. Does that mean he’s not a suspect any longer? No, we’ll do our work. We’ve got evidence to process from the home. What if we find Nancy’s DNA in that home? Right?”

In a follow-up message, 12News asked Nanos if Daley remained under investigation by the sheriff’s office. He said, “We do not identify persons of interest. We met with the person of interest and he complied with our court order and he was released,” Nanos said.

Luke Daley may be a familiar name to law enforcement in southern Arizona. He served a year and a half prison sentence from 2019-2020 for solicitation of drugs, criminal damage and flight from law enforcement convictions.

Then, in 2022, he was arrested and would later be convicted of drug distribution charges. He was sentenced to four years on probation. He was arrested again in early 2025 by Marana Police in possession of fentanyl and a gun. A probation officer has filed to revoke his probation, but a judge has allowed him to continue on probation in the community.

The latest developments in the Guthrie case surround DNA evidence collected from a black glove two miles from Nancy’s home, DNA from inside her home and DNA collected from the search warrants. The FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Office say DNA has been, and will be, uploaded to CODIS, a database that would reveal a match to anyone who has been convicted of a crime or had their DNA collected from a crime scene.

Luke Daley’s DNA would be in CODIS because of his prior criminal history. There have been zero confirmed DNA matches from any of the evidence collected.

You can now watch 12News content anytime, anywhere thanks to the 12+ app! 

The free 12+ app from 12News lets users stream live events — including daily newscasts like “Today in AZ” and “12 News” and our daily lifestyle program, “Arizona Midday”—on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. 

12+  showcases live video throughout the day for breaking news, local news, weather and even an occasional moment of Zen showcasing breathtaking sights from across Arizona. 

Users can also watch on-demand videos of top stories, local politics, I-Team investigations, Arizona-specific features and vintage videos from the 12News archives. 

Roku: Add the channel from the Roku store or by searching for “12 News KPNX.” 

Amazon Fire TV: Search for “12 News KPNX” to find the free 12+ app to add to your account, or have the 12+ app delivered directly to your Amazon Fire TV through Amazon.com or the Amazon app.