Authorities have announced the arrest of a man allegedly spotted driving repeatedly past Nancy Guthrie’s residence, now facing DUI charges.
Antonio De Jesus Pena-Campos, aged 34, was apprehended by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday evening. Reporters had observed him moving ‘very slowly’ in a blue Chevy SUV in the vicinity of her Tucson home, according to police reports.
Upon arrival at the scene, officers conducted a sobriety test on Pena-Campos, which he did not pass.
Subsequently, he was taken into custody and transported in a sheriff’s vehicle. Authorities have clarified that his arrest is not connected to the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s mother.
Video footage from Fox News captures deputies inspecting the car with a flashlight before Pena-Campos exited and engaged in conversation with officers beside a large white tent.
The footage also shows Pena-Campos attempting to walk a straight line and tracking a small flashlight with his eyes during the sobriety test.
Before police confirmed Pena-Campos’s arrest and identity, NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin reported that the driver ‘just kept stopping’ outside the property, passing between ’50 and 100 times.’
A media photographer who approached the individual reportedly also noticed he had a photo of Nancy on his phone.
Antonio De Jesus Pena-Campos, 34, was arrested late Thursday evening outside of Nancy Guthrie’s house on DUI charges
Nancy, 84, has been missing for nearly four weeks. Savannah Guthrie’s mom was last seen on January 31 after dinner and a game night at her eldest daughter’s home
A deputy with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department is seen shining a flashlight inside the blue Chevy SUV Pena-Campos was driving
‘It is weird. There’s some just like creepy people that come by,’ Entin said.
The bizarre incident comes as the search for Nancy nears its fourth week.
The mother of three was last seen on January 31, after being dropped off by her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, following a dinner and game night at her eldest daughter Annie’s home.
She was reported missing the following morning after she didn’t show up for a church service.
Footage recovered from her Nest doorbell camera showed an unidentified suspect in a ski mask in front of her door early on February 1, before Nancy’s pacemaker suddenly stopped transmitting data to her iPhone and Apple Watch.
Authorities, including the sheriff’s office and the FBI, have been on the case ever since, but the few leads they have received have led nowhere, as Nancy’s whereabouts still remain unknown.
Savannah, Annie and their brother Camron have shared several emotional videos online pleading for their mother’s captor to come forward and bring her home.
On Tuesday, Savannah acknowledged for the first time that Nancy might not be alive.
Pena-Campos is seen during his sobriety test, trying to walk in a straight line
‘We need to know where she is, we need her to come home,’ she said in a video posted to her Instagram account.
‘We also know that she may be lost, she may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves,’ Savannah said through tears.
She posted a series of videos on Friday explaining how tipsters can collect the new $1 million reward her family is offering for information leading to the safe return of her mother.
The 54-year-old reposted her original plea from Tuesday and shared a Today Show report explaining how to submit anonymous tips to the FBI, overseen by co-anchors Carson Daly, Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin.
‘Please – be the one that brings her home,’ Guthrie wrote in a caption. ‘Tips can be anonymous, reward can be paid in cash, as explained here.’
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recently announced that the agency would be scaling back its almost month-long search for Nancy, with agents moving to a new command post more than 100 miles away from Phoenix, sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News.
Savannah posted a series of videos on Friday explaining how tipsters can collect the new $1 million reward her family is offering for information leading to the safe return of her mother
Some agents will also stay behind in Tucson, they said. Agents in Phoenix, meanwhile, will work the case from there.
The move does not indicate investigators are giving up on the search, the sources claimed.
Agents were seen outside the residence on Wednesday, combing through portions of the home and lawn that had already been searched.
The flurry of activity was related to an FBI effort to turn the home back over to the Guthrie family, officials told NBC News.
