After being detained with his mother by police following a SWAT raid at his home in Arizona and a car search in connection to Nancy Guthrie’s alleged kidnapping, Luke Daley has broken his silence.
“It’s not me,” Daley, 37, told True Crime Arizona host Briana Whitney in an interview released on Monday, March 2, denying that he was the man caught on video outside of Nancy’s home prior to her disappearance in January.
He added, “I don’t see the resemblance of it looking like me. Absolutely not. I have nothing to do with this case.”
Daley recalled driving home in February when he noticed “two sheriff’s vehicles following me.”
Once he was pulled over, he was cuffed and put in the back of a police vehicle. Daley claimed the officers “wouldn’t tell me anything,” but his first thought was, “‘Oh, this is probably about the Guthrie case.’”
Daley claimed that although he lived in the Tucson area, he was not involved in Nancy’s disappearance. (Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy, went missing from her home on January 31. She is 84.)
“The whole time during the questioning, it seemed like more of a fishing expedition to get me to say something,” Daley alleged, revealing that he told the police that they could see his location by looking at his phone.
Daley said it was “tough” sitting in the cop car for “four or five hours” as the police searched his vehicle. “I am panicking,” he recalled of the thoughts going through his mind.
He added that he was sure he was “going to be framed for this” because the authorities allegedly “didn’t tell me any information” while he was being searched.
Daley is still unsure what led the police to him, noting that one of the scarier moments was when he got home and his mother, 77, wasn’t at the house.
“I don’t have my phone to get a hold of her,” he recalled of returning home to an empty house, saying his mom went to a neighbor’s residence but he didn’t figure that out until the next day.
Daley noted that his mother, whom he called “elderly,” has been “a lot more stressed” since his name was pulled into the investigation.
“It’s been hard. In terms of collectively as a family, it’s been a nightmare,” Daley confessed.
Daley was the subject of a search warrant on February 13. After being detained for hours, he was released without being charged.
His mother was also detained by law enforcement while their home was searched for a possible connection or clues about Nancy’s alleged abduction.
“Daley and his mother were both detained by law enforcement while the search warrants were being executed,” Daley’s attorney Chris Scileppi said in a statement to People at the time. “Neither Daley nor his mother were arrested in connection to this case or any other.”
Scileppi claimed, “Daley has no link whatsoever to Nancy Guthrie and has no information related to her kidnapping. Like the entire Tucson community, both Daley and his mother are hopeful that Nancy will be returned to her family unharmed.”
Daley, for his part, said on Monday that he feels like he was “collateral damage” because someone said something and then police “just go off of it based on no evidence, no truth.”
Daley maintained his innocence, adding that his prayers go out to the Guthrie family as they continue to look for clues as to what happened to Nancy.
“I, like everyone else, just want Nancy to come home and be safe,” he said. “I hope that she’s safe. I hope that they find her.”
Daley concluded that he wants to “move on” with his life without having this “shadow of doubt casted [sic] over me.”
Nancy has been missing since the end of January. Savannah confirmed in a video shared via Instagram on February 24 that her family’s reward for Nancy’s recovery had been increased to $1 million.
“We know that millions of you have been praying. So many people have been praying of every faith and no faith at all, praying for her return, and we feel those prayers,” the Today cohost said in a social media release that same day. “Please keep praying without ceasing. We still believe. We still believe in a miracle.”
Savannah continued, “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 and is dancing in heaven with her mom and her dad and with her beloved brother, Pierce, and with our daddy, then if this is what is to be, then we will accept it. But we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.”
Us Weekly has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for comment.
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