A man detained and briefly treated as a potential suspect in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, Arizona, is demanding that investigators unseal the secret case files that led deputies to his door.
Delivery driver Carlos Palazuelos, 36, was held for several hours in February by Pima County sheriff's deputies as part of the search for 84-year-old Nancy, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie.
He was released the same day without charge, but his lawyer now wants to know precisely what evidence justified the search of his family home.
Attorney Jesse Showalter is asking a court to force the disclosure of the search warrant affidavit and whatever evidence investigators say they presented to a judge.
Lawyer Says Nancy Guthrie Evidence That Targeted Client Is 'Secret'
Attorney Showalter confirmed that the search warrant used to raid the Palazuelos family home in February remains under seal months later.
Speaking to Newsweek about the Nancy Guthrie investigation, he said he was seeking the search warrant affidavit, the sworn document investigators submitted to a judge to obtain authorisation for the search.
In his words, he wants to read how it 'came to pass that they went after Carlos, what their purported evidence was and what they told the judge in order to get that search warrant.'
Showalter told reporters that the affidavit has not been made public and said, 'Whatever evidence supposedly existed, for the arrest and for the search is secret.' He added that whether it ever sees the light of day may depend on upcoming litigation, since law enforcement frequently asks courts to keep sensitive material under a protective order.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has defended the decision to pursue the warrant, saying deputies had sufficient grounds to put the case before a judge. He said investigators had information suggesting there was a 'potential that Nancy's there, or there's a potential the bad guy's there', and that this was enough for a judge to sign off on the operation.
Nanos has declined to describe that information in detail or say what, if anything, was recovered from the home. The sheriff's department has said it will not comment on pending litigation.
Palazuelos Seeks $3.25 Million After Detention and Home Search
Palazuelos was detained on 10 February, about a week after Guthrie was reported missing, while working as a delivery driver in Tucson. He told Fox News that he may have delivered packages to homes in the area, possibly including Nancy Guthrie's address, but insisted that he had done nothing wrong. According to his lawyer, he was held for around seven to eight hours before being released without charge.
In late July, Palazuelos and relatives filed a notice of claim seeking a total of $3.25 million from Pima County authorities, a required precursor to a civil lawsuit.
The document alleges wrongful arrest and an unlawful search, stating that deputies arrested him at gunpoint and ransacked the home without probable cause.
Showalter says Palazuelos is seeking $2.5 million in damages, with $500,000 claimed for his brother-in-law Daniel Maddox and roughly $250,000 for his mother-in-law and homeowner, Josefina Maddox.
The claim argues that the family suffered property damage and physical, emotional and reputational harm during and after the raid. Under Arizona law, the county has 60 days from 27 July to respond to the notice before any lawsuit can be filed.
Inside the Raid Tied to the Nancy Guthrie Investigation
The account offered by Showalter paints a stark picture of what unfolded inside the Maddox home when deputies executed the warrant in pursuit of leads in the Nancy Guthrie case.
He says Daniel Maddox was playing video games when the front door 'crashed open' and armed deputies poured in. According to the claim, Maddox was held at gunpoint and forced to lie on the floor despite having done nothing wrong.
Showalter says the operation left the door damaged and may have caused additional harm inside the property. 'None of it was necessary in the first place,' he argued, adding that investigators never should have been at the house.
The sheriff's office has not publicly addressed those specific allegations or explained what, if anything, they were expecting to find there.
Why, then, did Palazuelos come onto their radar at all. That is one of the key questions his lawyer says the sealed affidavit should answer. Showalter says there is no evidence his client was near Guthrie's home at the time she was taken.
He accepts that investigators might have identified him through his delivery routes or some other data, but stresses that 'just being in the area where a crime occurred doesn't give you probable cause to arrest somebody'.
He has also floated, and clearly knows it sounds a bit wild, the possibility that new investigative technologies might have misfired. Showalter speculated that licence-plate readers or artificial intelligence powered tools could have wrongly flagged his client's vehicle or movements, though he emphasised that this is 'pure speculation' until the underlying evidence is disclosed.
Sheriff Refuses To Clear Man as Nancy Guthrie Search Drags On
The handling of Palazuelos has become a side battle in a broader investigation that has yet to deliver an arrest in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance. Savannah Guthrie has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to a conviction, while the FBI has released images of a masked figure seen near Nancy's home in an attempt to identify the person.
Investigators have also shared ransom notes demanding money, urging anyone who recognises the handwriting or wording to come forward.
Early in the case, several people close to Nancy, including her daughter Annie Guthrie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni, came under scrutiny but were later said to have been cleared by investigators.
The masked individual seen in images taken from Nancy's porch, sometimes dubbed 'Porch Guy' online, remains unidentified. No suspect has been formally named and no one has been charged.
Against that uncertain backdrop, Showalter has repeatedly pressed Sheriff Nanos to publicly declare that Palazuelos is not a person of interest and that deputies made an error. He says those requests have been refused.
In a recent interview, Nanos suggested evidence in hand at that time allowed investigators to 'eliminate' Palazuelos, but he also stressed that being cleared at one stage of an inquiry does not permanently rule anyone out. He said that as new evidence, DNA or video came in, people initially discounted could come back into focus.
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing from her home in the Catalina Foothills area near Tucson on 1 February 2026, triggering a major investigation involving local deputies and federal agents. Authorities said she was last seen at her home the previous evening and later confirmed they were treating the case as a kidnapping, supported by ransom notes that have since been made public.
Despite intensive efforts, including combing surveillance footage and digital records, no one has been charged and Nancy has not been found. It is against that unresolved backdrop that the row over sealed evidence and a possibly wronged delivery driver has escalated.
Showalter said he has no reason to believe his client was anywhere near the missing woman's home on the date she disappeared. He accuses the Sheriff's department of being 'very defensive' and reluctant to admit a mistake, portraying their stance as an attempt to 'cast blame on innocent people rather than take responsibility'.
Asked what he believes is really going on, Showalter suggested investigators 'just don't have any leads' and that their work 'does not appear to be going well'.
For him, the legal route is now the only realistic way to clear his client's name and to find out what, exactly, was written in that sealed affidavit that turned a delivery driver into a would-be suspect in one of America's most closely watched missing person cases.
