Suspect in Nancy Guthrie's abduction detained in Arizona

A suspect in the abduction of US television host Savannah Guthrie's elderly mother was taken into custody in Arizona on Tuesday, nine days after the 84-year-old woman was reported missing, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the case.

No other details were immediately available about the suspect's detention.

The breakthrough came hours after authorities released video and photos of an armed man in a ski mask apparently tampering with the door camera of Nancy Guthrie's home near Tucson on the morning that she was believed to have been taken.

The images released by the FBI and Pima County Sheriff's Department show the man, also wearing gloves, a backpack, and what appears to be a gun in a holster, approaching Nancy Guthrie's front door.

Authorities have said she was last seen on the night of January 31, when her family dropped her off at her home after dining with her. Relatives reported her missing the following day, according to the sheriff's department, after she failed to show up for Sunday church services.

Sheriff Chris Nanos has said the doorbell camera of Guthrie's home was disabled in the early hours of February 1. He said Guthrie's pacemaker disconnected from her phone about a half-hour later, and she was presumably taken from the house by force.

DNA tests confirmed that traces of blood found on the front porch were from Guthrie, officials said last week. Law enforcement and family members have described her as being of limited mobility, in frail health, and in need of daily medication to survive.

The video and detention of a suspect marked major turning points in an investigation that had seemed to stall in recent days. The sheriff's department and the FBI said late on Monday that they had yet to identify suspects or "persons of interest" in connection with the investigation.

At least two purported ransom notes have surfaced since Nancy Guthrie vanished, both of them delivered initially to news media outlets. But no proof of life is known to have surfaced following her abduction.

Savannah Guthrie, 54, and her brother and sister have posted several video messages on social media pleading for the public to help with tips and for the kidnappers to return their mother or communicate with them directly. The family has said that they would pay a ransom.

Savannah Guthrie, a longtime co-anchor of the NBC morning news programme Today, shared the new images on Instagram on Tuesday with the caption: "We believe she is still alive. Bring her home."

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The elder Guthrie's disappearance has attracted wide attention. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt began her press briefing on Tuesday by saying she and President Donald Trump had just reviewed the newly released images in the case.