Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said it’s unclear what led authorities to detain the person detained in the Nancy Guthrie case, but that agents had sufficient reason to question them.
“We don’t know the lead that led police to that person. We don’t even know if that lead came from the public release of the surveillance video and photo,” McCabe told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday.
The person could have been stopped for a traffic violation, he added.
However, retired FBI Special Agent Peter Lapp, who was also speaking with Coates, said “time is of the essence,” and police released the door camera footage because they likely needed help identifying the individual.
“I can’t say that led to the car stopping, but the timing is too coincidental,” he told Coates.
If investigators don’t get probable cause for a search warrant or information to hold the person longer, “they’re going to have to get to a point at some point in the near future where they’re going to have to release him,” Lapp said.
