Carlos Palazuelos is demanding that Pima County unseal the affidavit used to raid his family’s home and is seeking $3.25 million after being detained and released without charges in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance investigation.

Carlos Palazuelos, a 36-year-old Tucson delivery driver, says he wants the sealed evidence disclosed and wants $3.25 million for what he calls a wrongful arrest. He was detained at gunpoint on February 10, ten days after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her Tucson home, searched under a warrant, held for hours and ultimately released without charges. Palazuelos spoke with Newsweek in an interview published August 12 and has pressed county authorities ever since.

His attorney, Jesse Showalter, has publicly challenged the Pima County Sheriff’s Department to lift the court seal and reveal the search warrant affidavit. Showalter has said the affidavit remains under seal and that the family has filed a notice of claim seeking damages from the county for the arrest and search. The filing demands $3.25 million and starts a 60-day clock for the county to respond under Arizona procedure.

“I want to see the search warrant affidavit that was used in order to obtain the search warrant that led to the arrest and the search of his family home.”

Showalter framed the demand as a transparency issue and has repeatedly urged officials to explain the basis for their actions. He has asked for the chain of investigative steps that led deputies to Palazuelos and wants the court papers unsealed so the public can see what was presented to the judge. The family maintains the public deserves to know why deputies executed that search warrant on their residence.

“I want 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.”

Palazuelos has described how the situation has affected his family. He told Fox News on February 11 that he delivers packages around Tucson and acknowledged he might have made a delivery to Nancy Guthrie’s address at some point, saying, “I don’t know, it might have been a possibility. I don’t know.” He also recounted an exchange in which deputies showed a photo of a masked figure called “Porch Guy” to a relative, and the in-law reportedly said the suspect “supposedly looked like my eyes.”

That thin collection of threads — a possible delivery route, a family member’s reaction to a photo, and other tips generated early in the investigation — appears to be the only publicly known basis for the sheriff’s department focusing on Palazuelos. Ransom notes released earlier drew a surge of tips, but no public link has been drawn between those notes and the decision to arrest him. The affidavit that would explain the department’s reasoning remains sealed.

Palazuelos says the fallout has been tangible and frightening: strangers following and photographing his family, which he told the New York Post has been “kind of scary for me and for my wife, my kids and everybody.” He has not been charged, yet he remains publicly associated with the case because the warrant and affidavit that would clarify investigators’ thinking are hidden from view. That continued association is central to the family’s claim for damages.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has defended the department’s actions but has not disclosed the affidavit’s contents. In a July interview he told reporters the department had information that justified seeking a warrant and said that evidence was presented to a judge. He also emphasized that no one has been permanently ruled out of the investigation and that leads remain active.

“We had information that made us believe that there’s a potential that Nancy’s there, or there’s a potential the bad guy’s there. That evidence is presented to the judge that says, ‘Yep, go get him.'”

The investigation itself is ongoing and unresolved months after Guthrie vanished. DNA from a hair sample at the scene could not be profiled, and the FBI later returned to search the neighborhood as the inquiry continued. Questions have been raised about an early four-day delay by the sheriff’s department that may have cost investigators access to surveillance footage and other time-sensitive evidence.

The notice of claim accusing Pima County of wrongful arrest and an unjustified search gives county officials options: settle, contest, or ignore the claim within 60 days before the matter can move to a formal lawsuit. If the sealed affidavit contains solid justifications, unsealing it could undercut the family’s claim; if it does not, the county faces tougher legal and public-relations choices. Meanwhile, the family and investigators are still searching for answers about an 84-year-old woman who remains missing.