The FBI Phoenix office said in a post on X that some ransom notes tied to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie have been "deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy," while other demands "may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such," and that "this case continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case."
Nancy Guthrie vanished after being dropped off at her home on Feb. 1; authorities found blood near her front doorstep and released surveillance images showing a masked person on the porch, prompting large-scale searches of nearby desert terrain and warnings that she was in poor health and without critical medication.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a Wednesday statement that it had "received information regarding potential ransom notes related to the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie" throughout its investigation, and Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said every tip and lead is taken seriously and is forwarded directly to detectives and that his department continues to work in coordination with the FBI. He encouraged anyone with information to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit an anonymous tip to Tucson's Crime Stoppers affiliate, 88-Crime, at 1-520-882-7463.
Investigators and outside commentators remain split on the notes' authenticity. Harvey Levin said an unnamed FBI official told him, "It is more likely than not that the two ransom notes are real." John Kelly, a longtime criminal profiler and the president of STALK Inc., said he does not believe the demands are authentic. FBI Director Kash Patel declined to comment when asked about the reporting at a Justice Department news briefing.
Investigators said communications received in the case fall into three categories. The first note, sent on Feb. 2, included details investigators took seriously, including the placement of Guthrie's Apple Watch with a white wrist band on the floor next to her bed and a floodlight on the back porch that was out; that message demanded an initial $4 million in bitcoin and said it would increase by $2 million if a deadline was missed. That message was sent to tip lines at two local news stations and an entertainment outlet and used a Gmail address as the contact email. The family worked with the FBI to craft a response but received no follow-up email.
A second communication received on Feb. 6 was later linked to the first based on the same IP address and indicated Nancy Guthrie had died. Messages continued to be sent to media and to an individual who shared them with investigators. One of those messages demanded one bitcoin, or about $60,000. The individual who received the messages said he shared them all with the FBI, that at one point the FBI indicated the sender might be female, and that he proposed, without acting, depositing money in the bitcoin address to follow where it went; he said the FBI asked him not to proceed.
Federal prosecutors charged a California man, Derrick Callella, with sending a fake ransom note via text message to Guthrie's family; he has pleaded not guilty and has a next hearing scheduled for July 2 at the federal courthouse in Tucson. Investigators said they deposited a small sum into a cryptocurrency account included in one of the notes as part of an effort to confirm authenticity and to track potential perpetrators, but the money remained in the account. Investigators also said several of the messages appeared to be of a common origin even if they were sent by persons not actually connected with Guthrie's disappearance. The Guthrie family is offering a $1 million reward for information that leads to Nancy Guthrie's whereabouts and the FBI is offering a $100,000 reward.
Guthrie is 84 years old and is the mother of "TODAY" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, and she was reported missing from her home near Tucson on Feb. 1 after she was last seen the previous night around 9:45 p.m., according to Nanos.
The FBI released doorbell camera images 10 days after Guthrie was reported missing that showed an armed and masked man outside her home on the morning of her disappearance, and the FBI has since described that man as a suspect. The FBI also said law enforcement had received "several ransom notes over the course of this investigation."
The FBI statement rebuts a Tuesday report about the notes that cited an unnamed FBI official.
After the second note was sent, Savannah Guthrie addressed her mother's possible kidnapping in an Instagram video, saying the family would "pay" for her return. She later made another plea on air, saying the family is "in agony. We cannot be at peace," and adding, "We're begging for your help. Please, if you're watching, no matter how small, the reward is there. You can tell us; it can be anonymous. We love our mom, and we'll never stop looking for her, ever," said Savannah Guthrie.