Federal authorities confirmed Wednesday that the case of a missing elderly woman — mother of a well-known television news personality — is still being handled as a kidnapping for ransom investigation, even after several purported ransom notes were found to be fraudulent.
The FBI’s Phoenix field office released a statement on the social media platform X, saying that over the five months since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson, Arizona home, investigators have received multiple notes that lacked legitimacy.
“Some have been determined to be extortion attempts without legitimacy. Other ransom demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such,” the FBI stated.
“This case continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case,” the agency added.
An FBI official had told Reuters on Tuesday, speaking under the condition of anonymity, that investigators concluded three high-profile kidnapping-related messages were not credible. Two of those messages had been characterized as ransom notes, and the third was a message reported by a celebrity news outlet.
Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was 84 years old and in fragile health with limited mobility when she was last seen on January 31 at her residence. A friend alerted family members the following day after she failed to appear at church as expected. When relatives went to check on her, they found her gone.
A search of her home revealed she had left behind critical personal belongings, including her wallet, cellphone, hearing aid, and medication. DNA testing later confirmed that blood discovered on her front porch was hers.
The first of the three widely publicized notes was received by a CBS-affiliated television station in Tucson on February 2 — two days after Nancy Guthrie was reported missing. That note set two deadlines for ransom payment in Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The FBI acknowledged the note at the time but said it had not yet confirmed its authenticity.
A second note, reported by NBC News last week, reportedly referenced Guthrie as having died, but did not include a demand for payment or any offer to return her remains.
The celebrity news website TMZ.com also reported last week that it had received a third note from someone claiming to know who carried out the abduction, saying they possessed video footage of the person they described as the “main guy” involved, as well as video of Guthrie on the day she allegedly died.
The anonymous FBI official told Reuters that the first two notes were traced to the same sender and were both ruled not credible, as was the third note obtained by TMZ.
Separately, the head of the Phoenix FBI field office, Heith Janke, disclosed at a February 5 news conference that an individual had been taken into custody in connection with a fraudulent ransom demand sent to Guthrie’s family members.
Court documents from that date show that Derrick Callella was charged with two counts of harassment by telecom devices. Prosecutors allege he sent a fake ransom demand by text message to Savannah Guthrie’s sister and brother-in-law on February 4.
Callella entered a not guilty plea, but court records indicate a change-of-plea hearing in his case was scheduled for Thursday in federal court in Tucson.
