The first ransom note demanded Bitcoin. Immediately. Because "time is of the essence." The second note, sent the very next day, walked that back — time was "not" of the essence after all. Both went to TMZ.
Nearly five months after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from Tucson, the FBI has now confirmed that at least one of those ransom notes likely came from her actual kidnapper.
Nancy Guthrie — mother of NBC "TODAY" show host Savannah Guthrie — was reported missing around noon on February 1 after she failed to appear for her virtual church services. She had last been seen the previous evening, January 31, after dinner at her daughter's home in Tucson. No signs of forced entry. No witness. No trail. An 84-year-old woman was simply gone.
The ransom demands that followed were bizarre by any standard. The initial note demanded Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. Then came a demand for millions of dollars. Then a second note made a far darker claim — that Nancy Guthrie had died shortly after being kidnapped, and that the death was unintentional. The contradictions between the notes raised immediate questions about whether they were genuine or the work of an opportunist.
On February 7, six days after her mother's disappearance, Savannah Guthrie released a video on social media that made the stakes painfully clear. "We received your message and we understand," she said. "We beg you now to return our mother to us... This is very valuable to us, and we will pay."
That was a daughter speaking directly to whoever took her mother. Not through a network anchor desk. Not through a press conference. Through a camera on what appeared to be the worst week of her life.
The FBI, along with the Guthrie family, had requested that news outlets withhold certain details about the ransom communications. The reason was practical — preserving the ability to authenticate future messages. If every detail of the notes leaked, anyone could fabricate a convincing follow-up. The media largely complied, which is why many of these specifics are only surfacing now, as reported by Just The News, TMZ, and CNN on June 22.
But the timeline raises its own questions. February 1 to June 22 is 141 days. The FBI has confirmed one note as credible, but we still don't have a suspect, a motive that makes sense, or a clear picture of what happened between dinner at her daughter's house and noon the next day. The ransom demands themselves read like someone making it up as they go — first crypto, then cash, then a claim she's already dead. That's not the profile of a professional operation.
What we know is narrow but specific. An 84-year-old woman disappeared in broad daylight from a major American city. Someone sent ransom demands to a tabloid outlet. The FBI believes at least one of those demands is authentic. And a second note claims she's dead.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Five months of silence, two contradictory ransom notes, and one confirmation that somebody out there knows exactly what happened to Nancy Guthrie. The FBI apparently believes them. Whether they can find them is a different question entirely.