“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” an FBI official told Reuters, in the bureau’s first public word on whether the messages in the Nancy Guthrie case were real.
The finding covers all three. Two ransom notes surfaced in early February, days after Guthrie, 84, disappeared. A third came more recently from someone claiming to know who took her. A second law enforcement source familiar with the investigation confirmed the assessment.
Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen alive at her Tucson, Arizona, home on January 31, after an evening with her older daughter, Annie Guthrie, and her son-in-law. She was in frail health with limited mobility.
What the notes said
The first note went to TMZ. According to TMZ, it demanded a sum “in the millions” in cryptocurrency and set payment deadlines of February 5 and February 9. NBC News reported that the second note described Guthrie as dead. It asked for no money and offered no apology.
The FBI official said investigators concluded the first two came from the same sender. To test the first, the FBI followed its instructions and put a small amount of cryptocurrency into the account named in it. Nobody touched the money. On that basis, and by other means the official did not describe, the FBI decided the sender had no connection to the disappearance.
The third message, also sent to TMZ, came from a person who said they knew the kidnappers’ identities and had video of the “main guy” and of Guthrie on the day she died. The official did not say how investigators ruled it out. All three messages reached media outlets before they were passed to authorities.
The ransom theory
Two of the notes had been widely reported as messages from the kidnappers, so the finding casts doubt on the assumption that Guthrie was taken for ransom. Investigators have not said whether it changes their belief that she was abducted. Authorities confirmed early on that blood on her front porch was hers.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings had referred to ransom demands in videos posted online, urging the kidnappers to open a line to the family. In one, they said “we will pay.” After NBC News reported on the second note, she went on her show on June 23, described her family as in “agony” and reminded viewers of the family’s $1 million reward.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department leads the overall investigation and referred questions about the notes to the FBI. Spokesperson Angelica Carrillo said: “We don’t have any updates, other than this is still an active investigation.” DNA samples and video evidence “remain under forensic analysis,” she said.
Public attention to the case faded after mid-February, when the sheriff and the FBI released surveillance footage of an armed prowler in a ski mask tampering with Guthrie’s doorbell camera shortly before she was taken. DNA from a glove found near her home, similar to the ones the prowler wore, matched no profile in a national database.
Sources
- Nancy Guthrie ransom notes are fake, says FBI | LBC
- Nancy Guthrie ransom notes are all fakes – AOL
- Nancy Guthrie Case Takes New Turn as FBI Says Ransom Notes Were Fake and Not From Kidnappers
