Investigators scrutinize ransom notes in Nancy Guthrie disappearance

Investigators believe two notes sent after Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson-area home may have come from the person or people who abducted her, including a second message that said the 84-year-old had died, according to reports citing people familiar with the case.

Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing Feb. 1 from her home near Tucson, Arizona. She had last been seen the previous night around 9:45 p.m. The circumstances of her disappearance remain unresolved, and an FBI and Pima County task force continues to search for Guthrie and identify who took her.

The first note was sent Feb. 2, one day after Guthrie was reported missing, to three media outlets through online tip lines: two local television stations and TMZ, CBS News reported. It demanded millions in bitcoin for her release and was addressed to Savannah Guthrie, according to CBS News, which cited multiple people familiar with the note.

Investigators told CBS News the first note included specific details about Nancy Guthrie’s home, including that an Apple Watch with a white band was on the floor of her bedroom and that her back porch light was broken. Those details led investigators to view the message as potentially authentic.

A second note arrived Feb. 6. It said Nancy Guthrie had died, according to NBC News, which cited three people familiar with the matter. NBC reported that the second note contained no apology and made no request for payment for the release of her body.

CBS News reported that the second note indicated the apparent abductors did not mean for Guthrie to die, according to people who reviewed the notes. CBS also reported that investigators believe the same person or group likely sent both notes and that both were likely sent from the same computer IP address. NBC News, citing prior reporting from Jessica Bobula, the news director for local TV station KOLD, reported that the second note differed “in almost every way” from the first. KOLD received both notes.

Savannah Guthrie said in a March interview with NBC that her family believes the two notes they responded to are authentic, while many other messages were not.

“There are a lot of different notes, I think, that came, and I think most of them — it’s my understanding — are not real, and I didn’t see them,” she said. “But I believe the two notes that we received, that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real.”

After the second note was sent, Savannah Guthrie appeared in an Instagram video with her siblings, Camron and Annie, and addressed whomever had taken their mother.

“We received your message and we understand,” she said. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace.”

“This is very valuable to us, and we will pay,” she said, holding her siblings’ hands.

Ten days after Nancy Guthrie was reported missing, the FBI recovered doorbell camera images of an armed, masked man outside her home on the morning of her disappearance. The FBI has described the man as a suspect. He was described as being of average build, 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, and wearing a black Ozark Trail Hiker Pack 25-liter backpack.

In a Feb. 15 Instagram video, Savannah Guthrie said her family was still hoping for answers and addressed anyone who had her mother or knew where she was: “It is never too late to do the right thing.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).