Source: Entertainment Weekly
The FBI reportedly questions the veracity of three ransom notes linked to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today anchor Savannah Guthrie.
“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” according to an anonymous FBI source interviewed by Reuters on Tuesday. The outlet claimed that a secondary law enforcement source familiar with the matter cosigned the FBI official’s assessment.
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI for comment. The PCSD responded by referring EW to the FBI.
The alleged false notes were sent as far back as February, days after Guthrie disappeared from her home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood of Tucson, Ariz., and as recently as last week.
February’s pair of notes claimed to be from Guthrie’s kidnappers, demanding millions of dollars paid in bitcoin for her return. The first note was sent to TMZ, as well as to local Arizona TV stations KOLD and KGUN on Feb. 1, the same day Guthrie was declared missing. Her alleged kidnappers demanded $4 million by Feb. 5, a price that would hike to $6 million if unpaid by Feb. 9.
That deadline passed without the ransom appearing to be paid; neither the joint investigative force working on the case nor the Guthrie family offered much insight. But on June 22, an Air Mail report claimed to shed light on the sequence of events. Feb. 1’s note described Guthrie as “safe but scared,” but a follow-up sent after the deadline passed allegedly offered an “apology” for her death. According to the report, that second note offered her body in exchange for the original $4 million sum.
Sources close to the investigation told NBC News that while the second letter did indicate that Guthrie died, it did not contain an apology for her death.
The third ransom note was sent to TMZ and forwarded to the FBI on June 26. Its author claimed to “have a phone stashed in a secure location” containing “a short video of the main guy with Nancy the day that was probably her last, pictures of both involved, names and addresses and age.”
Again, the sender demanded cash in the form of bitcoin be deposited into a secure account. TMZ claimed to have “authenticated” that the source of the third note matches that of the first two.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos questioned the authenticity of the ransom notes on a local radio show on Monday.
“I think the FBI has done a number of arrests for false or fake ransom notes,” he remarked. “It’s a shame that that happens, but I think we’re looking at another one of those today.”
