The devastating kidnapping case involving 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC’s Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, just took a fresh turn.
After months of speculation regarding ransom notes supposedly sent by the kidnappers, the FBI has concluded its investigation into the veracity of the notes and determined that they are inauthentic.
Reuters broke the news on Tuesday, citing an FBI official who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying, “none of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine.”
A second law enforcement source familiar with the case confirmed the official’s statement. The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI for comment.
Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on Feb. 1. Evidence found at the scene included bloodstains confirmed to be Nancy’s, and footage from a doorbell camera showing a masked individual tampering with the device prior to her disappearance.
Multiple ransom notes were also widely reported on after they were sent to news outlets, including KOLD and TMZ. One note allegedly contained “very sensitive” information, including “things that people who were there when she was taken captive would know,” according to KOLD anchor Mary Coleman.
The note’s authors demanded $4 million in Bitcoin as ransom, initially insisting the money be delivered by Feb. 5 and then upping it to $6 million by Feb. 9 if the initial deadline was not met.
A second ransom note sent in June claimed that Nancy had died, and expressed regret for her death.
A third note, received by TMZ last week, was sent by someone who claimed to know the identities of Nancy’s abductors and to have video footage of the main suspect, as well as footage of Nancy recorded on the day she died.
The FBI tested the authenticity of the first note containing the $4 million ransom demand by depositing small sums of Bitcoin into the account as instructed. The money was left untouched, the FBI official who spoke to Reuters said.
Based on that test and other unspecified means, the FBI concluded that the first two notes were sent by someone unconnected to the case. The FBI official did not disclose how the agency determined the third note was fake.
Savannah, who returned to NBC’s Today in April, issued an emotional plea for help on air after news of the second note—the one claiming that her mother had died—broke.
Stressing that she was not involved in NBC’s coverage of the case, she said that she felt compelled to speak.
“This is unusual and unprecedented, to say the least, to be sitting here,” Savannah said. “I don’t have any comment on this story, and I’m not involved in our coverage, but I can’t pretend I’m not here.”
Fighting back tears, the 54-year-old urged anyone with information to come forward, explaining that her family continues to live with the agonizing uncertainty regarding her mother’s fate.
“Somebody knows something,” she said. “This is a news story today that is on your radar, but this is the life that my sister lives, that I live, that my brother lives, that our extended families live, that our children live, every day. And we are in agony. We cannot be at peace.”
She later said that her family was still “blowing on the embers of hope” that Nancy was still alive, while simultaneously acknowledging the fact that “she may already be gone.”
