A disturbing new development has emerged in the baffling disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” host Savannah Guthrie.
Nearly eight months after Nancy vanished from her Arizona home, authorities revealed Monday that investigators are examining a new possible ransom note connected to the case.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that its investigators and the FBI-led Guthrie Task Force were recently alerted to the communication and are now trying to determine whether it is legitimate, TheWrap first reported.
More from TheWrap:
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department addressed reports of a new ransom note in the Nancy Guthrie case Monday, sharing that they were “working to determine credibility” of the alleged missive.
“The PCSD/FBI Guthrie task force was recently made aware of a new possible ransom note in the Nancy Guthrie investigation,” a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told TheWrap on Monday. “Investigators are also aware of social media comments being made regarding this note and are looking further into this and working to determine credibility.”
The investigators’ statement came hours after true-crime YouTuber Jonathan Lee Riche, known as JLR Investigates online, took to X and claimed that a “friend of Nancy Guthrie contacted authorities after receiving a bitcoin demand.”
Riche followed up later on Monday, writing on X while livestreaming on the app, “We are speaking with Lauren now. Friend of Nancy Guthrie. Who got a extortion bitcoin demand claiming Nancy is alive in Mexico. FBI are involved.”
We should note that while Riche describes himself as an “investigative reporter” on his social media platforms, he is not credentialed with any professional outlet.
This comes after a string of earlier communications, some treated as potentially serious, others dismissed as fakes, that have defined one of the most high-profile unsolved abductions in recent years.
The Gateway Pundit has covered this case from the beginning. In June, we reported on the second note that claimed Nancy “perished shortly after she was taken” from an alleged heart-related issue and was “buried in nature now.”
That note, sent to a Tucson TV station days after the Feb. 1 disappearance, adopted a different tone from the first demand.
In July, the sheriff’s department publicly released the full texts of the two February notes in hopes someone would recognize the writer’s distinctive wording.
The first, addressed directly to Savannah Guthrie, demanded $4 million in Bitcoin by Feb. 5 (rising to $6 million by Feb. 9) and included details only someone at the scene would know, a white smartwatch on the bedroom floor and a destroyed backyard floodlight.
It warned: “Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands.” The follow-up note expressed regret and said nothing the family could have done would have changed the outcome.
A California man later pleaded guilty to sending fake ransom demands to the family, as we reported. The real perpetrators remain unidentified.
Nancy Guthrie, mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen the night of Jan. 31 after family dropped her off following dinner.
Blood matching hers was found on the porch. Her phone, medications, and hearing aid were left behind.
Doorbell camera footage captured a masked man, described by the FBI as about 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10, average build, wearing gloves and carrying an Ozark Trail backpack and a holster, tampering with the camera in the early hours of Feb. 1. No arrest has been made.
Savannah Guthrie has made repeated emotional public pleas. The family offered a $1 million reward. The FBI has offered up to $100,000. Tips have poured in. Searches have been conducted, including near the Mexico border. Human remains found in the desert in August were not hers.
According to Fox News reporting on the earlier notes, one profiler questioned whether the communications even matched the suspect’s behavior on camera.
Other notes sent to TMZ offered video of Nancy with the “main guy” in exchange for one Bitcoin and claimed knowledge of identities and a phone in a “secure location.” Some of those were treated skeptically by investigators.
Eight months later, an 84-year-old grandmother with a pacemaker and daily heart medication is still missing. A masked, armed stranger was caught on camera at her door. Blood was on the porch. Distinctive notes with inside details arrived almost immediately. And the case remains unsolved.
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