The disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mom of At present present co-host Savannah Guthrie, has taken a dramatic flip after what seems to be a bitcoin ransom demand surfaced amid a widespread and intensifying investigation into her doable kidnapping.
Late Tuesday, leisure information website TMZ reported it had acquired an alleged ransom observe demanding a particular, substantial cost in Bitcoin — reportedly within the hundreds of thousands — in alternate for Guthrie’s protected return.
The observe included a deadline for cost and a menace of hurt if the demand was not met, and was despatched with a Bitcoin pockets tackle that TMZ verified as an actual on-chain account.
The alleged ransom observe additionally referenced particular particulars about Nancy Guthrie’s clothes and injury to her Tucson-area dwelling.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed regulation enforcement is conscious of studies about doable ransom notes circulating within the investigation, however emphasised that the authenticity of those notes has not been verified.
Authorities burdened that they’re taking all ideas and leads significantly and are coordinating with the FBI on the case.
The Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigation
Nancy Guthrie was reported lacking on February 1, after failing to indicate up at church in her Catalina Foothills neighborhood.
Authorities consider she was taken from her dwelling someday late Saturday night time or early Sunday morning. Proof collected on the scene has raised severe considerations: indicators of compelled entry, a blood path exterior the house, and private results left behind recommend foul play quite than a voluntary disappearance.
Sheriff Nanos, whereas declining to reveal the variety of doable suspects or additional particulars concerning the investigation, has stated that the absence of life-sustaining remedy and Guthrie’s restricted mobility make her protected return a precedence.
The FBI is aiding native authorities, and investigators are interviewing mates, neighbors, and relations as a part of a broad search effort.
Guthrie’s daughter, Savannah, has taken an instantaneous go away from At present present duties and canceled scheduled appearances, together with journey for the 2026 Winter Olympics broadcast, to concentrate on her household’s search.
Regardless of the viral nature of the ransom demand, regulation enforcement sources have been cautious: no official affirmation has been made that the ransom observe got here from the precise kidnappers.
Some investigators and analysts have famous that opportunistic hoaxes can happen in high-profile instances, and that media shops receiving such notes ought to deal with them skeptically till corroborated by police.
