The investigation into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie took a dark and calculated turn on Monday. As her daughter, Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, made an emotional return to the anchor desk after a two-month absence, a series of chilling anonymous text messages purported that the missing matriarch is no longer alive.
The Chilling Ransom Demand
TMZ reported that an anonymous person sent a series of sophisticated electronic messages claiming he has “inside knowledge” of the abduction. The sender alleged that Nancy Guthrie who was taken from her Catalina Foothills home on February 1 is “dead” and promised to disclose her dead body and the names of those involved.
The “silver platter” was a price tag of one Bitcoin (over $70,000 at current market rates). The sender had been frustrated at the police’s response and had tried to contact them as early as February 11, but was dismissed as a “scam.” The timing of the messages has been identified as particularly malicious.
They arrived the same day Savannah Guthrie resumed her hosting duties in New York. "Make no mistake, the fact this note was sent the day Savannah returned to work shows you what a sick creature the sender is," former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer said.
“Whether they know where Nancy is buried or they don’t, it’s a pathetic attempt to torture a family in pain.” The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and FBI have pleaded for the public and the media to be extremely cautious. While investigators have continued to “actively probe” the digital trail, there are a number of inconsistencies in the sender’s story: One note said she’s dead and buried.
A second note said she was seen alive in Sonora, Mexico, about 70 miles from the Arizona border. The FBI had previously arrested people for “fraudulent ransom demands” in this case and are investigating whether this is a rehash of such “vulture-like” behavior. The search is now in its tenth week.
Nancy Guthrie, described as “sharp as a tack” but physically weak, has a pacemaker and daily medication she relies on to survive. Savannah Guthrie, who appeared on the Today show in a bright yellow dress, which is a color of hope and her mother's favorite, spoke with a firm hand and said: “It’s good to be home,” she said to viewers but admitted in a recent interview with Hoda Kotb that the family is in “agony” waiting to hear anything.
The Guthrie family is now offering a $1 million reward for information leading to Nancy’s safe return, and the FBI is also offering a similar $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
