Nancy Guthrie Today Update: It’s been weeks since Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of NBC News’ popular “Today” morning show, was reported missing. A new development in the case suggests that the fourth note was sent to TMZ by someone who claimed to know what happened to Guthrie and demanded a confidential payment in exchange for revealing the information.
Fourth ransom note regarding Nancy Guthrie
Shortly after she went missing on February 1st, a ransom appeared demanding millions of dollars in bitcoins, but it expired without any payment being made. In the days that followed, TMZ received another message from someone they believed to be the same person who contacted the store as recently as Monday. Other letters reportedly included warnings accusing TMZ of not taking the claims seriously and threats of termination if payment was not made.
The latest note appears to be from the same person who has been sending letters to TMZ regarding Guthrie for some time. However, the person is reportedly refusing to divulge any details to avoid arrest before seeking a $100,000 reward from the FBI.
TMZ founder Harvey Levin sent a strong message on social media, urging the sender of the ransom letter to back up their claims with disclosures.
“If you are an individual who claims to know who the kidnapper is – prove it. Send us the information. We will forward it to the FBI and create a record that links them to you,” Levin wrote in an X post on Monday.
TMZ’s Harvey Levin on X.
“If they find her and they find the kidnappers, then at least there is evidence, because we have it, that you are the one who gave the information,” he added. “So this is a way to get that money if it’s actually legitimate.
Harvey also cited alarming information the letter’s sender claimed to have about the alleged circumstances of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
“I know what I saw five days ago south of the border and I was told to shut up so I know who it is and it was definitely Nancy with them,” Levin’s letter read.
Authorities have not identified any suspects as the search enters its third week.
What happened to Nancy Guthrie
Nancy Guthrie was last seen after being dropped off at her home in Tucson. She was reported missing the next day when she failed to arrive at a friend’s house for their regular Sunday live church broadcast.
Several people were detained and questioned last week after surveillance footage from Nancy Guthrie’s home showed a masked and armed person apparently trying to break into the home. The person was wearing gloves and a backpack.
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Police found no DNA match on the glove
The glove was later found during the investigation into the alleged kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie. According to a BBC report, the gloves showed no DNA match, authorities in Pima County said.
The glove, discovered about two miles from Guthrie’s home, looked similar to the one the suspect was seen wearing on dash cam footage from the night she disappeared. Investigators sent DNA from the glove for analysis Thursday, but it did not match any profile in CODIS, the national DNA database maintained by the FBI.
Authorities reportedly collected about 16 gloves from various locations around Nancy Guthrie’s residence, though most were later determined to be discarded by volunteers involved in the search.
No arrests have been made in the case, the sheriff’s department confirmed Tuesday. However, officials said additional DNA recovered from the home is currently being analyzed. Investigators are also examining other investigative genetic genealogy databases in an effort to identify a potential match.
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The department added that it is working with Walmart to trace the purchase of the backpack seen on the suspect in the surveillance footage.
Is Nancy Guthrie’s family a suspect?
Police also clarified over the weekend that members of Guthrie’s family, including her children and their spouses, are not considered suspects in the alleged kidnapping.