Two new purported ransom notes landed at TMZ on Monday, each claiming to know where Nancy Guthrie's body is and who took her, the latest twist in a disappearance that has stretched more than two months without a single named suspect, as the New York Post reported.
The same day those notes surfaced, Savannah Guthrie returned to NBC's "Today" show for the first time since her mother vanished. She opened the broadcast without mentioning the case.
Nancy Guthrie, the 80-year-old mother of the prominent television host, was last seen alive on the evening of January 31, when her son-in-law Tommaso Cioni dropped her off at home. By February 1, she was gone. The Pima County Sheriff's Department and the FBI have been working the case since, yet no arrests have been made and no suspects have been publicly identified.
TMZ founder Harvey Levin said on air Monday that the outlet received the messages from the same mystery sender who had previously contacted them. The sender's demand had shifted: where earlier communications sought a full bitcoin, the new ask was half a bitcoin up front, with the other half to follow upon a public arrest.
Levin described the exchange bluntly on "TMZ Live":
"We got another letter today from this person, an email saying, 'I know where her body is, and who the kidnapper is, give me half a bitcoin and I'll tell you.'"
A second letter went further, claiming the sender had seen Nancy Guthrie "alive with them in the state of Sonora Mexico." The writer also insisted they had been outside the United States for more than five years and wanted what they called "whats fair", enough to "start my life again quietly." The sender reportedly said they had been willing to provide information "since the 11th of february" in exchange for bitcoin.
Whether any of these claims hold water remains an open question. Law enforcement has not publicly confirmed or debunked the latest notes. A Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesperson offered a careful statement: "All tips and leads are being taken seriously and are forwarded directly to our detectives, who are coordinating with the FBI."
The new messages are only the latest in a series of purported ransom notes that have been sent to media outlets and the Guthrie family since early February. The volume of correspondence has complicated the investigation, forcing detectives to sort credible leads from opportunistic hoaxes.
Savannah Guthrie herself addressed the problem late last month during a "Today" interview, acknowledging that most of the ransom notes her family received were fakes. But she drew a distinction.
"I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real."
That statement carried weight at the time. Earlier in the case, Breitbart reported that a purported ransom note had demanded $6 million by 5 p.m. on a Monday, and that authorities believed at least one note was authentic. Police also identified and towed a vehicle of interest from near the Guthrie home during the early days of the search.
Savannah Guthrie's public pleas during that period were direct and desperate. "We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her," she said. "We will pay."
Despite the family's willingness to negotiate and the steady stream of notes, the AP reported that the FBI said it was not aware of any ongoing communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers. The bureau had not identified suspects or persons of interest. A ransom deadline passed without resolution while investigators continued public appeals.
FBI spokesperson Connor Hagan urged the public to come forward: "Someone has that one piece of information that can help us bring Nancy home."
Investigators have also expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie's health. She requires daily medication, and the passage of time has only sharpened the urgency. The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information, Newsmax reported, as the bureau and Pima County authorities intensified their search after the family's public video appeal.
Media reports have described ransom demands totaling several million dollars in bitcoin, though law enforcement has not publicly confirmed a specific amount. Authorities said they were checking new messages for authenticity.
Against this backdrop, Savannah Guthrie stepped back onto the "Today" set Monday morning. Her return came more than 60 days into the search for her mother.
She kept her opening remarks brief and personal without addressing the case directly: "Good morning and welcome to 'Today' on this Monday morning. We are so glad you started your week with us and it is good to be home."
The decision to return to work while the investigation grinds on speaks for itself. There is no script for what Savannah Guthrie is going through, and she has handled her public moments with composure, pleading openly for her mother's return in one appearance, then showing up to do her job in another.
What remains striking about the Nancy Guthrie case is how little the public knows after more than two months. No suspects. No persons of interest named publicly. No confirmed communication channel between any captor and the family or law enforcement. Just a growing pile of notes, most of them fraudulent, and a persistent anonymous sender who keeps contacting a celebrity gossip outlet instead of police.
The circumstances of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance have raised questions from the start. She was dropped off at home on the evening of January 31 and was gone by the next day. Investigators have pursued leads including surveillance footage and physical evidence near the home, but the trail has gone cold in public view.
The Washington Examiner reported that authorities were examining at least one ransom note as part of the official investigation, treating it as a concrete lead tied to Nancy Guthrie's possible whereabouts. But concrete leads and actual breakthroughs are two very different things.
Meanwhile, Ring camera footage and other evidence have been folded into the investigation, yet the public accounting of progress remains thin.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department, led by Sheriff Chris Nanos, has faced scrutiny over the pace of the investigation. The department's statement Monday, that all tips are being taken seriously and forwarded to detectives, is the kind of language families hear when there is little else to say.
Every day that passes without an arrest is a day Nancy Guthrie's family lives in limbo. It is also a day that opportunists, fraudsters, and attention-seekers can exploit a high-profile case for bitcoin or notoriety. The flood of fake ransom notes is not just a nuisance, it diverts investigative resources and torments a family already enduring the worst kind of uncertainty.
The sender of the latest notes may know something. Or they may be another grifter working the margins of a tragedy. Law enforcement owes the Guthrie family, and the public, a clearer accounting of where this investigation stands.
Two months, no suspects, and a stack of ransom notes sent to a gossip site. Somewhere, an 80-year-old woman who needs her daily medication is still missing. That ought to be enough to demand more than boilerplate reassurances from the people charged with finding her.
