Pima County investigators are reviewing a possible new ransom note in the Nancy Guthrie case, though a source close to the probe says none are treated as credible.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday that its joint task force with the FBI had recently been made aware of a possible new ransom note tied to the long-running search for Nancy Guthrie, the Tucson mother taken from her home and still missing. Fox News reported the department's public notice and the caution that followed.
Investigators are also examining social media comments about the note as they try to judge whether it is real. A law enforcement source close to the case told Fox News that no new notes are being treated as credible.
That dual message lands on a family and a community still waiting for answers. Guthrie was taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of Feb. 1 and has not been seen since, according to the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
She was last seen shortly before 10 p.m. local time on Jan. 31, after a relative dropped her off at her home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood. By the next morning, she was gone.
In the days after she vanished, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told reporters she had not walked away on her own.
Nanos said during a news briefing:
"She did not leave on her own. We know that."
Authorities have pointed to a Ring doorbell image of a masked man in connection with the case. A source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that two photos of the suspect in that doorbell video were taken on different days. No suspect or person of interest has been publicly identified.
Pressure on the early response has only grown as the months have passed, including coverage of how deputies first handled the scene at the Tucson home.
A first ransom note was sent on Feb. 2. It reported that Guthrie was unharmed and demanded $4 million in cryptocurrency for her release.
A second note followed on Feb. 6. That one said she had died shortly after she was kidnapped. The notes used a distinctive writing style, and when authorities released them in late July they asked anyone who recognized the patterns to contact the sheriff's department and the FBI.
Those releases became a major public turn in the case, detailed in prior reporting when Pima County made the ransom notes public and the family described the toll.
Missing-person billboards went up in Phoenix as the search widened. Guthrie's children have pleaded with the public for help identifying whoever took her. Her daughter, NBC host Savannah Guthrie, posted a photo of her mother to Instagram on Aug. 1, 2026, keeping Nancy's face in front of a national audience.
Months into the search, even small shifts in public language have drawn notice, including when Savannah Guthrie spoke of her mother on live television while the investigation continued.
On Tuesday the PCSD/FBI Guthrie Task Force put the latest claim on the record. The department posted that it had been made aware of a new possible ransom note and that investigators were looking into related social media comments to test credibility.
The department stated:
"The PCSD/FBI Guthrie Task Force was recently made aware of a new possible ransom note related to the Nancy Guthrie investigation,"
It added that investigators "are also aware of social media comments regarding the note and are looking further into the information to determine its credibility."
That is the official posture: receive the material, check it, and do not rush to treat it as fact. The unnamed law enforcement source who spoke to Fox News drew a harder line, saying no new notes are being handled as credible leads.
Authenticity questions have followed every ransom claim in this case, a thread also examined when reporting turned to how federal investigators viewed the notes tied to the kidnapping theory.
Separate search developments have cut both ways for a public hungry for resolution. One earlier episode involved human remains found near the Tucson home that the sheriff said were not linked to Guthrie's disappearance.
No arrest has been announced. No charging documents appear in the available record of this update. What officials continue to advertise are tip lines: 1-800-CALL-FBI, and an anonymous local line at 520-88-CRIME.
The core facts have not moved. Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Tucson home. She has not been seen since. Two earlier notes made conflicting claims, one of a live captive and a $4 million Bitcoin demand, another of her death. A possible third communication is now in the task force's hands for a credibility check, while a source close to the case says it is not being treated as real.
For a family left without their mother, and for neighbors who watched billboards go up and doorbell video circulate, the standard is simple: follow real evidence, discard noise, and bring the people responsible to account.
