The disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mom of Right now 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 potential kidnapping.
Late Tuesday, leisure information web site TMZ reported it had acquired an alleged ransom word demanding a particular, substantial cost in Bitcoin — reportedly within the thousands and thousands — in trade for Guthrie’s secure return.
The word included a deadline for cost and a risk of hurt if the demand was not met, and was despatched with a Bitcoin pockets deal with that TMZ verified as an actual on-chain account.
The alleged ransom word 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 experiences about potential ransom notes circulating within the investigation, however emphasised that the authenticity of those notes has not been verified.
Authorities pressured that they’re taking all suggestions and leads severely 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 point out up at church in her Catalina Foothills neighborhood.
Authorities consider she was taken from her dwelling someday late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. Proof collected on the scene has raised severe issues: indicators of pressured entry, a blood path exterior the house, and private results left behind recommend foul play slightly than a voluntary disappearance.
Sheriff Nanos, whereas declining to reveal the variety of potential suspects or additional particulars concerning the investigation, has stated that the absence of life-sustaining medicine and Guthrie’s restricted mobility make her secure return a precedence.
The FBI is helping native authorities, and investigators are interviewing mates, neighbors, and members of the family as a part of a broad search effort.
Guthrie’s daughter, Savannah, has taken a right away depart from Right now present duties and canceled scheduled appearances, together with journey for the 2026 Winter Olympics broadcast, to deal with 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 word got here from the precise kidnappers.
Some investigators and analysts have famous that opportunistic hoaxes can happen in high-profile circumstances, and that media shops receiving such notes ought to deal with them skeptically till corroborated by police.