It has been six months since Nancy Gurthrie, the mother of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the middle of the night.
Authorities believe the 84 year old, who had a known heart condition, was forcibly taken in the early hours of February 1. On February 10, the FBI released video and images of a masked man at the entrance of Nancy’s home that were recovered from her Nest doorbell camera. Since then, there have been no major breakthroughs in the case that we know of.
The Latest
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos released a statement Thursday saying the “investigation remains active and ongoing.” He encouraged anyone with information about the case to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or 88-CRIME, but he offered little else.
His update came days after Savannah posted a new video on Instagram with a message directed at whomever took her mother. Like in previous pleas, it sounded like her words were being carefully chosen.
“The world can be a cruel and unforgiving place, and I know that you have tried to do things the right way,” she said, in part. “So I am asking you — begging you — to do the right thing now. Make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her. I truly believe it is never too late to do the right thing. Help us bring this situation to an end.”
“For all of us, no matter where we’ve been and what we’ve done, I believe there is always a way home,” she continued. “Please make the right choice.”
The First Ransom Note
Meanwhile, the public is finally learning what was written in the first so-called ‘ransom note’ that was sent via online tip lines to TMZ and two local Arizona news stations just one day after Nancy went missing.
While authorities have refused to publish the contents of that note or those that followed, crime journalist Briana Whitney read from it on the Crime Junkie podcast last week. Whitney worked as a reporter for Arizona’s Family stations when they received the note on February 2.
“Hello, Savannah. We have your mother, Nancy. She is safe but scared. She will be held for ransom, and once payment is received, she will be released unharmed. We will be holding her for a maximum of seven days,” it began.
Whitney said it demanded the ransom be paid in “USD” or U.S. dollars. “Once payment is received to the Bitcoin address below, she will be released within 12 hours of deposit to a safe drop off location back in Tucson,” she continued reading.
“If the payment is not received by the last deadline on Monday the 9th at 5pm, she will be killed,” Whitney read. “Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands. It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible. You will not be able to contact me from here on out. There will be no negotiation. Do not play games. Law enforcement will not be able to help you.”
It was previously known that the note included specific details about Nancy’s home, and Whitney confirmed what those tidbits were. “They said she had a white smartwatch that was on the floor near her bed, like at the foot of her bed, and that there was a floodlight in the backyard that had been destroyed,” she said.
Whitney noted that the FBI is still investigating whether the note is legitimate, but Savannah suggested to Hoda Kotb in their March NBC News sit-down that she believes it was credible.
Is It Credible?
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by security experts Chad Ayers, Will Geddes, and James Hamilton to discuss the text and what it reveals.
While reading from the note, Whitney flagged that the fact that the author specified payment in “USD” raises questions about where the person might be from. Ayers agreed and believes it undermines their credibility. “I still personally believe that it is some type of organized crime ring, a scam, trying to solicit money from the family,” he said.
Geddes acknowledged there are parts of the note that seem “reasonably well considered and well structured.” Those include the demand for Bitcoin and that Nancy would be returned to the local area around payment, but he took issue with the delivery method.
The public was aware that the note was delivered via digital tip lines to various news outlets. Earlier this month, CBS News reported that a Gmail address was used as part of at least some of the submissions. According to CBS sources, the family worked with the FBI to craft a response, but they never received a reply.
In Geddes’ view, the decision to use Gmail speaks volumes. “Setting up a burner Gmail account that, to me, sniffs of someone that is not so organized. I don’t want to give any viewers ideas of how to deliver a ransom demand by a more secure route, but I certainly wouldn’t be using Gmail because Gmail,” he said.
“Even if you set up a burner account, you use various VPNs, they are reasonably traceable – even if it is just a singular account that they’ve set up for the purposes of delivering this ransom card,” Geddes added.
Hamilton pointed to how the note was submitted. “If I am going to go through all this trouble to kidnap this lady and try to get paid, I’m certainly not going to send an email to a local news outlet or TMZ in the hope that they’re going to get it somehow to Savannah and Savannah is actually going to believe me with all the other fake ransom emails that are coming in,” he explained.
“I’m not going to do that. I’m going to reach out to her directly, and I’m going to tell her what I want and how to get her mom back,” he added. “I liked the note… It was pretty ruthless; gave no kind of way to go back and forth. I thought that was pretty good. But again, there are a lot of great writers out there.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ayers, Geddes, and Hamilton by tuning in to episode 1,371 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.