Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos went on local radio Friday to wave off yet another letter claiming knowledge of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping, the latest in a string of purported ransom communications that have dogged an investigation already under political fire for months.
The new email, sent to TMZ by the same anonymous individual behind a series of earlier messages, alleged that two people were responsible for Guthrie's disappearance and that a phone stored in "a secure location" contains video of the "main" kidnapper. The price for the phone's password: one bitcoin.
Nanos wasn't buying it. In an interview on Tucson's KVOI AM 1030, the sheriff told listeners that the FBI has a track record of arresting people who fabricate exactly this kind of thing.
"I think the FBI has done a number of arrests for false or fake ransom notes. It's a shame that that happens, but I think we're looking at another one of those today."
That blunt assessment lands at a moment when Nanos can afford very little margin for error. The Guthrie case, involving the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, has drawn intense national scrutiny, and the sheriff's own conduct has become a separate controversy.
Nancy Guthrie vanished from her home near Tucson in early February. Within days, the ransom letters started.
The first arrived on February 2, demanding millions of dollars in Bitcoin in exchange for her return. TMZ founder Harvey Levin described that note in a February 6 appearance on Fox News' Hannity as "very specific, well-organized" and "not AI," according to a Fox News segment on the case.
A second note followed on February 6, claiming Guthrie had died. Then came a series of additional emails later that month from someone demanding payment for information about her supposed abductors.
The FBI has confirmed it believes at least one of the early ransom notes demanding millions of dollars was likely authentic, a communication from the actual kidnapper. But the second note claiming Guthrie had died was not immediately verified as genuine, and the contradictory messages left investigators and the public in a fog.
Nanos himself acknowledged Friday that two of the prior notes "may or may not have some legitimacy" and that the FBI is working those leads. He declined to say more.
"I can't tell you much more on that, because it would be inappropriate. It is ongoing."
That careful phrasing stands in contrast to his flat dismissal of the newest letter. Nanos drew a clear line: some notes warrant investigation, and some are the work of opportunists.
The sheriff reserved particular frustration for the cottage industry of attention-seekers and grifters the case has attracted. On KVOI, he described how public interest, while helpful in generating tips, also creates openings for bad actors.
"It is a shame that these types of events occur; people have great interest... that's good because it helps us, but then it gets really abused."
He went further, singling out the harm done to Guthrie's neighbors and family by false leads and fabricated claims.
"People who call in fake ransom notes, people who claim for the sake of media and the family, they get out and disturb, in this case, an entire neighborhood."
The note TMZ received Friday claimed Guthrie was captured on "the day that was probably her last", language designed to provoke maximum anguish. Pima County, however, has insisted it continues to work on the principle that Guthrie is still alive.
That posture has drawn skepticism from outside observers. A criminal profiler who reviewed the ransom notes publicly questioned their authenticity, calling them staged, a view that aligns, at least partially, with Nanos's Friday dismissal.
Whatever one thinks of Nanos's public handling of the case, the investigation behind it is enormous. The AP reported that several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the search, combing desert terrain across the Tucson area. The FBI released surveillance images of a masked person approaching Guthrie's home, generating more than 4,000 tips to the Pima County sheriff's tip line.
A man detained near the U.S.-Mexico border was questioned and released, leaving the investigation's direction unclear. The sheer volume of tips, notes, and false leads has created a needle-in-a-haystack problem that would strain any law enforcement agency.
Earlier ransom notes contained specific details about the interior of Guthrie's home and included a real Bitcoin address for payment, details that investigators have scrutinized for clues they believe could help crack the case.
The latest round of communications has taken a different form. The Washington Examiner reported that TMZ has now received a fourth note from an anonymous individual, this one claiming Guthrie is in Mexico, south of the border, and that the writer saw her "with them" five days earlier. TMZ chief Harvey Levin publicly urged the note-writer to submit verifiable information through TMZ, which would be forwarded to the FBI.
A previous note in that series demanded $50,000 in Bitcoin in exchange for the kidnapper's identity, with all messages traceable to a consistent Bitcoin address. Whether that address matches the one from the original February ransom note remains unclear from available reporting.
Nanos's Friday radio appearance came against a backdrop of mounting political trouble for the sheriff himself. Reports surfaced in March that Nanos had misrepresented his work history on a public resume and in a sworn deposition, allegations serious enough to prompt official action.
At a May meeting, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to refer possible perjury allegations against Nanos to the Arizona attorney general. The board did not, however, advance a separate motion to vacate the sheriff's office. Nanos survived that bid, but the perjury referral hangs over his tenure.
The sheriff's relationship with the Guthrie family has also frayed. Nanos has acknowledged he is no longer in direct contact with the family, an unusual admission in a high-profile missing-persons case that typically demands close coordination between investigators and victims' relatives.
Separately, a Pima County official alleged that Nanos rebuked her for sharing a case tip directly with the FBI, raising questions about whether turf concerns have complicated the investigation.
Savannah Guthrie, Nancy's daughter, made an emotional public plea in early February. "We beg you now to return our mother to us," she said in a social media video. "This is very valuable to us, and we will pay." That plea went unanswered.
Months into the investigation, basic questions remain open. No arrest has been made in connection with Nancy Guthrie's disappearance. No confirmed evidence has surfaced publicly establishing whether she is alive or dead. The identity of the person sending notes to TMZ is unknown. The status of the Arizona attorney general's review of the perjury referral against Nanos has not been disclosed.
The key details of the ransom notes remain in dispute, with one note apologizing for Guthrie's death while authorities maintain the working assumption that she is alive.
Nanos may well be right that the latest letter is a fraud. The FBI's history of prosecuting fake ransom notes gives his skepticism a factual foundation. But dismissing notes from a radio studio does not find Nancy Guthrie. And a sheriff facing perjury allegations, estranged from the victim's family, and fending off removal attempts is not exactly operating from a position of public trust.
An 84-year-old woman has been missing for nearly five months. Her family is begging. The tips number in the thousands. And the man in charge of the case is spending his Fridays explaining which ransom notes he thinks are real and which ones he thinks are fake. That tells you everything about where this investigation stands.
