TMZ received two more purported ransom notes Monday claiming to reveal the location of Nancy Guthrie's body and the identity of her kidnapper, the same day her daughter Savannah Guthrie returned to the "Today" show for the first time since the 84-year-old woman vanished from her Tucson-area home in early February.
The notes mark the latest twist in a case that has gripped the country for months, and one that law enforcement has, so far, failed to solve. No suspects have been identified. No arrests have been made. And the family of a missing elderly woman is left navigating a stream of communications that may be real leads or cruel hoaxes.
TMZ founder Harvey Levin disclosed the new correspondence on air Monday. As the New York Post reported, Levin said 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.'"
The sender demanded half a bitcoin up front, with the other half to be transferred upon a public arrest. That demand follows an earlier note, sent to TMZ nearly two months ago, that sought a full bitcoin in exchange for information about Nancy Guthrie's February 1 disappearance. TMZ said it alerted the FBI about the latest messages.
The two new notes go further than the first. One flatly states: "She is dead." A second claims the sender saw Nancy Guthrie alive "with them in the state of Sonora Mexico." The sender also insisted they had nothing to do with the crime and claimed to have been outside the United States for more than five years.
In one of the letters, the sender wrote that they had been "willing to deliver them on a silver platter since the 11th of february for a bitcoin." The person described wanting "whats fair" and enough "to start my life again quietly." Levin described the sender as "persistent."
Whether any of this is credible remains an open question. The Pima County Sheriff's Department said it is aware of reports about possible ransom notes tied to the case. A spokesperson offered a measured statement:
"All tips and leads are being taken seriously and are forwarded directly to our detectives, who are coordinating with the FBI."
That coordination has been ongoing since the earliest days of the investigation. Breitbart reported that investigators believed suspected abductors had sent ransom notes demanding $6 million by 5 p.m. on a Monday deadline, with at least one note believed to be authentic. The FBI increased personnel, set up a 24-hour command post, and coordinated with local law enforcement. Digital billboards and a $50,000 reward were deployed to seek information.
Savannah Guthrie has been public about the agony her family has endured. Late last month, she said in a "Today" interview that most of the ransom notes sent to her family were fakes, but she drew a careful distinction about two of them.
"I believe the two notes that we received, that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real," she said.
That statement carries weight. It means the Guthrie family responded to at least two ransom demands, believing them genuine. It also means the family has been forced to sort real threats from opportunistic fraud, a burden no family should bear while a loved one is missing.
Savannah Guthrie has previously spoken about her fear that her own fame may have put her mother in danger, a painful admission that underscores the personal toll of this case.
Earlier in the investigation, Savannah and her siblings released a video appeal directly addressing the suspected abductors. The Washington Times reported that Savannah said in the video: "We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay."
That willingness to pay, stated publicly, on camera, is the measure of a family's desperation. And it raises an uncomfortable question about the investigation itself: if the family was prepared to meet ransom demands weeks ago, what has law enforcement accomplished in the time since?
Nancy Guthrie was last seen alive on the evening of January 31, when her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni, married to her other daughter, Annie, dropped her off at home. By February 1, she was gone.
A series of messages were sent to media outlets in early February. The case quickly drew national attention, and the FBI joined the Pima County Sheriff's Department in the investigation.
National Review reported that the FBI released recovered doorbell-camera images and video showing a masked individual with a backpack and what appeared to be a gun holster trying to disable or cover the camera hours after Nancy returned home. Bloodstains found at her home were confirmed to be hers. As Fox News reported, Savannah described evidence at the scene that included propped-open doors, blood on the front doorstep, and a Ring camera that had been yanked off. She pushed back on early speculation that her mother might have simply wandered away, saying Nancy was physically unable to do so.
"It's just absolutely terrifying. It's just totally terrifying," Savannah said of the Ring camera footage.
Despite all of this, the doorbell footage, the blood evidence, the ransom demands, the FBI command post, the $50,000 reward, no suspects have been publicly identified. The Pima County Sheriff's Department, led by Sheriff Chris Nanos, has not produced an arrest.
The Newsmax report noted that authorities said they were aware of a new message regarding Nancy Guthrie and were checking its authenticity, while media reports described ransom notes demanding several million dollars in bitcoin, though law enforcement has not publicly confirmed a specific amount.
Against this backdrop, Savannah Guthrie returned to the "Today" show Monday morning. Her opening words were simple.
"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," she said.
The return had been anticipated for weeks. Her reappearance at the anchor desk came after a prolonged absence that began when her mother went missing. In the intervening weeks, she shared an Easter message in which she voiced her disappointment with God as her mother remained missing, a raw and honest expression of grief from a public figure navigating a private nightmare.
NBC had also taken steps to tighten security at Studio 1A ahead of her return, a reflection of the threats and uncertainties that have surrounded the case from the start.
That Savannah Guthrie chose to come back to work at all, while her mother's fate remains unknown, while ransom notes keep arriving, while the investigation grinds forward without visible progress, speaks to a resilience that deserves respect regardless of one's politics or television preferences.
The core questions in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance remain unanswered. Who took her? Is she alive? Are any of the ransom notes authentic? What has the FBI learned from the doorbell-camera footage of the masked figure? What does the blood evidence tell investigators?
And there is a harder question that the Pima County Sheriff's Department owes the public: after months of investigation, with FBI resources, doorbell footage, blood evidence, and multiple ransom communications, why has no suspect been identified?
The sender of the latest notes to TMZ may be a fraud. The claims about Sonora, Mexico, may be fabricated. The assertion that Nancy Guthrie is dead may be a lie designed to extract cryptocurrency from a desperate family or a media outlet willing to pay for a lead. Law enforcement has not authenticated any of the notes discussed in the latest round of reporting.
But the fact that these notes keep coming, and that a family has been left to sort real from fake on their own, in public, is an indictment of how this case has been handled. An 84-year-old woman vanished from her home. Blood was found on her doorstep. A masked figure appeared on her camera. And months later, the people responsible remain free.
Families like the Guthries deserve more than boilerplate assurances that "all tips and leads are being taken seriously." They deserve results. So far, they have gotten press statements.
