Some Nancy Guthrie ransom demands may be legitimate, FBI says

Investigators cannot dismiss the legitimacy of all the ransom notes received regarding the missing 84-year-old mother of NBC "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie, the FBI's office in Phoenix said.

"Some have been deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy. Other ransom demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such," the office wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon, July 1. "This case continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case."

The FBI will continue to offer assistance with the investigation, though the Pima County Sheriff's Department continues to lead the case, the post stated.

The update follows conflicting reports about three notes sent in connection with Guthrie's suspected kidnapping.

On June 30, Reuters reported that an anonymous FBI official said two messages sent to multiple news organizations in the days following Guthrie's disappearance, as well as a third recent note from someone claiming to know the abductors' identities, are fake.

"None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine," the FBI official reportedly told the outlet, which noted a second law enforcement source familiar with the matter said the same.

TMZ published an update the next day claiming law enforcement sources refuted that report.

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing Feb. 1 after she was last seen entering the garage of her Tucson home the night before. 

As the Pima County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation, purported ransom notes containing alleged details about the suspected abduction were sent to news outlets, including KOLD News, CBS' Tucson affiliate, and TMZ.

Savannah Guthrie addressed the notes several times in social media videos and revealed during an NBC interview in March that she and her family believe two of those notes — the first of which demanded money — "are real."

Months later, on June 22, NBC News, ABC News and CBS News reported that the second note claimed Guthrie was dead. NBC and ABC cited unnamed people "familiar with the matter," and CBS cited "sources who reviewed the notes."

On June 26, TMZ reported that they received a new ransom note allegedly offering the password to a phone in a "secure location" containing information on Guthrie's disappearance in exchange for Bitcoin payment. The outlet said the note came from someone with the same email and Bitcoin address as the person who emailed them in February.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos spoke out about the legitimacy of the latest note that same day during an interview on Tucson radio station KVOI AM 1030's "Buckmaster Show." Nanos expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of all three ransom notes, which he noted are being investigated by the FBI as they continue to partner with the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

"I think the FBI has done a number of arrests for false or fake ransom notes," Nanos said. "It's a shame that that happens, but I think we're looking at another one of those today with what's been reported. But we'll let the FBI do their work."

He added that "people have great interest, and that's good because it helps us, but then it really gets abused," but those "who call in fake ransom notes, people who claim ([false information) for the sake of media and the family, they get out and disturb, in this case, an entire neighborhood."