FBI Declares Nancy Guthrie Ransom Notes Fraudulent

Five months into the search for Nancy Guthrie, the case just took a significant turn—but not toward answers. The FBI has determined that every ransom note sent to media outlets following the 84-year-old’s suspected abduction in February was fake, closing the door on what initially seemed like a direct line to her kidnappers.

The development stings because those notes felt credible at the time. The first, received by outlets including TMZ in the days after Nancy disappeared from her home in the Catalina Foothills outside Tucson, Arizona, included specific demands: millions of dollars deposited into a Bitcoin account by February 5, then again by February 9. TMZ founder Harvey Levin told CNN in February that reading it felt purposeful—”very detailed,”he said. The note claimed Nancy was“OK, but scared”and“aware of the letter and the demands.”A second note arrived days later suggesting she had died, describing her as“buried in nature”and saying she had“perished”shortly after being taken. Neither note asked for money in exchange for her body.

How’d the FBI crack them as fakes? The bureau attempted to deposit a small amount of money into the cryptocurrency account mentioned in that first note. It went unclaimed—a telltale sign that whoever wrote it wasn’t actually holding Nancy. The FBI also flagged a third note TMZ received last week from someone claiming to have video footage of the“main guy”and Nancy on the day she allegedly died. That one was dismissed too, though the FBI didn’t publicly reveal its reasoning.

What remains is the hard reality: Nancy’s last confirmed sighting was the evening of January 31 when she had dinner with her eldest daughter, Annie Guthrie, and her son-in-law. Early the next morning, she vanished. Her daughter is Savannah Guthrie, cohost of the Today show. The case is still active, according to Angelina Carrillo of the Pima County police force, but without genuine leads from those notes, investigators are back to square one on finding out what actually happened to her.

The fake ransom notes—elaborate enough to fool some observers—may have actually muddied the investigation. Real leads could’ve been overlooked while authorities sorted through hoaxes. For Savannah Guthrie and her family, the false hopes attached to each note must’ve been agonizing. Today’s revelation clears the air but doesn’t bring Nancy home.