Harvey Levin Pushes Back on FBI Ransom Note Dismissal

The conflicting messages surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance just got murkier. TMZ founder Harvey Levin is contradicting a Reuters report claiming the FBI has dismissed ransom notes connected to the case, insisting he’s received different information directly from law enforcement.

Here’s where it gets tangled: Reuters reported on Tuesday, June 29 that the FBI had deemed three ransom notes—including two received by TMZ—as fake. One note, which arrived in February alongside a demand for millions in cryptocurrency, claimed to possess footage of the“main guy”in the kidnapping and Nancy on the day she allegedly died. Another, received by local Tucson outlets, stated that Nancy had died with no ransom demand attached.

But Levin’s telling a different story. In a video published by TMZ on Wednesday, July 1, the 75-year-old claimed an FBI official told him that“it is more likely than not that the two ransom notes are real,”specifically referencing the February notes sent to TMZ and local news stations. The official apparently told Levin the notes were“more legitimate than not,”though the FBI hadn’t definitively confirmed their authenticity—just that they hadn’t ruled them out as fake either. As for the more recent notes asking for money in exchange for information, Levin said the FBI deemed those“less likely”to be real, but again, nothing’s been completely discounted.

The real insight? Levin’s explanation for the contradiction:“This is a big organization, and there are multiple agents on this case. If you talk to all of them, their opinions are going to vary, so it depends on who you talk to.”Translation: the FBI isn’t speaking with one voice on this investigation.

The FBI Phoenix field office attempted to clarify on Wednesday, stating that some ransom notes have been“deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy”while others“may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such.”The case remains classified as a kidnapping for ransom, with local authorities leading the investigation and the FBI offering support. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos echoed that every tip and lead is taken seriously and forwarded to detectives working in coordination with federal agents.

Nancy, the mother of Today show cohost Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home near Tucson, Arizona on February 1. Since then, the investigation has been flooded with communications—some potentially legitimate, some clearly not. What’s becoming clear is that even the agencies investigating can’t seem to agree on which is which.