As authorities continue investigating the authenticity of purported ransom notes related to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie distributed to media outlets this week, a second deadline mentioned in the first message is approaching on Monday.
With an amended warrant in hand, authorities conducted another search at Guthrie’s home and the surrounding area near Tucson, Arizona, on Friday, just hours after a second message was sent to local news outlet KOLD. Today marks the seventh day since the 84-year-old mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie was last seen.
Here’s what we know so far about the apparent ransom notes:
First message: A ransom letter sent to several media outlets earlier this week, including TMZ and CNN affiliate KOLD-TV, demanded millions of dollars in bitcoin for Guthrie’s return. The note included two deadlines, including a first deadline for Thursday and a second deadline for Monday, FBI Special Agent in Charge Heith Janke said. No specifics were provided on what time zone the deadline was set for.
Second message: An alleged ransom note sent Friday to KOLD included sensitive information, no deadline, and did not appear to be for a ransom, according to anchor Mary Coleman. Without providing more details about the letter’s contents, Coleman said she thinks the sender made an effort to include details they think will prove to investigators it is the same person or people who sent the first. The second letter is “just as coherent as the first,” but a little shorter, she said.
Same type of secure server: The second note did not have the same IP address as the first letter the station received but “it appears the sender used the same type of secure server” to hide the information, according to Coleman, citing information provided to KOLD by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
No proof of life: Guthrie’s children made a tearful plea for their mother’s safe return in a video posted to social media this week, pleading with potential captors for proof of life. Janke with the FBI said there had been no proof of life and no follow-up communication connected to the first note, along with no confirmation Guthrie is being held. Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI, said no proof of life “undermines the credibility” of the notes, adding, “Every kidnapper knows that you cannot get the money, the ransom, unless you’ve provided proof of life.”
Potential captors talking to media is a good thing: The possible open line of communication is a welcomed development in the case, according to former senior FBI crisis negotiator Richard Kolko. “It says that that’s the path that they’ve chosen,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, saying the goal of a negotiator is to make it “as easy as possible” for hostage takers to be able to communicate with them, even if they do it through media outlets. Kolko said experience dictates deadlines can shift and could be extended, adding, “…If they’re in it for the business deal, they’re going to do everything they can to keep her alive so that they can complete their part of the deal.”
