Stones of the Yarra Valley

New ransom note details as Nancy Guthrie’s family plea again to captors: ‘SAFE BUT SCARED’

· Toronto Sun

Disturbing new details about a ransom letter connected to Nancy Guthrie have been revealed.

The mother of three, including Today host Savannah Guthrie, is alive, the alleged note promises, but her release is contingent on millions in cryptocurrency being sent to a Bitcoin address that was provided, TMZ reported after Thursday’s payment deadline passed.

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A second looming deadline “is far more consequential,” TMZ’s Harvey Levin told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night, without elaborating.

What the note said

The note sent to TMZ and local TV stations claimed the 84-year-old Arizona woman was “safe but scared” but did not provide the family any details on how to contact her abductors.

“You will have no way of contacting me, this is the only contact,’” Levin told CNN of the note following the family’s second plea for the captors to make contact.

He noted that the author went to “great lengths in making sure it’s anonymous.”

Levin added: “So that’s why they’re pleading for proof of life, because they have no idea how to get in touch with this person.”

New Guthrie family statement

Savannah’s brother spoke out Thursday in a second message to their mom’s kidnapper following their first statement on Wednesday .

“This is Camron Guthrie and I’m speaking for the Guthrie family,” Camron said in a video shared via Savannah’s Instagram page.

“Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward,” he pleaded.

“But first, we have to know if you have our mom. We want to talk to you and we are waiting for contact.”

Levin claimed during his appearance on CNN that officials are still struggling to track down who may have sent the letter, as Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said no suspects have been identified in the case.

Not far from Guthrie home?

“As far as we can tell, it’s impossible to trace the origin of this email,” the TMZ founder said.

“There are real reasons, based on what’s written there, that I believe that this person is in the radius of the Tucson area,” noting “something specific in there” — though Levin did not go into detail.

“I think at least what the authorities have is they have a radius, and that’s something.”

The ransom note also offered specific details including an Apple Watch placed inside her home and a broken floodlight, Levin told Hannity.

“This is not a letter that was thrown together in a couple of minutes,” the TMZ producer told Hannity. “It’s a very specific, well-organized, layered letter that really lays things out.”

Levin also detailed: “This is not AI. It’s not a crazy person who’s writing this,” noting how “very detailed” and “very, very structured” the note is.

FBI officials previously said they have not verified the authenticity of the ransom letter, but insisted it is being taken “very seriously” as an investigative lead.

The bureau, which is working jointly with local law enforcement, announced Thursday it is offering a US$50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy.

Timeline of Nancy’s abduction

Nancy was taken from her home in Tucson early Sunday.

On Saturday, she took an Uber to her eldest daughter, Annie, and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni’s home where she had dinner, then was dropped off by a family member just before 10 p.m. at her home, where she entered through her garage door, Nanos said at a news conference Thursday.

Hours later, her doorbell was disconnected at 1:47 a.m. but at 2:12 a.m., a person was detected by the camera’s sensors.

At 2:28am, Nancy’s pacemaker app cut off from her phone’s Bluetooth, Sheriff Nanos revealed.

She was reported missing later that morning after failing to show up at church.

Investigators soon found the doorbell camera missing from the front porch, where they also discovered blood droplets — which have since been confirmed as Nancy’s.

“We’re actively looking at everyone we come across in this case, everybody,” Nanos said.

“We would be irresponsible if we didn’t talk to everybody — the Uber driver, the gardener, the pool person, whoever. Especially — it’s so cliché — but everybody’s still a suspect in our eyes. That’s just how we look at things and think as cops,” he continued.

“And the family’s been very cooperative,” he added. “They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them. And we want that relationship to continue.”

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