A crucial deadline set by Nancy Guthrie’s kidnappers passed without her return Monday evening with the FBI saying it’s not aware of any communication between the abductors and the Guthrie family and has not identified any suspects in the case.
In a ransom note, the purported kidnappers gave the Guthries a 5 p.m. local time deadline to pay them $6 million in bitcoin for the return of the 84-year-old grandmother. It’s unclear if any ransom was paid. Guthrie has been gone for nine days with no evidence she’s taking the medication she needs or proof she’s still alive from kidnappers.
As the family’s desperation grows, investigators are consulting with artificial intelligence experts to examine ransom notes to determine the validity and possible origins of the messages, sources told The Times.
The sources who discussed the case with The Times spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Guthrie’s disappearance, which police initially said was a missing person case, was odd from the beginning and the mystery has only deepened with time. In this case, 21st century technology has added a new dimension.
For decades, FBI profilers and veteran detectives parsed the grammar and syntax of ransom notes looking for clues that could reveal someone’s education level or socioeconomic background, among other details.
“With traditionally handwritten notes, typed notes, you know it is going to be unique to the person who wrote it,” said University of Hawaii Police Chief Andrew Black, who was previously a FBI special agent in charge of the Tucson office. “There will be some indicators, whether it is writing style or grammar or spelling errors, that can help you identify who created it.”
Now, such messages can be written by AI, eliminating a writer’s signature voice. This, Black said, adds “another layer of complexity” to the investigation.
Adding to the issues in the case, the kidnappers are asking for money using cryptocurrency, which is much harder to track than the money drops of years past. The way kidnappers have been communicating is also out of the ordinary, Black said.
“The methodology of these individuals doesn’t match what typical kidnappers do who are holding someone for ransom,” Black said. “They usually establish a direct line of communication … with the victim’s family and law enforcement and they exclude the public and the media because they don’t want additional attention.”
In this case, the ransom demands have gone directly to the media.
One message, sent directly to the family, was traced to a Southern California man who was determined not to be involved in Guthrie’s disappearance. The other two messages — one on Feb. 2 and another on Friday — were sent to news outlets.
In the meantime, the family has reached a point of desperation, pleading with the public via social media for help finding their mother.
“We believe our mom is still out there. We need your help,” “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie, Nancy’s daughter, said in a video on Instagram on Monday. “So I’m coming on just to ask you, not just for your prayers but no matter where you are — even if you’re far from Tucson — if you see anything, if you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement. We are in an hour of desperation.”
On Saturday, Savannah Guthrie spoke directly to the kidnappers in a cryptic video saying that her family will pay for their mother’s return.
“We received your message, and we understand,” Guthrie said in the video, sitting beside her brother and sister. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
Sources told The Times the ransom note received Feb. 2 felt credible because it included details about a specific damaged piece of property and the placement of an accessory in the home that had not been made public.
The letter contained a first deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday and a second demand with a Monday deadline, said Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division.
Harvey Levin, founder of celebrity news website TMZ, has reviewed one of the three identical letters that were sent to media outlets and told CNN on Thursday that “the Monday deadline is far more consequential.” Levin said Thursday night that TMZ had confirmed the bitcoin address was real.
“They went to great lengths in sending this email to us in making sure that it stays anonymous,” he said. “It is a carefully crafted letter, and this is not something that somebody threw together in five minutes.”
Concerns about the validity of the ransom note are not unfounded. Last week, after the family posted a tearful video pleading for their mother’s safe return, authorities said Derrick Callella of Hawthorne sent an “imposter” ransom message demanding bitcoin to two members of the family. Investigators linked his phone number to an email address and later, his home, according to court records.
As the investigation drags into a second week, authorities have not publicly identified anyone as a person of interest or suspect. Investigators have returned to the home several times to process evidence, at one point appearing to search inside a septic tank near the property.
Hours before she vanished, Guthrie had spent the evening with family, gathering for dinner and a game night at her eldest daughter’s home. Her son-in-law dropped her back home just after 9:45 p.m. Saturday, which officials said matched with when her garage door opened and closed that night.
About four hours later, at 1:47 a.m., officials said her doorbell camera disconnected.
Then at 2:12 a.m., the security camera software at Guthrie’s home detected a person — or an animal — on one of the home’s cameras, but Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said authorities have not been able to recover that video and don’t know which camera recorded the movement.
About 15 minutes later, at 2:28 a.m., Guthrie’s pacemaker app shows a disconnect from the phone, Nanos said. That appears to be exactly when she left her home, as her phone was left behind.
When Guthrie didn’t show up for church Sunday her family went to check on her at home, discovered her missing and called police, Nanos said.
Authorities said her doorbell camera had been removed and there were blood splatters near the front door.
Although Guthrie is of sound mind, family members have said she has physical ailments that prevent her from walking long distances and she uses a pacemaker. There has been no “proof of life” offered by the abductors, officials said last week.
Black said Guthrie’s health problems make the investigation all the more urgent. He believes the FBI will be able to solve the case given the massive resources it has thrown at the investigation.
“I think they are going to get to the bottom of this,” he said. “It is just a question of can they do it in a timely manner that we get a positive result and we have this woman returned safely?”
