Authorities say they are reviewing reports of messages sent to TMZ as the search for Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother enters a third month.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Investigators reviewing two new purported ransom notes tied to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie said Thursday that the case remains active, with no arrests and no public confirmation that the latest messages are authentic.
The development matters because it revives one of the most closely watched missing-person cases in the country at a moment when the search had shown no public breakthrough for weeks. Guthrie, the mother of NBC “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, vanished from her Tucson-area home after Jan. 31. Authorities have said they believe she was taken against her will. The new messages, reportedly sent Monday, April 6, arrived as Savannah Guthrie returned to television after a two-month absence, adding another wave of public scrutiny to a case already marked by earlier ransom communications, an armed masked suspect on video and a reward topping $1 million.
The known timeline begins the night of Jan. 31, when Nancy Guthrie was last seen by relatives after spending the evening with family in Tucson. On the morning of Feb. 1, a doorbell camera at her home captured a man in a ski mask, gloves and a backpack appearing to tamper with the camera, according to the FBI and Reuters. About a half hour later, investigators said, her pacemaker app lost contact with her phone line. Relatives contacted authorities before noon after she failed to appear for church. In later interviews, Savannah Guthrie said her mother’s back doors were found propped open and that her phone and purse were still inside the house. “We cannot be at peace without knowing,” Savannah Guthrie said in an interview that aired in late March, describing the strain of weeks without answers and the family’s continued hope that someone will come forward.
The newest twist centers on two messages that TMZ said it received on April 6. According to accounts of the notes published this week, one message claimed Nancy Guthrie was dead and offered to identify the kidnappers for one bitcoin. A second message said she had been seen alive with captors in Sonora, Mexico, and asked for half a bitcoin up front and the rest after a public arrest. The sender reportedly said they were not involved in the crime. Authorities have stopped well short of endorsing those claims. A spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department told Newsweek that investigators were aware of reports about possible ransom notes and that all tips and leads were being routed to detectives working with the FBI. The FBI has not publicly confirmed that the April 6 notes are genuine. Retired FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer, speaking to Newsweek, called the timing suspicious and said, “These people are scammers,” arguing that someone with real information would be more likely to pursue the much larger public reward than demand a quick bitcoin payment.
The case already carried a long trail of evidence and false starts before the latest notes surfaced. Authorities have said drops of blood found on Guthrie’s front porch matched her DNA, deepening fears that she was abducted rather than leaving on her own. On Feb. 10, the FBI released surveillance video of the masked man outside the home and said the person appeared to be armed. Search teams later recovered gloves about 2 miles away that resembled those worn by the person in the footage, but that lead faded after the DNA was traced to a local restaurant employee who was cleared, according to Reuters. The FBI says Nancy Guthrie was a vulnerable adult who had difficulty walking, had a pacemaker and needed daily medication for a heart condition. Those facts have shaped the urgency from the start and fueled repeated pleas from her children, who have said she disappeared in her pajamas, without shoes and without medicine.
Procedurally, the investigation remains in a difficult middle stage. Detectives have described the matter as an abduction inquiry, but they have not announced a suspect, filed charges or publicly laid out a clear path to resolution. The FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information leading to Nancy Guthrie’s location or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved, and the family later added a separate $1 million reward. Law enforcement has also had to sort credible leads from noise. Earlier in the case, authorities said several purported ransom messages were under review, and at least one person was arrested in connection with a fake ransom communication. Savannah Guthrie said in her March interview that some of the notes tied to the case were fake, though she believed two earlier notes her family responded to were real. That leaves investigators balancing public appeals, forensic work and repeated claims from outsiders, while withholding enough detail to avoid compromising the search.
The human dimension of the case has stayed visible even as the public record remains thin. Savannah Guthrie returned to the “Today” anchor desk on April 6 and thanked viewers for their support, offering no new factual update on the investigation during the broadcast. In her earlier interview, she spoke through tears about the fear that her national profile may have played a role in what happened to her mother, saying, “I’m so sorry, Mommy,” if that proved to be true. She also pushed back against speculation about relatives, saying no one cared for her mother more than her siblings did. Around Tucson, the disappearance has drawn banners, flowers and handwritten notes of support, while national coverage has kept pressure on local and federal investigators to explain what they can. The newest notes have only sharpened that tension, because they inject dramatic claims into a case where the central facts are still unresolved and every unverified message risks compounding the family’s pain.
As of Thursday, April 9, Nancy Guthrie remained missing, no suspect had been publicly identified and investigators had not said whether the notes reported on April 6 were authentic. The next key turn in the case is likely to come only if detectives tie the messages to a real lead or publicly rule them out.
Author note: Last updated April 9, 2026.