One of the ransom notes sent regarding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance in February issued a “sputtering and labored” apology for her inadvertent death, according to a new report.
Sources close to the investigation told Air Mail, in a piece published Saturday, that the message arrived on Feb. 6 with a “new, less confident tone” than a previous note from the same I.P. address.
Savannah Guthrie’s mom’s alleged kidnapper went on to float the possibility of returning the 84-year-old’s body for money, with the amount not specified.
The individual previously — hours after Nancy was reported missing from her Tucson, Arizona, home on Feb. 1 — asked for $4 million for Nancy’s safe return.
At the time, the message referred to the matriarch as feeling “safe but scared.”
The message asked that the millions in Bitcoin be sent by Feb. 5 — “or else” — and bumped the number up to $6 million if not received by Feb. 9.
Instead of sending the hefty sum, officials sent $152 to the Bitcoin address in question — hoping to tempt the person to extract the money as cash and, therefore, become traceable.
The amount was untouched, however.
This weekend’s report labeled this unsuccessful attempt to “tickl[e] the wire” a critical error in the investigation’s early days.
The “Today” show co-host seemingly spoke to Hoda Kotb about those specific ransom notes in her first interview discussing the family tragedy in March.
“I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real,” she said at the time.
She and her siblings — brother Camron Guthrie and sister Annie Guthrie — directly addressed the alleged abductor in multiple Instagram videos, pleading for their mom’s return.
After the Feb. 6 message with the apology, she said, “We received your message and understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her.”
Savannah called this “valuable” and offered to pay the ransom.
Later that same month, Savannah again offered $1 million for Nancy’s return.
“We know that she may be lost,” the journalist said in the emotional footage. “She may already be gone. … And if this is what is to be, then we will accept it, but we need to know where she is. We need her to come home.”
Savannah returned to work at Studio 1A in April as Nancy’s kidnapper, who was seen in security camera footage from Nancy’s residence the night of her disappearance, remains at large as the investigation enters its fifth month.
