Nancy Guthrie, Nancy Guthrie ransom note
Guthrie's relatives offer $1M for her safe return, but a stranger messaged them in February asking if a payment had cleared FBI

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos warned on 29 September that scammers may target the Nancy Guthrie search. His team determined that the latest ransom text was not credible. 'Do not send money or provide personal information in response to unsolicited messages,' the sheriff said.

Guthrie, 84, is the mother of Savannah Guthrie, a co-anchor of Today. Police believe Guthrie was taken after she was last seen at her home near Tucson on 31 January. A Tucson woman reports a demand for six bitcoin, an online currency worth about $500,000 (£378,000), to free Guthrie. Detectives have not tied it to the text.

How the Demand Reached a Tucson Woman

The woman wrote on Facebook that the demand arrived on Sunday night, 27 September. She has said that Guthrie once showed her kindness at a farmers' market almost 12 years ago. The sender claimed Guthrie was still alive in Mexico and sent a payment code. Local detectives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) heard about the text on Monday, 28 September. Nanos has not given a reason for the finding.

When the woman asked for proof of life, the sender claimed Mafia involvement and sent a video, according to her account. She calls the clip an obvious artificial intelligence fake. Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer says she got a similar bitcoin demand in April. She said it carried a fake image of Guthrie. Coffindaffer passed it to the FBI and thinks one criminal network sent both, because the image in her April message resembles one in the woman's video.

Fake Demand Led to Federal Guilty Plea

Derrick Callella, 42, from California, texted and called Guthrie's relatives on 4 February. He asked about a bitcoin transfer, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona said. Agents arrested him the next day. In July, Callella pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment using a telecommunication device. He also admitted that he knew of an earlier ransom note. The office first announced the charge in the statement below.

'The Department of Justice will protect victims and families at all costs,' said Timothy Courchaine, the US Attorney for Arizona. Each harassment count carries up to two years in prison, a $250,000 (£189,000) fine, or both, his office said. Investigators linked the phone number behind the texts to Callella's email address, and then to his home in Hawthorne, according to the federal criminal complaint. He admitted he was trying to see whether the family would respond, according to the criminal complaint.

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How Police Judge Notes and Where to Report One

The first ransom note, which the sheriff's department released in July, mentioned a white smartwatch by Guthrie's bed and a destroyed floodlight. Police had not made either detail public when it arrived. Former crisis negotiator James Hamilton told Arizona's Family each check takes hours; 'we need to be spending elsewhere like trying to find her.'

Anyone who gets a message about Guthrie should report it to police, the sheriff's department says. Tips can also go to the national line, 1-800-CALL-FBI. Her family offers a $1M (£756,000) reward for news that brings her home, and Nanos says the investigation is still active.

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