Nancy Guthrie
Facebook/Savannah Guthrie

TMZ founder Harvey Levin has revealed in a televised interview that he was prepared to pay one bitcoin to an anonymous emailer who claims to hold video evidence and the identities of the people behind the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, but federal agents told the outlet this week to 'stand down'.

The offer, made as Levin pressed the FBI about repeated messages to TMZ demanding one bitcoin in exchange for what the sender called a direct trail to the kidnappers, came after Guthrie vanished from her Arizona home at the end of January and has not been found.

'FBI Ghosted Harvey Levin Over Nancy Guthrie Lead'

Levin said the same individual has been emailing TMZ on and off since Guthrie's abduction, using what he described as a consistent IP address and demanding one Bitcoin, roughly $60,000, in exchange for information that would allegedly identify two kidnappers and point to a phone containing a critical video.

'A month ago, I called the FBI and I said, "Look, I just have this sense this guy might be real,"' Levin told CBS producer Anna Schecter on Saturday.

He said he floated a plan for a documentary in which TMZ would send the cryptocurrency to the address, with the transaction and its aftermath tracked in real time and law enforcement fully in the loop.

According to Levin, federal agents initially indicated they would respond quickly, then stopped returning his calls. 'I had made six calls and I felt they were ghosting us,' he said.

Nancy Guthrie Emails Spark Bitcoin Proposal And 'Stand Down' Order

Levin said the FBI eventually rang back this week with a clear message, as he tells it.

'I did get a call back this week and they asked us to stand down, to not do the documentary,' he recounted. He added that he was told agents believed they were 'making progress in terms of identifying this person' and felt they could do that without TMZ sending money.

The FBI has not publicly confirmed Levin's account.

Both the bureau and the Pima County Sheriff's Office, which is leading the investigation into Guthrie's disappearance, have declined to comment on the claims or on the status of any suspect linked to the emails.

IBTimes UK cannot independently verify Levin's version of these conversations.

Sheriff Chris Nanos has, however, signalled scepticism about the emailer's credibility. Speaking on local radio, Nanos said he believed authorities might be looking at 'another one' of the false or fake ransom note cases the FBI has previously prosecuted.

The Alleged 'Last Day' Video Of Nancy Guthrie

In a separate interview with CNN host Michael Smerconish, Levin laid out what the anonymous sender claims to have. He said the man or woman behind the keyboard insists they possess a phone holding a 'short video of the main guy with Nancy on the day that was probably her last.'

According to Levin's account of the latest email, the device is stored in a 'safe location', turned off, and inaccessible without a password.

In return for the Bitcoin, the sender has promised to guide investigators to the phone, provide the passcode and supply the addresses of two people they allege are the kidnappers.

TMZ has reportedly requested a still from the video to confirm that the footage actually features Guthrie. The sender, Levin said, refused, claiming that any image circulating publicly could allow the kidnappers to figure out who is talking.

'If you're asking me, how do I make sense of all of it? I'm having trouble,' he told Smerconish.

'On the one hand, if they think this guy is just a j*** trying to scam money, why are they spending all this time... trying to figure out who this guy is? On the other hand, if he's legit, why didn't they pay the one Bitcoin he's asking, which is around $60,000, to lead them to the kidnappers, and possibly Nancy Guthrie?'

Ransom Notes, Family Agony And An Investigation In Limbo

The Bitcoin exchange offer is only one strand in a mess of disturbing communications surrounding the Nancy Guthrie case. Days after she was taken from her Tucson home around 1 February, two notes were sent to her family and media outlets, reportedly from the same IP address.

One claimed Guthrie was alive and safe. A later message, in contrast, alleged that she had died after suffering a medical issue, then had been buried in nature, offering a rambling, almost apologetic account of an 'accidental' death.

As of this writing, none of those claims has been confirmed, and investigators have not publicly linked any specific individual to the notes.

For the Guthrie family, the steady drip of unverified messages and public speculation has collided with the daily reality of not knowing what happened to an 84‑year‑old mother and grandmother. On Today last week, Savannah Guthrie addressed the latest revelations through visible tears.

'I don't have any comment on this story and I'm not involved in our coverage, but I can't pretend I'm not here,' she told viewers.

'We are in agony and we cannot be at peace. No matter how much I try to come out here every day and smile and find that joy, and I will, I promise I will, this is the moment to tell you we need your help, we're begging for your help, and I'm not going to miss that opportunity,' she added.

Investigators have treated Guthrie's disappearance as an abduction since she was last seen on 31 January and reported missing the following day, and the FBI and Pima County Sheriff's Office have been leading the probe and handling thousands of tips.

Nearly five months on, there are no publicly named suspects and no confirmed sightings.

In place of hard leads, investigators and the family have been deluged with ransom-style notes and emails, some from a person who has repeatedly contacted TMZ claiming to know who is behind the kidnapping and where key evidence is hidden.

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