Newly disclosed details from a note sent to news outlets days after Nancy Guthrie vanished, claiming the mother of NBC “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie died, could renew interest in a case that first attracted America’s attention nearly 5 months ago.
The 84-year-old was taken from her home in Arizona’s Catalina Foothills on February 1. In the days that followed, two notes purportedly written by the abductors were sent to a number of news outlets including CNN affiliate KOLD-TV in Tucson, Arizona. But the full content of one of the notes was not publicly shared.
The second note said Guthrie was dead, law enforcement sources told CNN at the time.
The information, the authenticity of which officials have said little publicly about, was not initially reported by CNN and the local news outlets at the request of law enforcement and the Guthrie family so any future communications with kidnappers or potential suspects could be authenticated, CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller said.
Authorities are hopeful the contents of the second note, revealed in the past few days, will lead to new tips in the search for Nancy Guthrie, who was in poor health and relied on medication to stay healthy.
Here’s what else we know about the notes:
What did each note say?
An initial note sent to some media outlets in early February was a demand for millions of dollars in bitcoin in exchange for Nancy Guthrie’s release. Several media outlets, including CNN affiliates KGUN-TV and KOLD-TV, received the purported ransom letter and reported on it at the time.
The following day, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings, Annie Guthrie and Camron Guthrie, released the first of several emotional videos pleading for their mother’s return.
Within a week after Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, a second note said Guthrie was dead – and that while abductors did not mean to kill her, she died shortly after the kidnapping, the law enforcement sources told CNN at the time.
