As the search for Nancy Guthrie enters its eighth week, speculation is mounting that a second alleged ransom note was actually an apology letter revealing the 84-year-old had died.
The speculation was brought up on the March 28 episode of Megyn Kelly‘s SiriusXM program, The Megyn Kelly Show, in which she spoke with former FBI supervisory special agent James Hamilton and veteran investigator Maureen O’Connell about the alleged contents of the ransom notes.
Kelly cited an X post from a user named Nerdy_Addict, whom she claimed has been accurate in their reporting throughout the investigation. In the post, the user wrote, “I now have two sources confirming that one of the letters sent to the media in the Nancy Guthrie case allegedly states the sender apologized, claiming they did not realize how serious her heart condition was and that she has ‘gone to be with God.’”
Nancy, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since January 31, when police believe she was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Since then, investigators have released doorbell camera footage of a masked suspect and shared a description of the potential abductor.
Previous reports noted that Nancy’s pacemaker stopped syncing with her Apple Watch in the early hours of February 1. Pima Country Sheriff Chris Nanos also revealed Nancy had limited mobility and required daily medication for high blood pressure and heart issues.
The X user claimed that “investigators believe the message came from the same individuals who previously demanded Bitcoin, though this latest letter reportedly made no demands and was framed solely as an apology.”
Early in the investigation, law enforcement and media outlets, including TMZ, received two alleged ransom notes. The first included an offer to return Nancy in exchange for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. According to TMZ, the value of the Bitcoin demanded was in the “millions.”
Savannah said she would pay the ransom in an Instagram video shared in early February. However, TMZ recently confirmed that the Bitcoin wallet, which they have continued to monitor, hasn’t received any funds.
“Why didn’t the Guthrie family ever pay a ransom if they believed, as Savannah told us yesterday, that two of those ransom notes they received were authentic?” Kelly asked, referring to Savannah’s recent Today interview, in which she said, “I believe the two notes that we received, that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real.”
Kelly, who noted the claims about the apology letter should be taken with “a grain of salt,” went on to say that Savannah’s Instagram plea “sounded like they believed Nancy was no longer alive.”
“Return our mother to us so we can celebrate with her’—’celebrate’ possibly being a term of art, like a celebration of life… That could dovetail with reporting that the second ransom note was more of an apology, claiming they had Nancy’s body and that she had gone to be with God,” the former Fox News anchor stated.
However, Hamilton wasn’t so sure about the authenticity of the ransom notes, despite Savannah’s belief that they were legitimate.
“All I’m hearing, Megyn, is what scam artists do. They prey upon grief. They prey upon your vulnerability,” he explained. “They’re saying anything they can to get paid. It really doesn’t move the needle a lot for me.”
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