A second note sent to media outlets after Nancy Guthrie disappeared said she had died, adding a grim new claim to a case that had already been pulled in two directions. The note, which investigators believe may be credible, did not apologize or ask for payment for the release of her body.
The timing matters because the earlier message sent after Guthrie vanished told a very different story. That note said she was safe and demanded cryptocurrency in exchange for her release, making the two notes not just different in tone but opposite in meaning.
Guthrie, 84, was reported missing from her home near Tucson, Arizona, on Feb. 1, after she was last seen the previous night around 9:45 p.m. Ten days later, the FBI recovered doorbell camera images of an armed and masked man outside her home on the morning of her disappearance, and investigators have described that figure as a suspect.
Three people familiar with the matter told News about the contents of the second note. Jessica Bobula said KOLD received both notes, and investigators have examined them as part of the Nancy Guthrie case. The existence of the second note was known before its contents were disclosed, but the detail that it said Guthrie had died sharply changes the way the messages are being read.
That difference is the heart of the case’s uncertainty. One note asked for cryptocurrency. The other asked for nothing at all. One said she was safe. The other said she was dead. Put beside each other, they do not fit the same logic unless one of them was meant to mislead, or both were meant to do so.
After the notes emerged, Savannah Guthrie appeared in a 20-second Instagram video with her brother Camron and sister Annie and spoke directly to the person behind the messages. “We received your message and we understand,” she said, adding, “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her.” She closed by saying, “This is the only way we will have peace,” and, “This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
She later posted another video on Feb. 15 and urged whoever had her mother, or knew where she was, to do the right thing. The FBI says anyone with information should call 1-800-CALL-FBI or 1-800-225-5324. What remains unresolved is not just where Nancy Guthrie is, but whether the notes were written to reveal the truth or bury it.
