Five months after Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, Nancy, was snatched from her Tucson, Arizona home, investigators still have no confirmed suspects and no body. Now, a mystery emailer who has been sending notes to TMZ is back with a jaw-dropping new demand:
One Bitcoin in exchange for a password to a phone he claims contains footage of Nancy Guthrie alongside the person he calls the “main guy” behind her kidnapping. The case has gripped the country since February, and this latest twist has only deepened the mystery.
TMZ reported on Friday, June 26, that the outlet received yet another email from the same anonymous sender behind earlier correspondence in the Nancy Guthrie investigation. According to TMZ, the new email was authenticated using two key details that matched prior messages: a reference to an old Bitcoin address and a consistent alias used in the sender’s previous notes.
In other words, this is not a copycat or a new player. This appears to be the same person who has been in contact with the outlet for months.
The Phone, the Video, and the Very Specific Ask
In the new email, the sender claimed to have a phone hidden away in what he described as a secure location, one that is “easy to access if you know where it is.” According to TMZ, the message stated the device holds a short video of the suspected kidnapper with Nancy on what the sender described as “probably her last” day alive.
The email also allegedly claimed that the phone contained photographs of both individuals said to be involved, along with their names, addresses, and ages. The sender said all of that would be handed over for one Bitcoin, and he included a new Bitcoin wallet address with the demand.
The claim about two kidnappers is consistent with what this same person has said before, as TMZ noted he had previously indicated more than one person was involved. He also seemed to go out of his way to address the FBI’s suspicion, reported earlier, that the emailer might actually be a woman.
He pushed back on that directly in the new message, writing, “I am not the idiot who recently called in a tip about her burial site in Mexico.” That line is doing a lot of work. He seemed to be distancing himself not just from a specific tip but from any association with misinformation in the case.
TMZ’s Response and the FBI’s Involvement
TMZ did not agree to the Bitcoin demand. Instead, the outlet publicly posted a counteroffer of its own, asking the anonymous sender to provide a single screenshot of Nancy Guthrie to verify the legitimacy of his claims. The outlet also forwarded the latest email to the FBI, as it has with previous messages in this chain.
People magazine reached out to both the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for comment on the newly surfaced note and had not received a response by the time the story was published. The sheriff’s department did tell People earlier this week that the investigation “remains active and ongoing,” which at this point is pretty much the only official update the public has gotten in weeks.
Where the Investigation Actually Stands
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, was taken from her home in Tucson on February 1. Nearly five months have passed, and her whereabouts remain unknown.
No suspects have been officially named. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told PEOPLE in May that investigators were waiting on DNA test results while continuing to sift through digital evidence in hopes of finding new leads.
The mystery emailer’s latest note lands just days after the contents of one of the original ransom notes became public. According to reporting by CNN and NBC News, the note claimed Nancy died accidentally, not long after she was taken, with the alleged kidnapper expressing regret but making no direct apology and no demand for money in exchange for the return of her body.
A separate, earlier note had demanded millions of dollars in Bitcoin for her safe return. That note contained what KOLD news anchor Mary Coleman described to PEOPLE as “concerning” information, which was turned over to law enforcement.
Savannah Guthrie addressed the situation on air earlier this week in a visibly emotional plea, with NBC broadcasting her tearful appeal for answers in her mother’s case.
Why This Story Is Not Going Away
What makes this case so difficult to look away from is the combination of public grief and private chaos playing out simultaneously. Savannah Guthrie is one of the most recognizable faces in American morning television, and she has had to process one of the most devastating family situations imaginable in plain sight.
The anonymous emailer, whoever he is, has now inserted himself into the center of a federal investigation multiple times, and law enforcement has yet to publicly identify him. Whether the phone and its alleged contents are real or another dead end, the FBI now has the latest email. The next move, as it has been for months, belongs to investigators.
