SUMMARY
- Investigators are verifying the authenticity of a new message tied to the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping
- Authorities say evidence indicates a targeted home invasion abduction of a vulnerable elder
- The case has prompted rare federal local coordination and national attention
Federal and local investigators in Arizona said Friday they are analyzing a newly surfaced message linked to the presumed kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie.
The eighty four year old mother of US television journalist Savannah Guthrie, as authorities intensified a sixth day of searches around her Tucson home.
The emergence of a new communication marks a critical development in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping.
A case that has drawn intense public scrutiny because of the victim’s age and her daughter’s prominence as a co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” show.
Officials cautioned that the message has not yet been authenticated and declined to describe its contents.
The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said in a joint statement that investigators are “actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity.”
The message surfaced three days after media organizations received a purported ransom note and one day after Guthrie’s family renewed public appeals for direct contact.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen Jan. 31 when relatives dropped her off at her home near Tucson after dinner, according to the sheriff’s department.
She was reported missing the following day. Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Guthrie is frail, has extremely limited mobility and could not have left her home without assistance, leading authorities early on to conclude she was abducted.
Officials have disclosed that blood believed to be Guthrie’s was found on porch steps outside her front door.
They also confirmed her doorbell camera was disabled and her pacemaker monitoring application was disconnected from her phone line in the early hours of Sunday morning, when investigators believe the kidnapping occurred.
“This is being treated as a deliberate and organized crime, not a disappearance,” said Chris Swecker, a former FBI assistant director who reviewed publicly available details of the case.
Swecker said disabling monitoring devices suggests planning and familiarity with the victim’s routines.
KOLD-TV, a CBS affiliate in Tucson, said it received the latest message Friday morning and turned it over to law enforcement along with the internet protocol address from which it originated.
The station said the note appeared designed to show it came from the same sender as the earlier ransom demand. Savannah Guthrie posted a video appeal Wednesday asking for her mother’s safe return.
“We just want to talk and bring her home,” she said. Her brother, Camron Guthrie, followed with a second appeal Thursday seeking proof of life.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesman James Allerton said detectives returned to the home Friday to conduct follow up work and restrict traffic to allow investigators access. “Every piece of information is being examined,” Allerton said.
Authorities said decisions about whether to meet ransom demands rest with the family, though investigators continue to operate under the presumption that Guthrie is alive.
Federal agents were seen entering and leaving the residence Friday afternoon, underscoring the case’s priority.
The Nancy Guthrie kidnapping highlights growing concerns about crimes targeting elderly individuals living alone and the challenges of resolving abductions without verified communication.
As investigators scrutinize the latest message, officials say the focus remains on establishing proof of life and securing a safe outcome.
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