As Nancy Guthrie’s ransom deadline passes, investigators seem unsure if it’s real: experts

With a possible deadline set for Monday for Nancy Guthrie’s family — including her daughter, “Today” host Savannah Guthrie — to pay a ransom to get her back, experts said law enforcement still appears to be trying to determine whether the real kidnappers are behind the demands.

In two unverified notes sent to the media, the person claiming to have kidnapped 84-year-old Guthrie from her home in Arizona set a 5pm PT deadline for the family to pay a ransom in Bitcoin.

Law enforcement officials said they were taking the observations seriously, but would not confirm their authenticity.

“There wasn’t a lot of evidence,” said retired FBI Special Agent Rich Frankel, a former hostage negotiator for the bureau. “You could have a kidnapper communicating, but we’re not sure yet because there was no evidence of life in either emails or text messages, whatever they got.”

Over the weekend, Savannah Guthrie, her brother and sister released the third video of the would-be kidnapper since their mother disappeared from her Tucson-area home sometime between the night of January 31 and the early morning hours of February 1.

“We received your message and we understand it,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video on Saturday. “Now please bring our mother back to us so we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is of great value to us, and we will pay the price.”

On Monday, Savannah Guthrie made a direct appeal for the public’s help in solving the case, saying in a statement Instagram share“We are in an hour of despair, and we need your help.”

“We think our mother is still there,” she said. “We need your help. Law enforcement is working tirelessly, around the clock, trying to bring her home.”

There are still more questions than answers

PIMA COUNTY, Ariz. – Sheriff’s investigators were seen at Nancy Guthrie’s home over the weekend and apparently checked a rooftop camera and a septic tank on the property.

Investigators were also seen taking items from Guthrie’s daughter Annie’s home, where Nancy Guthrie had dinner in the hours before her disappearance.

Among the evidence, investigators confirmed drops of blood on the front porch that matched Nancy Guthrie’s DNA, an open door and a doorbell camera that had been disconnected.

“It appears to us that she was taken from that home against her will in the middle of the night,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told ABC News last week.

Investigators said Nancy Guthrie’s cellphone and her Apple Watch, which was disconnected from her pacemaker, were left at her home along with heart medication Nanos said she needed to survive.

“They’re still identifying things in the house. I mean the entire house was supposed to be checked by the evidence response team,” Frankel said. “You would think these things would have been done during the original research.”

Some potential evidence may have been lost because electronic communications and surveillance cameras were replaced after a certain period of time, Frankel said.

Hostage negotiators will likely advise the Guthrie family not to pay the ransom without proof that Nancy Guthrie is still alive or providing proof that the person who sent the ransom note is real, Frankel said.

“At this point, it would be where she says we need a picture, we need a video, we need to hear her voice now,” Frankel said. “But the other problem with it now, because of the AI ​​and everything, is that this can be generated automatically, but at least the FBI and other agencies can check to see if this is real or not.”

Frankel said Monday remains a “big day” in the investigation.

“You hope that today there will be some movement where the hostage taker responds and says, ‘You didn’t do this, so we’ll do something,’ or ‘You didn’t do this, so we’ll give you another hour,'” Frankel said. “Then hopefully the Guthrie family can then come on the air and say, ‘OK, we know you reached out to us again, but we still need something more.’”

He said investigators would likely do everything they could to extend the ransom deadline.

“What they will do is they will continue to try to communicate or investigate up until that time and during that time, because you don’t want that to be the deadline,” Frankel said.

“It’s not really about extending the deadline, it’s using the deadline as a tool for conversation so you can continue to talk to them and figure out, ‘Hey, listen, yeah, there’s a deadline, but don’t do what I said, we’re still working on it, but we’re still working on it,'” Frankel added. We need you to contact us so we can come up with a successful solution where no one gets hurt.”

There was no give or take with the would-be kidnapper

Retired FBI agent Brad Garrett said hostage takers make their demands and then respond to people who are contacted.

“There’s a give and take. This wasn’t designed or set up to give and take in either direction, either from the bad guys or the Guthrie family,” Garrett said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“As a result, it’s kind of a one-way street in a way, where the bad guys are basically saying, ‘You gotta do X, you gotta do Y,'” Garrett said.

Garrett said Monday he suspects investigators resumed searching Nancy Guthrie’s home over the weekend in an attempt to confirm what was in the letters from the potential kidnapper.

“Did they mention specific things that were moved and their location? Where’s the blood, things that would at least confirm that you were comfortable that the bad guys were actually in that house,” Garrett said. “So that’s one aspect. The other could be the forensics aspect, where they come up with a potential person’s DNA, for example, and then go back and look for them.”

Investigators confirmed they also obtained surveillance video of what they described as a suspicious vehicle parked at a gas station near Nancy Guthrie’s home during a 45-minute window where investigators suspect it was driven.

Garrett said the chances were slim that such evidence would break the case.

“I would say from experience that the vast majority of these types of leads lead nowhere,” Garrett said. “But having said that, all you need is one.”