Pima County investigators say tips have picked up since the sheriff's office released two ransom notes sent to "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie after her 84-year-old mother vanished from her Tucson home in February.
Sheriff Chris Nanos made the full text of both alleged notes public on July 31, a calculated move to shake loose new leads in a case that has produced no arrests and no confirmed suspect nearly six months after Nancy Guthrie's suspected abduction. Alongside the notes, the sheriff's office released surveillance footage showing a masked figure outside the family's Arizona home.
The gamble appears to have produced at least a modest return. Pima County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Angelica Carrillo told Fox News Digital that investigators assigned to the Nancy Guthrie Task Force have tracked a "slight increase" in tips since the notes went public, and that every lead has been followed up on.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on the evening of January 31 when a relative dropped her off at her Tucson home. According to a detailed timeline published by Fox News, a Nest doorbell camera captured a masked man wearing gloves and long sleeves, carrying an Ozark Trail backpack and what appeared to be a holstered pistol, at 1:47 a.m. on February 1. Her pacemaker last synced with her phone via Bluetooth at 2:28 a.m., the moment authorities believe she was physically removed from the house.
The first alleged ransom note arrived the next day, February 2, addressed to Savannah Guthrie by name. Its language was blunt:
"Hello [Savannah]. We have your mother Nancy. She is safe but scared. She will be held for ransom and once payment is received she will be released unharmed."
The writer also referenced specific details from inside the home, a white smart watch on the floor at the foot of Nancy Guthrie's bed, and a white flood light in the backyard that had been destroyed. Fox News Digital reported learning about the watch detail on the morning of February 3, one day after the note was sent, suggesting the information was not widely known at the time.
Four days later, on February 6, a second note arrived. Its tone shifted sharply. The writer claimed Nancy Guthrie had died shortly after being taken, attributing her death to a medical episode.
"We did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition. We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention. She perished shortly after she was taken. We believe it was heart related."
Authorities have not confirmed the notes are authentic. But the sheriff's office stated that the second note shares the same "unique linguistic style" as the first, a detail that forensic analysts have since examined closely.
Jason Pack, a retired FBI negotiator, told Fox News Digital the notes contain telling details. The reference to the smart watch on the bedroom floor stood out to him.
"He knew about the watch on the floor, almost nobody did."
Pack said the detail demonstrated familiarity with the home, though he cautioned it did not necessarily prove the writer had taken Guthrie or that she was alive when the first note was sent. His analysis also focused on the prose itself.
"In my view, two things the language does support: He writes like a native English speaker. The idiom and the small connecting words are all in the right places, and at this length that is hard to fake."
That linguistic assessment carries weight in an investigation that has produced few public breakthroughs. The decision to release the notes publicly, letting ordinary citizens read the exact phrasing, mirrors a strategy law enforcement has used before, most famously in the Unabomber case, where publication of a manifesto led a reader to identify the suspect. The Pima County sheriff's office has drawn that comparison explicitly.
Sheriff Nanos left little ambiguity about the nature of the case early in the investigation. He stated publicly that evidence at the home confirmed a crime had occurred and that Nancy Guthrie did not leave on her own.
"We believe now, after we processed that crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime scene that we do, in fact, have a crime. She did not leave on her own. We know that."
Blood evidence recovered from the home was confirmed as Nancy Guthrie's through DNA analysis. The FBI released an image of an armed individual at the front door on the morning of her disappearance, and the bureau's tip line, 1-800-CALL-FBI, remains active alongside a local anonymous tip number, 520-88-CRIME.
Yet despite that early certainty, no arrest has followed. The sheriff has refused to permanently clear anyone in the case, a posture that keeps the investigative aperture wide but also signals how little has been locked down.
The investigation itself has faced scrutiny. The FBI director publicly noted that a four-day delay by the Pima County Sheriff's Office in the early stages of the case may have cost investigators access to critical surveillance video, the kind of time-sensitive evidence that can make or break an abduction case.
Nancy Guthrie, 84 years old, remains missing. No suspect has been publicly identified. The masked figure in the surveillance footage has not been named. The armed individual in the FBI-released image has not been identified. Authorities have not disclosed whether a specific ransom amount was demanded, or how the notes were delivered to Savannah Guthrie.
The FBI has since weighed in on the notes themselves. The bureau determined that all ransom notes in the case were fraudulent, a finding that raises its own set of troubling questions about who sent them and why.
Carrillo's statement confirmed the task force is actively pursuing every tip that has come in since the notes were made public. Whether a "slight" increase in leads is enough to crack a case this cold remains to be seen.
An 84-year-old woman vanished from her own home, and six months later, the best investigators can offer the public is a pair of unverified notes and a request to call a tip line. The people who live with the consequences of that failure, starting with her family, deserve better than "slight" progress.
