Nancy Guthrie case update: Chilling ransom note details were revealed days after ‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother was kidnapped. Soon after it was reported that kidnappers demanded millions of dollars in Bitcoin from the Guthrie family, TMZ founder Harvey Levin went into specifics. The outlet received a ransom note two days after the 84-year-old grandmother was reported missing on Sunday.
Nancy Guthrie is ‘safe but scared’
Levin told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday that the letter ‘begins by saying she is safe but scared, and they go on to say she knows exactly what the demand is’.
“They are, through us, telling the family exactly what they are demanding, and they are saying that Nancy is aware of it,” Levin added.
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As per the authorities, kidnappers have set a deadline for Monday. “If a transfer wasn’t made, then a second demand was for next Monday. We’re not going to go beyond that,” FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Heith Janke said.
“The second deadline is far more consequential,” Levin told CNN’s Erin Burnett last night.
Guthrie family’s emotional plea
Savannah Guthrie’s brother on Thursday renewed the family’s plea for their mother’s kidnapper to contact them. “Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven’t heard anything directly,” Camron Guthrie said in a video posted on social media.
“We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward,” but first the family needs to know the kidnapper has their mother, he said. Savannah read a similar note a day before.
Nancy is still out there
At a press conference on Thursday, Pima County officials said that they believe Nancy Guthrie is alive and ‘still out there’. Police think the 84-year-old was taken against her will from her home in Tucson over the weekend. DNA tests showed blood found on Guthrie’s front porch was a match to her, the sheriff said.
“Right now, we believe Nancy is still out there. We want her home.”
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A note e-mailed Monday to the KOLD-TV newsroom in Tucson included information that only the abductor would know, anchor Mary Coleman told CNN.
“When we saw some of those details, it was clear after a couple of sentences that this might not be a hoax,” she said.
(With inputs from The Associated Press)