A ransom note demanding millions of dollars in bitcoin for the safe return of Nancy Guthrie suggests she may no longer be in Arizona, TMZ reported.
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, was forcibly taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on Sunday.
TMZ founder Harvey Levin said that the ransom note has information stating that Guthrie is somewhere on the West Coast or possibly northern Mexico and circled an area where that location might be.
“In the letter it says they would return her back to Tucson. They also give a time frame of how long it would take after they receive the money to return her to Tucson,” Levin said in a video on his website.
“If you look at the time frame, you can draw a circle around Tucson to see how long maximum it would take to get her back there.
“They’re not going to fly her back because the last thing they’re going to do is go to an airport where Nancy Guthrie shows ID. … They’re not going to drive at 100 mph because if they get stopped for speeding it’s over.”
He said based on that theory, Nancy Guthrie could possibly be in Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, California, or Mexico.
“That’s a big area for sure, but it’s not the full United States,” he said.
The letter contains two deadlines: one on Thursday that has already passed and another “far more consequential” deadline on Monday, according to TMZ.
Levin told Fox News that the letter claimed Guthrie is “safe, but scared” and aware of the demands being made.
“And they go on to say she knows exactly what the demand is,” he said. “And so they are, you know, through us, telling the family — and obviously the sheriff’s department gave the family the letter we received — exactly what they’re demanding.
“And they’re saying that Nancy is aware of it.
“They are also saying … that this will be their only communication and they are done communicating, negotiating, here’s the deal and that’s it.
“And, you know, as the clock ticks, I think that’s one of the reasons the FBI and other authorities have, you know, gotten desperate here because as far as we can tell, it’s impossible to trace the origin of this email.”
Levin also told Fox he believes the kidnapper is familiar with the Tucson area.
“There’s something very specific in there, and I’m sure the FBI keyed in on this a while ago, and it makes me think that whoever did this, whoever wrote this letter is in that Tucson area,” he said. “And I think it’s one of the reasons, too, that they sent the same email to one of the local stations in Tucson.
“This person is familiar with the Tucson television market, and based on the way it’s written, I believe that this is somebody in that wide Tucson area, not in Tucson, could be in New Mexico.
“They could be in New Mexico now, but they are definitely familiar with Tucson.”
