A second ransom note received by a Tucson, Arizona, television station following the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie said she died shortly after her abduction, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of Feb. 1.
In the days after Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, various ransom notes were sent to the media.
The Guthrie family received two notes that were sent to Tucson media outlets that investigators deemed potentially credible and the FBI had tried to trace their origin.
The first note demanded cryptocurrency for Nancy Guthrie’s return. The second note, according to sources, said she had died shortly after she was taken and was buried in nature.
The notes were received within days of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, but ABC News has not previously disclosed the contents of the second note.
Shortly after receiving the second note, Savannah Guthrie posted a statement in a Feb. 7 Instagram post.
“We received your message and we understand,” Savannah Guthrie said at the time. “We beg you now to return our mother to us. … This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
Images from Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera showing a masked man at her house were released early on in the investigation, but the 84-year-old’s whereabouts remain unknown and the suspect remains unidentified.
In March, Savannah Guthrie spoke out in her first interview, telling her friend and former co-host Hoda Kotb, “Honestly, we don’t know anything.”
Savannah Guthrie said her family “cannot be at peace” without answers and she pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.
“Someone can do the right thing, and it is never too late to do the right thing,” she said.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
