"She Died Soon After She Was Taken": Inside the Ransom Note That Tells the Guthrie Family Their Mother Is Gone

For nearly five months, the family of Nancy Guthrie has lived inside an agonizing limbo — searching the Arizona desert, offering a million-dollar reward, pleading publicly for any scrap of information, and clinging to whatever uncertainty still allowed for hope. This week, that uncertainty narrowed in the cruelest possible way. Multiple news organizations, citing law enforcement sources and investigators familiar with the case, have now confirmed that a second ransom note received in the days after Nancy Guthrie's abduction stated that the 84-year-old mother of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie had died — and investigators believe the note was sent by the very people who took her.

What the Second Note Said

According to CBS News, which cited sources who reviewed both notes directly, the first ransom note — sent February 2, one day after Guthrie was reported missing — demanded millions of dollars in cryptocurrency for her release. It was addressed to Savannah Guthrie and sent to three media outlets through their online tip lines: two local Tucson television stations and TMZ. That first note contained highly specific, non-public details about the inside of Guthrie's home — including that an Apple Watch with a white band was found on the floor of her bedroom, and that her back porch light was broken — details investigators have treated as strong evidence the sender had direct, firsthand knowledge of the crime scene.

The second note arrived four days later, on February 6. According to CBS News' sources, it was similar in language and style to the first but made no further demands. Instead, according to multiple outlets reporting on the note's contents, it disclosed that Nancy Guthrie had died — and indicated, according to several sources, that her death was not intentional. NewsNation's Brian Entin reported that a source described the note as saying Guthrie was "buried with nature now." CBS News reported that the note indicated whoever wrote it "did not mean for her to die." ABC News' reporting was consistent: the note said she had died shortly after being taken and was buried in nature. CNN, NBC, and CBC each independently confirmed elements of the note's contents through their own sourcing, though outlets have differed slightly on one specific detail — AirMail reported that the note contained a direct apology for killing Guthrie, while a source who spoke to NewsNation said it did not offer a direct apology, only an indication that her death was unintentional.

Investigators believe both notes were sent by the same person or group of people, based in part on the notes having been traced to the same computer IP address.

How the Guthrie Family Responded

Savannah Guthrie and her siblings addressed their mother's abductors directly and publicly after the second note arrived, posting a video to Instagram in which Savannah said: "We received your message and we understand." The choice of words — restrained, careful, clearly calibrated not to provoke whoever was on the other end of the communication — reflected a family trying to keep open whatever channel still existed, even after receiving the worst possible news through it.

In a subsequent interview with NBC in March, conducted with her friend and former Today co-host Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie said her family believed the two notes were authentic, distinguishing them from the flood of other claimed communications the case has generated. "There are a lot of different notes, I think, that came, and I think most of them — it's my understanding — are not real, and I didn't see them," she said. In that same interview, she said plainly: "Honestly, we don't know anything," and described her family as unable to find peace without answers, pleading directly to anyone with information: "Someone can do the right thing, and it is never too late to do the right thing."

The Disappearance: What Happened on February 1

Nancy Ellen Guthrie, born Nancy Ellen Long on January 27, 1942, in Fort Wright, Kentucky, had lived in the Tucson area for more than five decades after moving there with her family in the early 1970s. She was widowed in 1988, when her husband Charles Guthrie died at age 49 during a mining exploration trip in Mexico. She raised three children — Camron, Annie, and Savannah — and, according to family members, remained mentally sharp and fiercely independent into her eighties, living alone in her home in the Catalina Foothills, a suburb of Tucson.

She was last seen on the evening of Saturday, January 31, 2026, when her son-in-law Tommaso Cioni, married to her daughter Annie, dropped her off at her home at approximately 9:50 PM. Cioni is the last known person to have seen her. The following morning, Guthrie failed to appear for a scheduled livestream of a church service, prompting a member of her congregation to alert the family. Relatives went to check on her around 11 AM, found no sign of her despite searching the house and surrounding property, and called 911 around noon to report her missing. Deputies who responded found her phone and other essential personal belongings still inside the home — and bloodstains, later confirmed to be hers.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said he believed Guthrie had been abducted. The FBI later released doorbell camera footage from the night of her disappearance showing a masked, apparently armed individual tampering with the camera at her front door.

A Case Defined by Confusion, False Leads, and an Unusual Public Trail

The investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance has been unusual from nearly its first hours — most notably in the apparent decision by whoever is communicating with the family to route messages through media outlets rather than send them privately, a practice former FBI agents have described as "highly unusual."

Multiple ransom demands surfaced in the case's opening days. On February 2, KOLD-TV, a CBS affiliate in Tucson, reported receiving a letter demanding payment for Guthrie's release; CBS News reported investigators reviewed it, took it seriously, and shared it with the FBI, though authorities would not confirm whether it had genuinely come from someone holding her. By February 7, Savannah Guthrie released a video stating simply, "we will pay." The following day it was reported the ransom demand had reached $6 million, with a deadline of 5 PM on February 9. That deadline, like an earlier one, passed without any exchange or resolution, and Guthrie remained missing.

The case was further complicated on February 5 by the arrest of a California man on federal charges alleging he had posed as Guthrie's abductor and separately attempted to extort the family for ransom — a scheme authorities said was unrelated to the other widely publicized ransom communications. Other notes and tips, including a series of emails reported by TMZ from someone claiming to have information but explicitly stating they were not the kidnapper, have added further noise; one of those emails contained the line "time is no longer of the essence," which some have read as an oblique suggestion that Guthrie was already dead.

As recently as June, People reported that a tip received by the Mexican volunteer search group Buscando Corazones Nogales claimed Guthrie was deceased and buried near Nogales, along the US-Mexico border — a claim that prompted a search effort in Mexico that did not locate her remains. NewsNation separately reported that a volunteer search group has located 25 unmarked graves in Mexico in connection with the broader search effort, though it remains unclear whether any are linked to Guthrie's case specifically.

Where the Investigation Stands Now

The case is being investigated by a multi-agency task force including the Pima County Sheriff's Department, the FBI, and US Customs and Border Protection, supported by search-and-rescue teams that have conducted extensive forensic analysis, neighborhood canvassing, and surveillance footage review since the case began. Sheriff Nanos has said that five separate FBI laboratories are processing forensic evidence connected to the case, and has cautioned that results from that work could take up to six months to fully untangle.

No suspect has been publicly identified or charged in connection with the abduction itself. The Pima County Sheriff's Department, asked this week about the latest reporting on the death-claiming ransom note, acknowledged it was aware of the reports and said all tips and materials related to the case continue to be forwarded to detectives working alongside the FBI. The Guthrie family's $1 million reward, offered on February 24 for information leading to answers, remains in place.

Savannah Guthrie suspended elements of her broadcasting duties, including her coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, in order to participate directly in the search for her mother. Nearly five months after Nancy Guthrie was last seen being dropped off at her own front door, her family is now living with the devastating likelihood — conveyed to them not through official confirmation, but through a note sent to a television station — that she did not survive her abduction. Her body has not been found. The investigation continues.

If you have any information related to this case, you are urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff's Department at 520-351-4900.

Sources

1. CBS News — Nancy Guthrie ransom notes likely came from abductor who said she died, investigators believe
2. ABC News — Nancy Guthrie abduction: 2nd ransom note sent to Tucson TV station said she died, sources say
3. ABC7 Chicago — Nancy Guthrie abduction: 2nd ransom note sent to Tucson TV station said she died
4. CBC News — Ransom note sent days after Nancy Guthrie's abduction said she was dead, sources say
5. Raw Story — Bombshell Nancy Guthrie revelation emerges in ransom note
6. The Hill — Nancy Guthrie case: Ransom note claims she is 'buried with nature', source said
7. NewsNation — Nancy Guthrie ransom note says she is 'buried with nature,' source says
8. Wikipedia — Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie