Politics
‘TRULY SORRY’: Chilling Nancy Guthrie Ransom Note Claims She ‘Perished’
Investigators are hoping the kidnapper’s own words may help crack the Nancy Guthrie case after authorities released two chilling ransom notes tied to the missing Arizona grandmother.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department made the notes public six months after Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her Tucson-area home in what authorities have treated as an apparent abduction.
The move is unusual, but not unheard of.
Lisa Miller, a retired investigator from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office who has followed the case closely, said releasing an offender’s writing can be a calculated gamble.
“Law enforcement rarely makes the deliberate call to release an offender’s own words to the public,” said Lisa Miller, a retired investigator from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.
Miller compared the strategy to the 1995 publication of the Unabomber manifesto, when federal authorities gambled that someone would recognize the writing style.
“The last major precedent: 1995, the Unabomber manifesto…published on the FBI’s recommendation, betting someone would recognize the writing,” she noted in an X post over the weekend. “It worked.”
In that case, David Kaczynski and his wife, Linda Patrik, recognized Ted Kaczynski’s writing and alerted authorities.
Ted Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 and pleaded guilty two years later to avoid the death penalty.
He spent most of his prison sentence at ADX Florence, the federal Supermax facility in Colorado.
According to FBI records, Kaczynski sent a 35,000-word manifesto outlining his motives “and views of the ills of modern society.”
The Guthrie notes are far shorter, but investigators believe they may still contain clues.
Authorities said the two messages share a “unique linguistic style” and are believed to have been written by the same person.
🚨 SIX MONTHS LATER: The Pima County Sheriff’s Office has released two alleged ransom notes containing chilling claims about what happened to Nancy Guthrie after her abduction.@ChanleySPainter breaks down the status of the evidence in this case. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/kl8PZWtXic
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) August 1, 2026
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said the department released the actual notes because a phrase, rhythm or writing habit may sound familiar to someone.
“There are a number of pieces of information in these notes that just might jar someone to say, ‘You know, I’ve heard that,’ or the wording, the style of the writing,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a video posted to X Saturday. “We hope that by releasing the actual note, we’ll get some response from the community.”
The first note reportedly demanded millions of dollars in bitcoin for Guthrie’s release.
The second note, sent days later, claimed Guthrie had died.
It said, “She perished shortly after she was taken,” “she is buried in nature now,” and “We are truly sorry.”
The same note also reportedly said the sender never meant to harm her.
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Miller said the notes are too short to offer the same kind of linguistic value as the Unabomber manifesto, but they still show habits that could help identify the writer.
One pattern, she said, is the writer’s tendency to make a statement and then immediately reinforce it with a comma-spliced follow-up.
She pointed to examples from the notes.
“You will not be able to contact me from here on out, there will be no negotiation.”
“We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention.”
Miller said she does not believe the notes were written by artificial intelligence.
She pointed to “uneven grammar and syntax,” emotionally charged repetitions and awkward phrasing as signs of a human writer.
The public release adds another tense turn to a case that has already drawn national attention because of Guthrie’s connection to NBC and the disturbing security footage from the night she vanished.
Authorities are still asking for help identifying the masked person captured on Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera outside her home before she disappeared.
RELATED: Nancy Guthrie Ransom Emailer Claims To Have Video Of ‘Main Guy’ From Day She Likely Died
Investigators are also searching for whoever sent the notes.
The FBI and Pima County officials have treated some ransom communications as potentially credible, though the investigation has also drawn false leads and alleged extortion attempts.
A reward pool totaling more than $1.2 million remains unclaimed.
