A former FBI hostage negotiator revealed that he quickly became suspicious of a ransom note reportedly sent to Nancy Guthrie’s family because of an unusual detail.
The disappearance of Guthrie, 84, the mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, 54, remains shrouded in mystery. Authorities believe Nancy was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early morning of Feb. 1 by a masked man whose image was captured by her door camera. She was last seen by family the previous day. Clues to the crime and various notes have led nowhere.
True crime journalist Briana Whitney revealed two notes that she connected to Guthrie’s disappearance on the Crime Junkie podcast. Neither People magazine, one of the first to report on the notes, nor the Daily Beast have been able to authenticate the messages with law enforcement officials.
“It is in the best interest of everyone to have this [ransom] completed as soon as possible,” one of the notes stated, according to Whitney. “You will not be able to contact me from here on out, there will be no negotiation.”
That immediately raised the suspicions of Jason Pack, a retired FBI hostage negotiator, who said that cutting off contact is extremely unusual for anyone seeking a ransom.
“Genuine kidnap-for-ransom actors almost always want to preserve the communication channel, because they need it to actually collect payment,” Pack told People. “A note that says, ‘You will not be able to contact me from here on out’ and ‘there will be no negotiation’ is working against the extortionist’s own interest if the goal is really money. That’s atypical,” he added.
Pack speculated the note could have been intended simply to frighten, rather than to collect ransom.
“It reads more like someone who wants control, fear, and finality, not someone managing a payment exchange,” Pack explained. “This is one of the reasons trained negotiators get skeptical fast when a note eliminates dialogue instead of protecting it.”
More of the note reported by Whitney read: “Hello, Savannah. We have your mother, Nancy. She will be held for ransom, and once payment is received, she will be released unharmed. If the payment is not received by the last deadline… she will be killed. Your mother is aware of this, and her life is in your hands… You will not be able to contact me from here on out… Do not play games. Law enforcement will not be able to help you.”
The second note Whitney claimed was linked to the kidnapping said Guthrie had died. She “perished shortly after she was taken,” it added, noting that her death was believed to have been “heart-related,” according to Whitney.
Guthrie’s family revealed that she was suffering from health issues and did not have her medication with her when she vanished.
