The note is taking center stage as authorities are still frantically trying to find 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, five days after her apparent abduction from her Tucson-area home. Her family has now made two heartfelt videos in which she begs her suspected captors to communicate with them.
Two terms
Although the full note has not been released, there are some details. The letter included a first deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday and a second demand with a deadline of Monday, said Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division. He declined to say what, if anything, would be threatened if the deadlines were not met.
Nancy’s son, Cameron Guthrie, issued one video pleaded with the kidnapper Thursday afternoon, around the time of the ransom note’s first deadline.
“Whoever is holding our mother there, we want to hear from you,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to contact us and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward.”
Harry Levin, founder of celebrity news website TMZ, told CNN that he reviewed one of three identical letters sent to the media and said “Monday’s deadline has much more ramifications.”
TMZ reported this the alleged note demanded millions in cryptocurrency for Guthrie’s release. Levin said Thursday evening that TMZ confirmed the bitcoin address was real.
The family and the authorities are concerned because Nancy Guthrie has many physical complaints and needs daily medication that does not seem to bother her. Officials said they have not yet received any evidence that Guthrie is alive, but they believe they could be dead.
“I’m afraid of that, I think we all are,” said Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. “This is day 4 or 5 and we still don’t know if she is getting her medication and that in itself could be fatal.”
‘Carefully crafted letter’
Levin and a Tucson-area journalist, both of whom said they had seen the ransom note, offered a few additional details.
“This is a letter that describes exactly what they want done, what the consequences are if they don’t get what they want,” Levin said in another letter. interview with CNN.
“They started the letter by saying Nancy is OK, but scared,” Levin said. “The letter states that you cannot contact me. … They have gone out of their way to send this email to us to ensure it remains anonymous.”
“It is a carefully crafted letter, and this is not something that someone put together in five minutes,” he added.
Unique details
Law enforcement sources, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said the ransom note is considered legitimate because it contained at least two details about Guthrie’s home that had not been made public.
Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division, said there were details about an Apple Watch and a spotlight, but declined to elaborate.
According to Levin, the note mentioned a specific detail of the Apple Watch that he said was essential.
“If this is true, the placement of the Apple Watch is something they would immediately take seriously,” Levin told CNN.
Maria Coleman, an anchor at KOLD-TV, added: “A lot of it is information that only someone holding her for ransom would know – very sensitive information and things that people who were there when she was captured would know.”
Race against time
Authorities describe the search as a race against time.
“Right now we think Nancy is still here. We want her home,” Nanos said at Thursday’s press conference. A huge team of local and federal partners would continue working on the case “around the clock,” he said.
“There is no evidence of life,” Janke said. “…Time is of the essence.”
Although Guthrie is of sound mind, the family says she has physical complaints. She uses a pacemaker and is often in pain, the family said.
Savannah Guthrie and her siblings shared an emotional video pleading with their mother’s would-be kidnappers.
“She lives in constant pain. She has no medications,” Savannah Guthrie said. “She needs it to survive and she needs it not to suffer.”
She begged the suspected kidnapper to contact them.
“We live in a world where voices and images can easily be manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her,” she said in the video shared on Instagram. “We want to hear from you and we are willing to listen. Please contact us.”
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