Investigators now say ransom note received early on claimed Nancy Guthrie is dead

Reports emerged Monday night that one of the ransom notes sent soon after Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance earlier this year said that the 84-year-old is dead. Officials believe the mother of Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie was forcibly taken from her southern Arizona home sometime in the early morning of Feb. 1.

Investigators reported that the note indicating Nancy’s death came after the first note demanding millions of dollars in ransom, according to CNN’s initial report. The note allegedly confirmed Nancy died shortly after the kidnapping and her abductors did not mean to kill her, investigators told CNN.

Investigators described Nancy as a vulnerable adult who struggles to walk, has a pacemaker, and needs daily heart medication. Soon after her disappearance, the FBI released footage of an armed person in a ski mask tampering with Nancy’s doorbell the morning of her disappearance. Federal investigators offered $100,000 for information leading to Nancy’s safe return, while her family offered $1 million.

Has Savannah responded to the new report? Savannah appeared on the Today Show’s Tuesday morning broadcast acknowledging the update. Savannah stated that she had no comment on the story and played no role in the channel’s coverage of the latest update. She made an emotional appeal for anyone with any knowledge of her mother’s kidnapping to come forward. This isn’t just a news story; it’s the everyday life of the Guthrie family, she said. The family is in agony and can’t be at peace until they know what happened to Nancy, she added. Savannah vowed to never stop looking for her mother.