This is per The New York Times, which reports that the sheriff’s department released the letters—one received on February 2, 2026, the day after Guthrie disappeared, and the second on February 6—in the hopes that members of the public might be able to help them figure out who wrote them. Investigators on the case have stated their hopes that “someone would recognize the writer’s ‘patterns of word choice, syntax and phraseology.'”
The February 2 letter contained a ransom demand and deadlines, stating that Nancy Guthrie would be killed if the kidnappers had not received $4 million in Bitcoin by February 9. (Police have not publicly confirmed the authenticity of the notes, but did state that they referenced physical details of Nancy Guthrie’s home that suggest knowledge of its state after the kidnapping.) The second note, received before the previously set deadline had expired, struck a much different tone, with the alleged kidnappers claiming they had underestimated the elder Guthrie’s physical condition. “We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention,” the letter states. “She perished shortly after she was taken. We believe it was heart related. She is buried in nature now. Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome. We want your family to know this and hope you all can find peace. We are truly sorry.”
Although her family received the second letter just a few days into the kidnapping, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have continued to make pleas to the kidnappers to return their mother, including in a new video released just this week. Guthrie returned to Today after a two-month hiatus in April.
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