What To Know
- The FBI has received several ransom notes and continues to treat the case as a kidnapping for ransom.
- Trial attorney Mark Geragos and criminologist Casey Jordan weighed in the FBI’s statement.
- Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie, remains missing over five months after her abduction in Tucson, Arizona.
Today co-host Savannah Guthrie‘s mom, Nancy Guthrie, is still missing more than five months after she was abducted in Tucson, Arizona — and a criminologist speculates that the FBI is “hedging their bets” in a new statement.
On July 1, FBI Phoenix acknowledged via X that it had received “several” ransom notes, with some “deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy.” However, others “may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such.” The bureau added, “This case continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case.”
Recently, trial attorney Mark Geragos and criminologist Casey Jordan weighed in on the FBI’s statement.
“The FBI now, I think, has pretty firm control over the investigation,” Geragos told Cuomo, per a NewsNation article published on July 3. “And they believe at this point that if it’s going to be solved, it’s going to be solved by somebody who I always call a confederate, or somebody who’s going to give some information.”
Meanwhile, Jordan told NewsNation that she thinks none of the ransom notes are legitimate.
“The No. 1 reason, and this is probably 90% of it, is that nothing, no communication is offered, any proof of life, proof of death, evidence of anything,” she said.
Jordan continued, “The bottom line is, whatever they’re mentioning that we know of is stuff they could have just learned online or picked up from AI and, you know, the satellite images of the scene and everything else. So, without any proof of life or death, there is no reason to believe that they’re real. But I agree with Mark, (the FBI) is just kind of hedging their bets.”
Nancy, 84, was last seen at her Tucson home on January 31, with her family reporting her missing on February 1. Since then, Savannah has offered a $1 million reward — in addition to other reward money — and the FBI has released video clips and still images of a masked individual on Nancy’s front porch. No suspect has been named, as of writing, as the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department continue poring through evidence and leads.