As the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie enters its sixth month, a fresh wave of interest has been directed at the ransom notes received by her family and various media outlets in the wake of her alleged kidnapping, including one that claimed she had passed away.
Nancy was last seen at her home in Tucson, Arizona, on January 31, after being dropped off by family just before 10 p.m. She was reported missing the next day after failing to attend her usual church service.
According to Air Mail, one ransom note that was sent to TMZ contained an apology for her death. Initially, a previous ransom note stated that the 84-year-old was "safe but scared", with the writer asking for $4 million to be handed over by 5 p.m. on February 5.
© WireImageThe second letter sent on February 6 from the same IP address as the previous missive reportedly included an apology and a claim that she had accidentally been killed.
The insight into the ransom notes has shed fresh light on Nancy's possible fate, with former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer noting that the kidnappers might have been trying to save their skin.
"They have a murder on their hands as opposed to a kidnapping, and that is punishable by the death penalty in Arizona, and they well know this," she told NewsNation.
© Instagram"This is some sort of pretext to kind of say, 'Listen, we didn't mean for this to happen.' You know, mea culpa, if you will, for the event that they are caught."
Learn more about Nancy's disappearance below...
Jennifer then theorized that the alleged kidnappers sent the notes to TMZ due to the media attention they would gain from such a move. "It's about attention. It's about control. And he hopes he can get a Bitcoin out of it, too, but it's mainly about controlling this narrative at this point," she explained.
"They didn't want her to die before they could make the claim and send proof of life and get their ransom, so this went horribly wrong for them," Jennifer said. "So I do really believe that, unfortunately, Nancy Guthrie is not with us." The former agent also shared that she believed the authorities were getting closer to an answer.
© NBCThis update comes just days after the Pima County Sheriff, Chris Nanos, spoke out about the number of ransom notes they had received in the wake of Nancy's disappearance, including a recent email sent to TMZ from a person who claimed to know the identity of her kidnappers.
© Getty"I think the FBI has done a number of arrests for false or fake ransom notes. It's a shame that that happens, but I think we're looking at another one of those today," he told KVOI AM 1030.
"It is a shame that these types of events occur; people have great interest…that's good because it helps us, but then it gets really abused," he continued. "People who call in fake ransom notes, people who claim for the sake of media and the family, they get out and disturb, in this case, an entire neighborhood."
