Why didn’t Nancy Guthrie’s family pay the initial ransom demand? Federal law enforcement said it “would not recommend…”
Fox News reporter Max Finn weighed in on a topic that he said has “generated some renewed interest” in the search for new talent. Nancy Guthrie: Why didn’t the missing woman’s family pay the initial ransom demand? The 84-year-old has been missing for more than four months, and no suspects in her abduction have yet been found.
In a post on X, Finn opened up about what Fox learned during the investigation.
“One of the topics that the Guthrie case has brought renewed attention to is, why didn’t the family pay the initial ransom demand? Did the FBI give the Guthrie family bad advice?” Finn write on X.
Citing federal law enforcement sources, Finn said the FBI generally does not recommend that someone pay a ransom without proof of life, especially when the ransom demands millions of dollars.
“The Guthrie family and investigators used their heartbreaking online videos to try to prompt the kidnappers to provide proof of life or engage in more communication,” Finn wrote. “Fox was told that a small amount of money, totaling an estimated several hundred dollars, was deposited into a raw Bitcoin account for the so-called ‘tickling.’ The money was not withdrawn.”
“There is a legitimate and lingering question as to whether such a small sum was enough to lure the kidnappers on the other end. Of course, there is also the question of whether the ransom and the Bitcoin account were legitimate. The FBI has not publicly ruled them out,” he added.
Fenn said Fox also learned it was unusual for the ransom note to be sent to media outlets such as TMZ rather than the FBI and/or Nancy’s family.
“As with other letters or requests, including some recent ones, Fox was told that federal investigators generally would not advise third-party civilians to pay a ransom just to see where it goes,” Finn wrote.
Latest updates on the investigation
It was revealed that a note sent to local news outlets in February about Nancy’s disappearance said she died shortly after her abduction. Investigators believe the note, as well as another earlier one demanding millions of dollars in ransom, were legitimate communications from the 84-year-old’s abductor, CNN reported.
“The second note said, basically, it wasn’t meant to be that way, but something happened during the kidnapping and Nancy Guthrie died,” John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, told “AC360” Monday night.
“What makes this note important is that it comes from the same electronic source as the first ransom-demanding note,” he further said, adding that the second note “had a very different tone than the note from the week before.”
Meanwhile, a search group in Mexico revealed they had discovered dozens of unmarked graves after receiving anonymous tips about the incident. Nancy Guthrie Case. Latest searches found no evidence of this Savannah Guthrie’s The missing mother, but the findings underscore the ongoing search near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Recently, the volunteer search group Buscando Corazones Nogales conducted a new search in the area near Nogales, Sonora, after receiving information related to Nancy’s disappearance, the Sunday Guardian reported. Search teams examined multiple locations following anonymous tips that suggested Nancy was believed to have been abducted from her home in Tucson and that she may be buried in a remote area south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, volunteers found no evidence of Nancy’s “grave” or her whereabouts.
