Bitcoin ransom letter sent to the media amid investigation into the disappearance of an 84-year-old woman

A ransom letter demanding Bitcoin is believed to have appeared during the investigation into the disappearance of Mrs. Nancy Guthrie, 84 years old, mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, as authorities continue to treat the case as a suspected kidnapping.

According to TMZ – the first outlet to report – the letter demands a “large” Bitcoin payment in exchange for Mrs. Guthrie’s release. An email sent to TMZ is said to include a deadline and a veiled threat regarding the victim’s safety if the demand is not met.

“We have contacted the sheriff’s office. We’ve called multiple times and are working with the investigation team,” TMZ founder Harvey Levin said on TMZ Live. “We forwarded this email to them. We don’t know if it’s real or not.”

Mrs. Guthrie was last seen on the evening of January 31 at her private residence in the Catalina Foothills, Arizona.

Initially, authorities classified her as a vulnerable missing elderly person due to her age. However, on February 2, the case was reclassified as “a possible kidnapping” after investigators found evidence described as “very concerning” inside the house.

Levin stated that receiving ransom letters from the media is not uncommon and “happens from time to time.”

Law enforcement has not yet confirmed whether they believe the letter was genuinely from kidnappers or just a scam to steal Bitcoin.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment further when contacted but reiterated a previous statement on social media. The agency said they “are aware of circulating information regarding the existence of a ransom letter” in the case and are taking all leads seriously, working closely with the FBI.

Although the authenticity of the letter has not been confirmed, TMZ executive producer and co-host Charles Latibeaudiere said the message contained a real Bitcoin address.

“One thing we can say is that we have verified the provided Bitcoin address as valid,” he said. TMZ also reported that the letter referenced Mrs. Guthrie’s outfit at the time of her disappearance and an item in the house that was damaged.

Savannah Guthrie’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bitcoin and Kidnappings, Ransom Cases

The use of Bitcoin in ransom demands has been around for over a decade, dating back to the first ransomware variants that demanded crypto payments to unlock encrypted data. This model later spread within cybercriminal circles.

In recent years, this tactic has increasingly appeared in real-world kidnapping cases, often called “wrench attacks” – a form of coercion to force victims to reveal access to digital assets – and related extortion cases.

In April 2024, a family in Canada was tortured by assailants demanding access to their crypto assets. By November 2024, WonderFi CEO Dean Skurka was kidnapped in Toronto and released after a ransom of $720,000 was paid.

Two months later, Ledger co-founder David Balland was also kidnapped in France in a case involving a crypto ransom demand.

In the US, New York prosecutors in June last year charged two men with kidnapping and torturing an Italian citizen for several weeks to force the victim to provide access to the Bitcoin they held.

Thạch Sanh