Ransom notes in Nancy Guthrie kidnapping released to public in rare move echoing the Unabomber case

Six months after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson home, investigators have taken the unusual step of releasing two purported ransom notes to the public, a gamble that a retired investigator says follows the same playbook that broke the Unabomber case in 1995.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department published the notes on Friday, hoping someone will recognize the writer's distinctive voice and come forward with a tip. Sheriff Chris Nanos followed up Saturday with a video posted to X, urging the community to study the language closely. A reward of more than $1.2 million remains unclaimed, and no arrest has been made in the disappearance of the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie.

Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Tucson home in the early morning hours of February 1. Authorities have treated the case as an apparent abduction from the start. FBI-recovered doorbell camera footage shows a masked individual carrying a backpack and what appears to be a gun tampering with the camera at 1:47 a.m. that morning, National Review reported. Bloodstain pattern analysis at the scene suggested Guthrie suffered a bloody nose, consistent with a drip trail indicating a bleeding person moving through the home.

Notes sent to a Tucson TV station demanded $4 million in bitcoin

The two notes were emailed to Tucson station KOLD-13 on February 2 and February 6, the New York Post reported. The first demanded $4 million in cryptocurrency and threatened to kill Guthrie if the money was not paid within days. The second claimed she "perished shortly after she was taken" from an apparent heart condition.

One excerpt released by the sheriff's department reads: "You will not be able to contact me from here on out, there will be no negotiation." Another line states: "We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention." The second note went further, claiming Guthrie "is buried in nature now" and adding, "Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome. We are truly sorry."

Investigators believe the same person wrote both notes. The sheriff's department said the texts share a "unique linguistic style," marked by uneven grammar and syntax, emotionally charged repetitions, and awkward phrasing. One pattern stood out: the writer tends to make a statement and then immediately reinforce it with a comma-spliced follow-up.

The Pima County Sheriff's Office put it plainly in its public appeal, as the Associated Press reported: "We believe these distinctive linguistic characteristics may be recognizable to someone who knows or has interacted with the notes' writer."

Nanos, in his Saturday video, framed the release as a direct appeal to anyone who might recognize the cadence or vocabulary:

"There are a number of pieces of information in these notes that just might jar someone to say, 'You know, I've heard that,' or the wording, the style of the writing. We hope that by releasing the actual note, we'll get some response from the community."

Retired investigator draws a direct line to the 1995 Unabomber breakthrough

Lisa Miller, a retired investigator from the Colorado Attorney General's Office who has followed the Guthrie case closely for six months, posted her own analysis to X over the weekend. Miller is not connected to the official investigation, but her comparison to the Unabomber case drew attention to just how rare the sheriff's decision was.

As Miller wrote on X:

"Law enforcement rarely makes the deliberate call to release an offender's own words to the public. The last major precedent: 1995, the Unabomber manifesto...published on the FBI's recommendation, betting someone would recognize the writing. It worked."

The parallel is worth examining. In 1995, Ted Kaczynski's 35,000-word manifesto outlining his motives and views on modern society was published in national news outlets after then-FBI Director Louis Freeh and then-Attorney General Janet Reno signed off on the plan. The gamble paid off. The task force received thousands of tips, including a note from Kaczynski's own brother, David Kaczynski, who, along with his wife Linda Patrik, recognized the writing style and alerted authorities. Kaczynski was arrested in 1996 and later pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. He spent most of his time behind bars at ADX Florence, the federal supermax prison in Colorado.

But Miller acknowledged a key difference. The Guthrie ransom notes are much shorter than the Unabomber's lengthy essay and less useful for formal linguistic analysis. The bet here is narrower: that someone in the suspect's life, a friend, family member, coworker, or acquaintance, will recognize the specific patterns of expression and come forward.

Surveillance footage suggests the kidnapping was planned in advance

Beyond the notes, the investigation has surfaced evidence that the abduction was not random. Doorbell camera footage from two separate occasions shows an unidentified man dressed in all black near Guthrie's front door, suggesting he scouted the location before the night she was taken. The FBI has described the masked suspect as approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall.

Details in the first ransom note also point to someone with knowledge of the home's interior. The note referenced a "white smart watch on the floor of the foot of her bed" and stated that "the white flood light in backyard was destroyed", specifics that would be difficult for a stranger to know without having been inside.

A separate ransom note was also sent to TMZ, demanding millions in bitcoin and claiming Guthrie was "safe, but scared." TMZ founder Harvey Levin said the note's geographic and cultural details suggested the writer was familiar with the Tucson area. Based on the kidnappers' stated return timeline, Newsmax reported, investigators could draw a geographic circle around Tucson, potentially placing Guthrie on the West Coast or in northern Mexico at the time the note was written.

At least one ransom demand sent to media has already been confirmed fraudulent, resulting in an arrest. But the two notes released Friday are ones investigators consider potentially credible, and central to identifying whoever took Nancy Guthrie from her home.

Early missteps cloud a case with no suspects named

Retired FBI agent Jason Pack has pointed to critical errors in the early stages of the Pima County investigation, including a failure to properly secure the crime scene from reporters and delivery drivers. Those kinds of mistakes can contaminate evidence and narrow the window for forensic breakthroughs, a problem that grows more acute as months pass without an arrest.

Sheriff Nanos has declined to discuss whether the entry to Guthrie's home was forced. "Whether it's forced entry or not forced entry, that is something we're just not discussing," he told reporters. The FBI's Phoenix Division has acknowledged the ransom letters and said it is taking every lead seriously.

Both deadlines set by the ransom notes have passed without payment. No suspect has been publicly named. The $1.2 million reward sits uncollected. And the family of an 84-year-old woman is six months into a nightmare with no resolution.

Anyone with information can call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit anonymous tips at 520-88-CRIME.

When the Unabomber's manifesto went public in 1995, it took one family member reading the words to end an 18-year manhunt. Pima County is making the same wager now, that someone, somewhere, knows the person who wrote those notes. The question is whether anyone will pick up the phone.