TRUE CRIME NEWSTrue Crime Podcaster Nancy Grace Weighs in on Nancy Guthrie Ransom Notes: 'Best Lead Yet'
True crime podcaster Nancy Grace discussed new ransom notes as 'best lead yet' in the baffling search for Nancy Guthrie.
April 8 2026, Published 4:24 p.m. ET
True crime podcaster Nancy Grace weighed in on the latest developments in the case of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, centering on shocking new ransom notes received by TMZ on April 6 claiming the missing woman is dead.
The notes also provide a specific location for the first time: the state of Sonora, Mexico.
The sender of the most recent notes, who has contacted TMZ multiple times, alleges they saw Nancy alive with her abductors in Mexico, but now claims she's dead.
Nancy Guthrie weighed in on the ongoing mystery.
The individual is demanding 1 Bitcoin (approximately $68,500–$70,000) in exchange for delivering the kidnappers "on a silver platter.”
The note expressed frustration with the FBI, accusing the agency of arrogance for dismissing previous communications as a scam and wasting millions on search efforts.
The podcast host reported that the FBI views the Bitcoin addresses provided in early ransom demands as their "best lead" yet, as cryptocurrency transactions can be tracked through blockchain analysis to identify associated individuals.
Nancy Guthrie was allegedly seen in Mexico, per the ransom note.
Crime Stories With Nancy Grace reporter Dave Mack said these notes “are from the rat that wants a Bitcoin to rat out the guys, the people who have allegedly kidnapped Nancy Guthrie. In one of the notes, this individual says that he had mentioned in an earlier ransom note to Nancy that he had seen Nancy Guthrie in the presence of the kidnappers. This time, he goes a step further and says, ‘I saw her with the kidnappers in Sonora, Mexico.’”
The legal expert doubled down on the theory.
“Dave Mack, I like your characterization that we had used earlier, the rat. He wants to rat out the real kidnapper," she said.
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Law enforcement is allegedly taking this latest development seriously.
Psychoanalyst Dr. Bethany Marshall agreed, adding, “If he wants to make money off of this, it suggests that maybe he knows the kidnappers because he himself is a part of a criminal enterprise. So, I would think that if he makes his identity known and he's been sort of thick as thieves with whoever took [Nancy] Guthrie, that that would be more daunting to him than threatening to him than facing other kinds of charges for obstructing justice. It's kind of hard to say, but I just think he's sort of one of them that has broken away from the pack, and now he wants to kind of profit off the knowledge that he has.”
David Richards, founder and CEO of Blockchain Unmasked, an intelligence firm specializing in investigating cryptocurrency-related financial crimes, said law enforcement is taking this latest development seriously.
“Obviously, someone that's going to want to throw their hat in the ring on an investigation like this may not be a savory individual, and I'm sure law enforcement's taking that into account,” David said.
The note could be 'fake,' said David Richards.
But David did not dismiss the idea that this could yet again be another false flag in an investigation plagued by them.
“If someone did have some intimate knowledge of an incident in this in this case, it would make more sense that they would share a little bit to then give legitimacy to their ransom note,” he said.
“As of right now, it could be a troll, it could be a fake, it could be someone involved. And I think law enforcement is looking at all of those options,” he noted.
