A new ransom note in the Nancy Guthrie case has been determined to be is believed to be fake, Arizona authorities announced Tuesday.
“After further review, investigators determined the text message is not credible,” The Pima County Sheriff’s Department posted to X one day after announcing it had received a “new, possible ransom note.”
The sheriff’s department didn’t reveal when the latest note was sent, who it was addressed to or its contents.
The apparently phony lead came as authorities are desperate for a breakthrough after “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mom vanished in February.
The note is one of several red herrings sent to law enforcement and news stations in the months after the Guthrie matriarch vanished from her secluded desert home in the Tucson suburbs.
“The Nancy Guthrie investigation remains active and ongoing,” the sheriff’s department wrote, while warning the public of “scammers” seeking to “take advantage of the situation.”
Though this one wasn’t credible, authorities must always investigate any possible word from a would-be kidnapper, according to Jason Pack, a former FBI abduction expert.
“You have to take every communication like this seriously until you have a good reason not to,” Pack told The Post Tuesday.
“Investigators can’t afford to brush something aside just because an earlier note may have turned out to be bogus,” Pack added, referring to other scam ransom messages sent in the weeks after the Guthrie’s abduction.
In July a California man pleaded guilty to harassment for one such fake note.
“The first question is simple: Who sent it? Then you start pulling the string,” said Pack, who specialized in crisis negotiation while with the FBI.
If the note was sent electronically or demanded money, investigators will be back-tracing all possible details from the email account, devices, crypto wallet or other digital clues, Pack said — just as they did for two earlier ransom notes demanding millions of dollars in cryptocurrency for Guthrie’s return.
The first note, received Feb. 2, claimed Guthrie would be “released unharmed” if a payment of $4 million in Bitcoin was paid before 5 p.m. on Feb. 5.
Investigators took it seriously because it mentioned previously unreleased details about the crime scene — namely, a broken flood light on her house and a white Apple Watch near her bed.
A few days later, a second note — which authorities have not confirmed was sent by the same person — hinted that Guthrie may be dead.
“We did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition. … She is buried in nature now,” the note said, concluding with: “We are truly sorry.”
The investigation appears to have all but completely stalled.
Doorbell camera footage captured around the time she disappeared showed a masked man with a gun at her doorstep.
A series of detentions and interrogations in the early days of the investigation yielded no suspects and neither has apparent DNA evidence found at the scene — much to the chagrin of embattled Sheriff Chris Nanos, who has faced savage criticism and an attempted ouster from his post.
The Guthrie family are offering a $1 million reward for information that leads to the matriarch being recovered.
That reward remains active and the FBI is also offering a $100,000 reward.
