Is Nancy Guthrie dead? The mystery of her disappearance deepens after second note

There is a breakthrough in the case of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.

The second note sent to media outlets days after the abduction of the 84-year-old mother of NBC network "Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie stated that she had died, NBC News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The existence of this second note was previously reported by the network; however, the content that specifically claimed that Guthrie had died was not disclosed until now.

The second note contained no payment request and differed entirely in tone from the initial ransom note, which sought millions in bitcoin for her release.

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Guthrie was reported missing on February 1, 2026, from her home near Tucson, Arizona. She was last seen the previous night (January 31) around 9:45 pm. Since then, the circumstances of her disappearance have remained a mystery.

We take a look.

Inside the two notes

The first ransom note was sent days after Guthrie went missing. It noted that she was safe and demanded cryptocurrency for her release.

The note also mentioned specific details about her residence, bedroom, and the home's surroundings, according to a BBC report quoting an investigator's statement to CBS. The note was addressed to Savannah Guthrie.

However, it has now come to light that a second note was also sent on February 6. It did not include any demands regarding payment, but rather mentioned apologies for Guthrie's death, while calling it an accident.

BBC reported that the second note from possible kidnappers asserted that they did not intend to cause Guthrie's death, including an apology to the family. The Pima County Sheriff's Department in Tucson, Arizona, said the probe "remains active and ongoing." However, they declined to comment on the notes' content.

"The Pima County Sheriff's Department continues to work closely with the FBI as investigators follow up on leads, review information, and pursue the facts surrounding this case," the publication quoted a spokesperson for the sheriff's department.

Savannah, Guthrie's daughter, though in an interview with NBC in March, said that there were many ransom notes, and according to her, most of them were bogus. She conveyed to the network that her family think the two initial notes were only authentic.

Jennifer Coffindaffer, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, claimed earlier that the notes were part of a sick plot to torment the Guthrie family.

“They sent these right when Savannah Guthrie went back to work. That was by no mistake; that was absolutely meant to further torment her and her family,” Coffindaffer told Newsweek.

Coffindaffer believed that possible kidnappers, through these notes, are lying about having information about Guthrie's whereabouts.

Savannah's responses so far

After the second note was sent, Savannah, co-anchor of the US morning programme, alongside her siblings, posted a video on Instagram addressed to the kidnappers.

"We received your message, and we understand. "We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace,” Savannah asserted, adding that family "would pay" for her return.

On February 15, in a separate video, she again urged people with knowledge of her mother’s whereabouts to inform the family. Savannah said it was “never too late to do the right thing.”

Officials and Savannah's family repeatedly put out public warnings saying that the elderly victim was in poor health and in a critical medical condition.

In addition to the FBI’s $100,000 (around Rs 94.63 Lakh) reward, the Guthrie family had put forward $1 million (Rs 10 Lakh) for any information helping bring Nancy back.

On 24 February, Savannah said they would not give up hope, even as they faced the possibility that "She may be lost, she may already be gone".

The night Nancy Guthrie was last seen

Nancy Guthrie’s final confirmed movements began on Saturday, January 31, 2026.

At approximately 5:32 pm, she used Uber transportation to travel to a relative’s home for dinner. Later that evening, at 9:48 pm, a family member drove her back to her residence in the Tucson area.

Records indicate that the garage door opened and then shut shortly after she arrived. Those events represent the last confirmed sightings of Guthrie.

In the early hours of Sunday, February 1, a series of critical events occurred at the home:

Later that morning, relatives grew concerned when Guthrie did not appear at church as expected.

By 11:56 am, family members checked on her well-being. Minutes later, at 12:03 pm, authorities were contacted via 911 to report her missing.

Deputies reached the residence at 12:15 pm and initiated a coordinated search effort that included aerial drones and trained search dogs.

That same evening, at 6:46 pm, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department publicly confirmed on social media that Nancy Guthrie had disappeared.

On February 2, authorities stated that they believed Guthrie had been kidnapped, abducted, or otherwise taken against her will. This conclusion followed preliminary evidence gathered at the scene. A person familiar with the investigation later disclosed that there were indications of forced entry at the residence.

On February 10, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that investigators had successfully recovered surveillance footage from the system’s backend architecture.

This combo from images provided by the FBI shows surveillance footage at the home of Nancy Guthrie the night she went missing in Tucson, Arizona, US. File Image/FBI via AP

It was then that the probe into the disappearance of Guthrie took a pivotal stage after federal investigators released chilling surveillance footage showing a masked individual outside her Tucson-area residence during the early hours of February 1, 2026- the morning officials believe she was abducted.

It was the first time that investigators publicly shared visual evidence from the night she vanished.

The footage, totalling less than one minute, captures a masked person approaching the front entrance of Guthrie’s home. The individual was wearing a backpack and a ski mask with openings for the eyes and mouth.

In the video, the person appeared to attempt to interfere with the doorbell camera. A gloved hand reaches toward the device, and plant material taken from Guthrie’s yard is used to obstruct the camera’s lens.

At one point, the person is seen holding a flashlight in their mouth while operating it.

The footage does not show Guthrie herself, nor does it depict what happened after the individual tampered with the camera. It does, however, provide the first visual documentation of someone present at the residence during the crucial window when investigators believed she was abducted.

However, since then, the FBI has not named the suspect, and the probe remains ongoing.

With inputs from agencies