Nancy Guthrie New Ransom Note Deemed Not Credible by Pima County Sheriff

Investigators looking into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie said they had been made aware of a new possible ransom message tied to the case, nearly eight months after the 84 year old mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie vanished from her home near Tucson.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department told PEOPLE on Monday, September 28, that the department and the FBI task force working the investigation had recently learned of the message. Officials said they were also tracking social media comments about it and reviewing the material to decide whether it was genuine.

By Tuesday, the same sheriff’s department said that further review had shown the message was not credible. Authorities described it as a text rather than a traditional letter and warned that scammers may try to exploit the case. They asked anyone who receives a text or other communication about Nancy to report it to law enforcement and not to send money or share personal information.

This is not the first time ransom claims have surfaced. Several alleged notes have appeared since Nancy went missing. On July 31, officials released two earlier messages that had been sent to a Tucson television station in the first days after she disappeared. One demanded millions of dollars in bitcoin and mentioned a white smartwatch on the floor at the foot of her bed and a destroyed backyard floodlight. The second claimed she had died shortly after she was taken and that she was “buried in nature now.” Sheriff Chris Nanos said at the time that investigators hoped the wording and style of those notes might jog someone’s memory.

“We just saw what was being said, and we felt like we needed to put something out that’s really accurate, and this was the time,” Nanos said in an August 1 video. He added that pieces of information in the notes might make someone recognize the writing or think about who could have written them.

Nancy was last seen on the night of January 31 after her family dropped her off at her Catalina Foothills home. Her garage door opened around 9:48 p.m. and closed two minutes later. She was reported missing the next day, February 1, after she failed to arrive at a friend’s house to watch a virtual church service. Family members went to check on her around midday and called 911. Authorities believe she was taken from the home in the early hours of February 1.

Savannah, 54, has pleaded again and again for answers, both on air and online. During the September 15 broadcast of Today, she said the family wanted to give her mother a proper goodbye. On August 1, after the earlier notes were made public, she wrote on Instagram that the family wakes up every day trying to stay strong because that is what their joyful and resilient mom taught them to do, and that their hearts are in ruins. She begged for someone to come forward, said the reward remains available, and said a person can speak anonymously.

No one has been arrested. The investigation remains open. Anyone with information is asked to call the Pima County Sheriff’s Office at 520-351-4900 or the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.