A retired FBI agent suggests the family of Nancy Guthrie should consider paying half of the demanded bitcoin ransom to test whether it might finally provide clues to her location.
Earlier this week, TMZ received two alleged ransom notes requesting one bitcoin—approximately $72,000—in exchange for information about the 84-year-old’s disappearance from her Arizona residence. These notes also promised to deliver the kidnappers “on a silver platter.”
Jennifer Coffindaffer, a former FBI agent, shared her insights with Newsweek, saying, “Testing the waters in this situation means offering half a bitcoin to see the response it generates.”
She pondered, “Will they accept it? Convert it into pesos? It’s traceable internationally. How does it transition into currency, or do they simply leave it untouched?” The notes imply that the elderly mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie might have been taken to Mexico.
Coffindaffer added, “Once the money is gone, it’s gone. However, that final clue could be invaluable. To me, it would be worth the risk.”
Since Guthrie’s abduction from her Tucson, Arizona, home on February 1, investigators have yet to identify any suspects or uncover significant new leads in the case.
Multiple purported ransom notes were sent in the weeks following her disappearance — including several sent to TMZ.
The latest notes to the outlet were sent from the same anonymous person who demanded one bitcoin two months ago.
The sick sender noted in the first note that the grandmother was dead but the prior offer to “deliver [the kidnappers] on a silver platter” still stands.
In a second note, the sender claimed to have seen Guthrie alive with her captors in the Mexican state of Sonora.
The pair of notes were sent just as Guthrie’s daughter, Savannah Guthrie, made her emotional return to NBC’s “Today” show for the first time since her mom vanished.
