An activity has been witnessed in a Bitcoin wallet associated with an alleged ransom demand in the high-profile vanishing of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.
TMZ affirmed on February 10 that for the first time since the ransom note was received, there has been “activity” in the cryptocurrency account specified in the initial ransom demand sent to various media outlets, comprising TMZ itself.
The details of the transaction, comprising the amount shared and the sender, haven’t been revealed yet. The progress indicates a prominent update in a scrutiny that has witnessed no confirmed contact from the kidnappers since earlier deadlines for ransom payments passed.
In late January, Nancy Guthrie was witnessed at her home in Catalina Foothills, Arizona, after which she went missing on February 1. Law enforcement has served her missing as a possible abduction after finding evidence of a struggle and DNA-matched blood at the scene.
Soon after she vanished, a ransom note asking for payment in Bitcoin (BTC) was sent to two Tucson television stations and TMZ. As reports note, it set two deadlines and demanded millions in Bitcoin for the safe return of Guthrie.
As per the TMZ founder, Harvey Levin, the ransom wallet associated with the first letter revealed activity on February 6, hours after the FBI unveiled surveillance images of a person of interest.
No Official Confirmation
Levin also revealed he noted the activity “around 12 minutes” after it happened, though he rejected giving detail on the nature of the transaction. The surveillance footage and photos of a masked person witnessed around the home of Guthrie early the morning she disappeared, and a person of interest was delayed for questioning south of Tucson earlier this week.
Currently, officials haven’t confirmed if the Bitcoin transaction is linked to the alleged kidnappers, the Guthrie family, law enforcement, or another party, and scrutiny is going on. The noted Bitcoin wallet activity in the Gutherie case comes at the time of a broader global surge in cryptocurrency-associated kidnappings.
6 suspects in a case were arrested by the French authorities, where a magistrate and her mother were held for a crypto ransom before being released. The other cross-border operation in 2025, between Spanish and Danish police, places a claim of abducting and killing a crypto holder.
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