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Investigators again scoured the desert brush outside the Tucson home of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, as officials were reviewing a new message that could be tied to her abduction.
At the same time, President Trump said on Air Force One on Friday night that investigators have “very strong” clues, believing “we could have some answers coming up fairly soon.”
“We have some things, I think that will maybe come out reasonably soon, from DOJ or FBI, or whoever, that could be, could be definitive. A lot has taken place in the last couple of hours. A lot of things have happened with regard to that horrible situation in the last couple of hours,” he said.
Little is known about the new message and whether it has been tied to kidnappers.
FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s officials confirmed they were aware of the message, and said they are “actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity.”
Guthrie was last seen by her family just after 9:45 p.m. Saturday, which officials said matched with when her garage door opened and closed that night.
About four hours later, at 1:47 a.m., officials said her doorbell camera disconnected. An empty frame for the camera had been previously noted at her home.
Then at 2:12 a.m., the security camera software at Guthrie’s home detected a person — or an animal — on one of the home’s cameras, but Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said they have not been able to recover that footage and don’t know which camera recorded the movement.
About 15 minutes later, at 2:28 a.m., Nancy’s pacemaker app shows that it was a disconnect from the phone, Nanos said. That appears to be exactly when she left her home, as her phone was left behind.
Her family went to check on her at home, finding her missing, just before noon Sunday, after she hadn’t shown up for church. They almost immediately called 911, Nanos said.
An earlier ransom note appears to be at the center of the effort to find her.
Although the entire note has not been released, some details that were included have been shared publicly. The letter contained a first deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday and a second demand with a Monday deadline, said Heith Janke, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix division. He declined to say what, if anything, was requested at each deadline, or if there was a threat if the deadlines weren’t met.
Nancy’s son, Camron Guthrie, released a video statement pleading with the kidnapper Thursday afternoon, around the time of the ransom letter’s first deadline.
“Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you,” he said. “We haven’t heard anything directly. We need you to reach out and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward.”
Harvey Levin, founder of celebrity news website TMZ, has reviewed one of the three identical letters that were sent to media outlets and told CNN on Thursday that “the Monday deadline is far more consequential.”
TMZ reported receiving the alleged note earlier this week via email, and said the letter demanded millions in cryptocurrency for Guthrie’s release. Levin said Thursday night that TMZ had confirmed the bitcoin address was real.
The family and authorities are particularly worried because Nancy Guthrie has many physical ailments and requires a daily medication that she appears to be without. Officials said they haven’t yet received any proof that Guthrie is alive, but they are operating on that assumption — despite real concerns she could be dead.
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Richard Winton, Grace Toohey
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