The FBI is “hedging” its bets as it investigates the purported Nancy Guthrie ransom notes — but there’s “no reason” to believe they are legitimate, a top criminologist said.
Behavioral analyst Dr. Casey Jordan said Guthrie’s alleged kidnappers have not opened communication channels with the family or offered any proof of life in the five months from her disappearance.
“The No. 1 reason, and this is probably 90% of it, is that nothing, no communication is offered, any proof of life, proof of death, evidence of anything,” Jordan told NewsNation Saturday, emphatically debunking the legitimacy of such notes.
“So, without any proof of life or death, there is no reason to believe that they’re real. [The FBI] is just kind of hedging their bets.”
The FBI said last week that Guthrie’s abduction “continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case,” five months after the 84-year-old was snatched from her Tucson, Az., home.
The agency acknowledged some of the notes were “deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy.”
“Other ransom demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such,” it added.
Law enforcement sources previously told The Post that the FBI does not believe any of the ransom notes are legitimate — but an investigative report on them is not complete yet, so the agency is not making a definitive ruling yet.
A pair of notes, reportedly from the same IP address, were sent to Guthrie’s family and news outlets days after she was abducted.
The first claimed that the missing grandmother was safe and demanded $4 million in bitcoin, while the second claimed Guthrie — who had a heart condition — had died and been buried in nature, and offered a rambling “apology” for the accidental death.
Last month, a note sent to TMZ claimed to know the identity of her so-called kidnappers and contained a video from the day Guthrie supposedly died.
The person behind the note claimed there were two kidnappers involved.
“I have a phone stashed in a secure location guaranteeing both the information it stores and the safety of the phone,” the outlet reported.
“What it contains is my definition of delivering them on a silver platter, a short video of the main guy with Nancy the day that was probably her last, pictures of both involved, names and addresses and age.”
The sender claimed the phone is in a “location easy to access if you know where it is,” and said he would cough up the password for one bitcoin. TMZ alerted the FBI after receiving the email.
There are no known suspects relating to Guthrie’s disappearance.
The Guthrie family has received bogus notes. Derrick Callella pleaded guilty to sending a note to Guthrie’s daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni, days after the matriarch vanished, according to a criminal complaint filed in Arizona federal court.
Callella’s note was not linked to a Feb. 2 ransom demand sent to local media and TMZ, Fox News reported, citing court documents.
Embattled Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos — who spearheads the sheriff’s department tasked with finding Guthrie — said it’s a “shame” fake ransom notes are sent.
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