2 ransom notes released in Nancy Guthrie case, including one saying she died

When Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos released two ransom notes connected to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie for the first time on Friday, a contradiction between his statements and the notes became apparent. Just a day earlier, Nanos had told CBS News, "I have nothing to indicate she's dead. I don't have a body. I don't have a burial site.

But I don't have any note." Yet, the notes themselves offered conflicting information. The first note, sent a day after Guthrie went missing, demanded a $4 million ransom in bitcoin and threatened to return her to a "safe drop off location in Tucson within 12 hours of the ransom's deposit." The second note, released four days later, claimed, "We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention.

She perished shortly after she was taken. We believe it was heart related. She is buried in nature now." Nanos' release of the notes, which had initially been sent to a local CBS station in Tucson in February, aimed to elicit recognition of the author's distinctive wording to aid in identifying the sender. The first note contained details about Nancy Guthrie's white Apple Watch and floodlights on her back porch, prompting the FBI to take the ransom notes seriously.

Both notes were sent via a fabricated tip line to CBS affiliate KOLD-TV using email addresses that appeared to be fabricated and referenced the Guthrie family. Lance Leising, a retired FBI supervisory special agent, believed that releasing the notes was a beneficial move to garner more tips from the public, although it seemed haphazard after such a protracted period without any communication.