Nancy Guthrie Update: Ex-FBI Agent Explains How to Respond to Ransom Notes

After ransom notes demanded one bitcoin in exchange for information on the Nancy Guthrie case, a former FBI agent is sharing one tactic investigators could use.

Jennifer Coffindaffer told Newsweek investigators could “tickle the wire,” a federal law enforcement tactic in which investigators take action to get a target to reveal incriminating details.

“Tickling the wire in this case would be putting half a bitcoin and seeing what happens to it,” Coffindaffer said. “Do they take it? Do they convert it to pesos? It’s internationally tracked. How does it come out into currency? Do they just leave it there?”

Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing from her home near Tucson, Arizona, since February 1. Authorities are treating the case as a kidnapping, especially with the recovery of doorbell-camera footage of a masked man at the house’s front door.

On Monday, TMZ received two new ransom notes from someone claiming to have information on the kidnappers. In the first note, the sender said their previous offer to provide information for the price of one bitcoin still stands.

“It’s unbelievable that millions have been wasted and yet here I am willing to deliver them on a silver platter since the 11th of february for a bitcoin but I am disregarded as a scam,” they wrote. “They are free and the case is frozen but the ego’s [sic] remain hot when it comes to me. Arrogance at it’s [sic] finest.”

In the second note, the sender claimed they saw Nancy “alive with them in the state of Sonora Mexico.”

Coffindaffer believes the ransom note is a scam, since the sender isn’t seeking the $1.2 million in reward money offered through official channels. The ex-FBI agent told Newsweek it’s “very unlikely” the person behind the ransom notes has information on the Nancy Guthrie case, but she still thinks it would be worth it to pay a half-bitcoin to identify that sender.

“Once it’s gone, it’s going to be gone. But I would want that last bread crumb. I think it would be worth it to me,” Coffindaffer said. “Minimally, you might be able [to] get this extortionist off the street. For $34,000, that’s a cheap price.”