TMZ founder Harvey Levin on Monday directly contradicted recent reports claiming that a ransom demand in the Nancy Guthrie disappearance contained an apology for her death, insisting that the note his outlet received made no such reference. Levin said the communication stated only that the 84-year-old was "scared but OK" — a material distinction in a case that has now gone 20 weeks without resolution.
What the Ransom Note Did and Did Not Say
Speaking in a video posted to TMZ's YouTube channel, Levin said he was motivated by misinformation circulating about the content of the ransom communications. "It is not in that ransom note at all," he said of any reference to death or an apology to Savannah Guthrie and her family. The note TMZ received carried a $4 million demand. Levin was unambiguous: the document made no mention of Nancy Guthrie dying, and no expression of remorse from the alleged abductors.
The apparent source of the competing version was a separate communication stream. ABC News reported Monday that local media outlets received a follow-up demand claiming that Guthrie had died and been buried. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, whose department is the lead agency on the case, confirmed to Fox News Digital that the FBI has been managing numerous ransom demands since the beginning — some assessed as bogus, others carrying potential credibility — and deferred comment to the bureau on the conflicting reports.
A Second Voice: The $100,000 Tipster
Levin described a distinct correspondent — separate from the ransom note sender — who sent TMZ multiple emails claiming personal knowledge of Guthrie's whereabouts and the identities of her alleged captors. This individual asked for $100,000, far below the $4 million ransom figure, saying he wanted the money to go "underground" and avoid retribution. He disclosed a prior burglary conviction from roughly 11 years earlier and indicated he had close enough knowledge of the alleged kidnappers to fear being implicated.
Critically, this person's emails shifted in tone shortly after the suspected abduction. An early message warned that "time is of the essence." Days later, a follow-up email said "time is no longer of the essence" — which Levin interpreted as an implicit signal that Guthrie was no longer alive. The tipster never received payment, and Levin said that when he proposed having TMZ fund the request to test its validity, his FBI contacts went silent.
FBI's Crypto Test and the Wrench Attack Theory
A federal law enforcement source confirmed to Fox News Digital that the FBI deposited small sums of cryptocurrency into a Bitcoin wallet as a validity test for at least one of the purported ransom demands. Whether the sender of the second note — the one referencing Guthrie's death — proved credible remains unclear.
Investigators have floated what they describe as a "wrench attack" theory: a computer hacker, likely operating overseas, may have recruited local individuals to carry out the physical abduction as part of an extortion scheme targeting Savannah Guthrie, co-host of NBC's "Today." Nancy Guthrie was suspected of being taken from her home in the Catalina Foothills north of Tucson. A combined reward of more than $1.2 million is available for information leading to a break in the case. Tips can be submitted to 1-800-CALL-FBI or anonymously through Tucson's Crime Stoppers affiliate, 88-Crime, at 1-520-882-7463.