An arrest has been made in the case of Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance for a fake ransom note sent to authorities.
Nancy, the mother of Today cohost Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing by her family on Sunday, February 1, after a friend noticed that she did not attend a church service that morning. Nancy was last seen on Saturday, January 31.
Police believe that Nancy was abducted, citing mobility issues that would likely make her unable to leave on her own, as well as evidence at her home.
Amid the search for Nancy, the FBI revealed during a Thursday, February 5, press conference that they arrested someone for an “imposter” ransom demand.
Keep scrolling to see everything we know about the imposter ransom letter:
A ransom letter or note is a threatening message demanding money or other valuables in exchange for the safe return of a kidnapped individual or something else of value to the recipient, according to Merriam-Webster. Ransom letters are often anonymous and provide specific instructions for the delivery of the ransom.
During a press conference on Thursday, FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Heith Janke stated that an arrest had been made for a phony ransom note sent amid Nancy’s disappearance.
“There’s no evidence to connect this to Nancy’s case. It was someone that was trying to profit off it,” Janke said.
Janke added, “My next message is to those imposters who are trying to take advantage and profit from this situation. We will investigate and ensure you are held accountable for your actions. This is an 84-year-old grandma that needs vital medication for her well being. You still have the time to do the right thing before this becomes a worse, much worse scenario for you.”
While Janke did not provide further details about the arrest in the press conference, a criminal complaint filed later on Thursday revealed that a Los Angeles man named Derrick Callella was charged with sending the fake ransom note, according to The New York Post.
Callella, who is in his mid-forties, contacted Savannah’s sister, Annie Guthrie, and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, about Nancy’s disappearance on February 4, the complaint revealed, per the outlet.
“Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,” Callella’s message allegedly read.
Data obtained by authorities also revealed that Callella made a nine-second-long call to an unidentified family member of Nancy. The outreach came shortly after Savannah, Annie and brother Camron issued an emotional video statement pleading for their mother’s safe return.
Nancy’s family members sent the alleged ransom letter to authorities, who tracked the number to Callella’s residence in California, according to the court docs.
Callella then confessed to police that he had been following the case and pulled the Guthrie family’s contact information from a website.
“He said … he was trying to see if the family would respond,” the complaint revealed.
Callella was charged with two counts of transmitting communication containing a demand or request for ransom in exchange for the release of a kidnapped person, according to the docs obtained by the NY Post.
Us Weekly reached out to the FBI and the district attorney for comment on the imposter arrest.
Callella’s fake ransom note has not been connected to a separate ransom letter sent to local and national news outlets, including TMZ, on Monday, February 2. Police are still investigating this letter, which contained a deadline to receive the ransom money by Thursday, according to Janke.
“I think we start to look at what the deadlines were in the note,” Janke said in the press conference on Thursday. “First, I think [it] was 5 p.m. today, and then it had a second deadline after that. So we are continuing in a normal kidnapping case, there would be contact by now trying to discuss that. But those are the time frames we’re looking at as we move forward.”
Janke continued, “If a transfer wasn’t made, then I think a second demand was for next Monday. We’re not going to go beyond that.”
Mary Coleman, an anchor for Arizona’s KOLD 13 News — one of the outlets that received the ransom letter on Monday — revealed during a CNN interview that it arrived via email. She claimed that it was “clear after a couple sentences” that it “might not be a hoax.”
“A lot of it is information that only someone who was holding her for ransom would know,” she said. “Some very sensitive information and things that people who weren’t there when she was taken captive wouldn’t know.”
According to Coleman, the email “included a dollar amount, a deadline” and other details “that only Guthrie’s abductor might know, so that definitely raised some red flags.”
Coleman added that authorities are “still looking into the legitimacy” of the note, but they are taking it seriously.
