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FBI Confirms All Three Nancy Guthrie Ransom Notes Are Fake, Upending the Case’s Central Kidnapping Narrative
TUCSON, Ariz. — The FBI has determined that all three ransom notes circulated in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, are fraudulent, a bombshell development first reported Tuesday by Reuters that strips away the central kidnapping-for-ransom narrative that has dominated five months of public coverage and family appeals.
An anonymous FBI official told Reuters the FBI assessed the authenticity of two ransom notes reported in early February, just days after Guthrie vanished, and a third, more recent ransom note that claimed to know the identities of her kidnappers.
“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” the FBI source told the publication.
A second law enforcement source familiar with the matter confirmed the FBI’s assessment that the ransom notes were not genuine. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, and the FBI did not elaborate publicly on the specific methods used to reach its conclusions.
The revelation fundamentally reshapes the publicly understood picture of what happened to Nancy Guthrie after she was last seen at her Tucson, Arizona, home on the night of Jan. 31. The Guthrie family, responding to what they believed were genuine communications from kidnappers, made repeated public pleas to the alleged abductors in the weeks following her disappearance, with Savannah Guthrie telling them in one video message posted to social media, “we will pay.” Those appeals, posted alongside her siblings Camron and Annie Guthrie, were premised on the assumption that the ransom demands were real and that Nancy Guthrie was alive in the custody of those who had taken her. The FBI’s determination that all three notes were fabricated removes that premise entirely.
The first note, reported by TMZ, demanded a sum of cryptocurrency in the millions, setting two deadlines for payment on Feb. 5 and Feb. 9. TMZ also reported receiving nearly a dozen emails from the same man, with the first email sent just days after the abduction, saying he would divulge information in exchange for one bitcoin. The following day, the same sender wrote again saying time was “no longer of the essence,” suggesting Nancy had died after being taken to Mexico.
According to the FBI official who spoke to Reuters, investigators determined that the first two notes originated from the same sender, though the methods used to establish that connection were not disclosed. To test the authenticity of the first note and potentially identify those responsible, the FBI deposited a small amount of cryptocurrency into the account specified in the message. Those funds remained untouched and were never withdrawn, a finding that became a key piece of evidence supporting the conclusion that the sender had no actual connection to Guthrie’s disappearance.
The second note claimed Guthrie had died and was “buried in nature,” sources close to the investigation told NewsNation’s Brian Entin. That note, which was sent to KOLD, the NBC News affiliate in Arizona, had previously been described by NBC News as potentially credible, citing three people familiar with the situation. The FBI’s determination that it too was a fabrication represents a significant reversal from how the correspondence had been characterized in media coverage over the preceding weeks.
The third and most recent note was an email sent to TMZ claiming the sender possessed video evidence of the alleged abductor and of Guthrie on the day of her death, along with information that could identify the kidnappers. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos had publicly expressed skepticism about that communication before Tuesday’s FBI determination, voicing doubt about its authenticity on a local radio station shortly after it surfaced.
“People who call in fake ransom notes, people who claim for the sake of media and the family, they get out and disturb, in this case, an entire neighborhood,” Nanos said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the overall investigation in coordination with the FBI, declined to comment directly on Tuesday’s findings. Sheriff’s spokesperson Angelica Carrillo referred all questions about the ransom notes to federal authorities and confirmed only that the investigation remains active.
“We don’t have any updates, other than this is still an active investigation,” Carrillo said. She added that DNA samples and video evidence collected during the investigation remain under forensic examination.
With the ransom note narrative now formally closed by the FBI’s determination, the case returns its focus entirely to the physical evidence collected at the scene of Guthrie’s disappearance. Authorities have confirmed that blood found on the front porch of her Tucson home belonged to her based on DNA testing. Surveillance footage recovered from a doorbell camera, retrieved from corrupted backend server data after the camera itself was tampered with, showed a masked individual approaching the property in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, shortly before Guthrie’s pacemaker app recorded a disconnection from her phone at 2:28 a.m. A separate piece of DNA evidence, recovered from a glove found near the home that resembled the one worn by the masked figure in the footage, failed to match any profile in the FBI’s national CODIS database, prompting investigators to pursue genetic genealogy testing as an alternative path toward identification.
No suspects have been publicly named or arrested in the case. The FBI has offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to Guthrie’s location or to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. The Guthrie family separately offered an additional $1 million reward, bringing the total to $1.1 million. Neither the FBI nor the Pima County Sheriff’s Department has publicly confirmed whether Guthrie is believed to be alive, and Savannah Guthrie herself has acknowledged the possibility that “she may already be gone” while continuing to hold onto hope publicly.
The case has drawn national attention for months, driven in large part by Savannah Guthrie’s visible public role as a sitting anchor at one of American television’s most watched morning programs. Her repeated on-air appeals for information, continued even as she maintained her professional duties at the “Today” show, kept the case in the public eye throughout the investigation’s most active stretch, including during Tuesday’s broadcast when she again referenced the family’s $1 million reward and described the ongoing ordeal as one of “agony.”
With all three ransom notes now formally dismissed as fabrications, investigators face the sobering challenge of pursuing a case that has produced significant physical evidence, including blood, video footage and a DNA sample, but has yet to yield a named suspect or confirmed account of what happened to an 84-year-old woman nearly five months after she vanished from her home in the early hours of a February morning.
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to warn stablecoin legislation could hurt small business lending while discussing America 250 initiatives and the outlook for the U.S. economy.
Companies in the private sector added 98,000 jobs in June, payroll processing firm ADP said in its latest report on Wednesday.
The figure is below economists’ estimates of a gain of 118,000 jobs and down from the prior month’s unrevised 122,000 payrolls figure.
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Education and health services added 48,000 positions, leading job creation in June. Trade, transportation and utilities added 15,000, financial activities gained 14,000 and other services added 8,000.
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Education and health services led hiring in the month of June, according to ADP. (iStock)
Information added 7,000 jobs, while manufacturing added 5,000. Leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and construction each added 2,000 jobs.
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On the negative side, natural resources and mining lost 5,000 jobs.
People staying in their roles saw their pay climb 4.4% from the prior year, while pay gains for those changing their jobs accelerated to 6.6%.
U.S. private payrolls climbed by 98,000 in June, ADP said on Wednesday. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
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What experts are saying about the June 2026 ADP National Employment Report
“The pace of hiring is telling a story of both supply and demand,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “We know it’s taking people longer to find work, but there also are signs of labor supply constraints in certain industries. For now, the overall effect is a slowdown in job creation.”
Blanca Commercial Real Estate CEO Tere Blanca and DaGrosa Capital Partners Chair Joe DaGrosa speak to Fox News Digital about how a California commercial exodus has followed a residential one to the Sunshine State.
Billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel planted a record-setting flag in Miami’s financial core, signing a historic $250-per-square-foot office lease that experts say marks a transition of the West Coast tech exodus from what began as a residential trend into a broader corporate takeover.
As multibillion-dollar liquidity events loom for companies like SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, tech creators and founders are no longer just buying beachfront homes — they are anchoring corporate operations in a booming South Florida commercial ecosystem that insiders describe as “on fire.”
“Peter Thiel in signing that lease, marking a milestone of $250 square foot, absolutely incredible,” DaGrosa Capital Partners founder and chair Joe DaGrosa told Fox News Digital. “With the signing of that lease, it’d probably take a year or two for a build out. Once that build-out occurs, not just Peter, but his entire team will be coming to Miami, and that entire team will be buyers of homes or renters of homes. So you can see how that has a virtuous-cycle effect of going from commercial to residential.”
“The entire region is just on fire,” Blanca Commercial Real Estate founder, chair and CEO Tere Blanca also told Fox Digital. “With billionaires like Larry Page and Peter Thiel and Sergey Brin and others that have taken residency here, what we expect is that they will continue to grow their footprints in the region, as has always been the case, when people migrate to Miami.”
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The migration of California companies to South Florida has followed a residential wealth exodus, according to DaGrosa and Blanca. Miami’s 55-story office tower 830 Brickell, which will welcome Thiel’s family office, houses companies including Citadel, Microsoft and Thoma Bravo.
The building, left, that houses the Thoma Bravo, Citadel and soon Peter Thiel’s family office at 830 Brickell Plaza in Miami, Florida, on March 5, 2025. (Getty Images)
Prior to the post-pandemic boom, Class A office space in Brickell typically leased for about $40 to $60 per square foot, DaGrosa noted. Thiel’s reported $250-per-square-foot lease set a local record, competing directly with top-tier rates in markets such as Manhattan and San Francisco.
“Office space is just like anything else. [It] will be priced based on how much supply and how much demand exists,” Blanca said. “And so with the flight to quality that we’ve experienced in office, even before the pandemic, there is a lot of competition to acquire the best-in-class office space, the best located buildings in areas that feel very familiar to these companies and their executives that are moving here from major cities around the country.”
With California officially putting a billionaire wealth tax on the ballot, tech founders and institutional leaders are looking at the quantitative numbers, as Florida provides a defensive shelter where capital can be deployed without aggressive state intervention.
Ft. Lauderdale DDA CEO Jenni Morejon, DaGrosa Capital Partners founder Joe DaGrosa and Naftali Group CEO Miki Naftali speak to Fox News Digital about how SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs could trigger another exodus to Florida.
“It’s both a quantitative and a qualitative discussion, and those two points go hand in hand. From a quantitative point of view, there’s a significant tax savings opportunity at the state-level by moving to Miami,” DaGrosa said.
“The concern, certainly on the part of a lot of Californians, it’s a wonderful lifestyle out there. Would they be sacrificing lifestyle, the qualitative side of things, for the benefits of the quantitative side? I think they’ve come to realize that they can have the best of both,” he continued, “tax savings and a great quality of life here that rivals, and I would argue surpasses, many parts of California.”
“Companies like Palantir that announced headquarters moved to Miami, Peter Thiel being here, is a… statement to other states about the business practices that make Florida so attractive that they’re not seeing in the places where they were residing,” Blanca added.
“With that influx in capital, states can do more, the county and the city can do more to help their constituents. So I view it as a big positive. It’s just more money to go around to improve the quality of life for everyone who’s living here.”
Critics have argued that Florida lacks the deep engineering talent of Silicon Valley. However, the experts believe local tech hubs are actively shifting. The Miami-Dade Beacon Council reports that tech employment across the county has grown about 25% over the last few years, making it one of the top metro areas for tech job growth in America.
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There’s also notable case studies like Iru — the AI-powered IT and security management firm formerly known as Kandji — a San Francisco-born tech firm that tripled its Miami physical footprint post-pandemic.
Employees at SpaceX’s facility in Hawthorne, California, share their thoughts on the company’s initial public offering. (Splash News for Fox News Digital)
“I think that the technology business in Miami should not be compared to, ‘Oh, this is the next Silicon Valley?’” Blanca said. “Miami has its own dynamic and its own opportunity to become a place for founders and entrepreneurs to succeed… And, to protect companies trying to rebuild that in-person culture, Miami is the place to make it happen, right? We have the highest return to office in the country, I think only second to Manhattan. So it really feels like a vibrant and dynamic community for them to attract the right talent and to cultivate the right talents here.”
“I think the rank and file [employees] have to follow the executives, ultimately. If for no other reason, you need face time with your boss to prove your worth,” DaGrosa said. “So I think you’re going to see a lot of folks following these tech giants. And as evidenced by the increased costs in commercial space, it’s being driven up by the fact that these guys want to bring in their teams.”
Rapid growth brings local challenges, including rising housing costs, supply bottlenecks and heavier traffic. However, leaders in Florida’s public and private sectors say they’re working together to address those challenges as corporate investment continues.
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“The city’s doing a good job of expediting permitting,” DaGrosa applauded. “That was a big problem for a long time, but that’s changed quite a bit under former Mayor Francis Suarez and the commissioners from Miami-Dade County… Miami has adapted to the needs of the folks who are coming in here.”
“Live Local [Act] that was passed by the legislature about three or four years ago is continuing to evolve to provide that relief that we need in terms of facilitating the development of projects that address workforce housing,” Blanca said. “But more importantly, I think that we have a community that is very aware of the challenges that we can have and is very proactive at coming up with solutions with government support to address these challenges.”
“When those projects deliver, we will see that we’ll be in a much better place to check the box as a place where, yes, we have billionaires, and we have great global companies moving here; and yes, you can also bring your employees and your executives here because there is a solution to accommodate all of them at various price points,” she continued.
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As traditional zones like Brickell face massive premium constraints, corporate wealth is decentralizing to the north and south. With multi-million square foot Class A projects delivering across the tri-county Gold Coast corridor, the two insiders say Florida is on a path toward global market dominance.
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“With that influx in capital, states can do more, the county and the city can do more to help their constituents. So I view it as a big positive. It’s just more money to go around to improve the quality of life for everyone who’s living here,” DaGrosa said.
“It’s a natural evolution of what we have seen, even before COVID, where the Sun Belt in general is just experiencing a migration that is phenomenal,” Blanca added. “And there’s opportunity for all cities in the Sun Belt, major cities across the Sun Belt, and for cities around the country to continue to thrive irrespective of what is happening here.”
Why is KakakuCom stock rallying today?
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
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Barstool Sports founder and President Dave Portnoy blasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda, warning the city is headed in a dangerous direction and saying some progressive politicians ‘hate America.’
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy is keeping the door open to a potential run for New York City mayor as he ramps up criticism of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, arguing the candidate’s economic message and political alliances are cause for concern.
He joined FOX Business’ Stuart Varney on “Varney & Co.” to discuss New York City politics, the state of the Democratic Party and why he believes voters should pay close attention to the views of candidates seeking public office.
Barstool founder and CEO Dave Portnoy (Michael Hickey / Getty Images)
After Varney asked if he would challenge Mamdani in a run for NYC Mayor, Portnoy responded, “It depends what day you wake me up.”
“You show me a clip like that, Stuart, my blood starts to boil.” Portnoy said responding to a clip of Mamdani defending his economic agenda, arguing that raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and embracing socialist principles would help address the city’s financial challenges.
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Portnoy went on to criticize Mamdani’s comments about balancing the city’ finances.
“This guys’ unbelievable. You didn’t balance anything. You just took money, you robbed Peter to pay Paul. Like what are we doing here?” Portnoy said.
Portnoy also left the door open to a potential political run in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. When asked whether he would consider running against Mamdani, Portnoy said, “maybe I’m the guy to do it.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., joins ‘Varney & Co.’ to discuss Speaker Mike Johnson’s warning on rising socialism, Democrats’ leftward shift and concerns over anti-Semitism in New York City.
In addition, he pointed to several progressive political figures and argued voters should take candidates at their word when evaluating past statements and policy positions before Election Day.
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“These are anti-American, they hate America,” Portnoy said. “I trust what people say a lot before they’re elected. When they get elected, a lot of these people are deleting their tweets… It’s garbage, and it’s scary.”
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Although Portnoy acknowledged he has floated the idea of entering politics himself, he said he understands the personal costs that come with seeking office.
“I’d hate to get into politics because it’s the worst people, it’s the worst life, you can’t enjoy your life,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on in this country and if somebody isn’t gonna step up… It’s a very scary place where we’re going.”
The state government could use privately-owned Parkeston power plant near Kalgoorlie to support the city’s grid, three years after knocking back a bid by its owners to do just that.
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
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