TMZ disputes Reuters report that notes in Nancy Guthrie case are fake

TMZ is disputing a Reuters report that the FBI has determined ransom notes sent after the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie were fake, according to the outlet.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home in the Tucson, Arizona, area in early February. Authorities have said she was taken against her will, and her family has offered $1 million for information leading to her recovery.

Reuters reported Tuesday that federal investigators believe three kidnapping-related messages sent after Guthrie vanished were fake and not connected to the case, citing an FBI official and another law enforcement source familiar with the matter.

“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” an FBI official told Reuters.

TMZ, which received some of the messages and turned them over to the FBI for analysis, reported Wednesday that law enforcement sources said the Reuters report was not accurate. The outlet did not provide additional details about which part of the FBI assessment was being disputed.

The messages include two ransom notes sent early in the case and a separate message that surfaced more recently from someone claiming to know the identities of the kidnappers.

The first note demanded a payment in the millions in cryptocurrency and included two payment deadlines in early February. Reuters reported that the FBI deposited a small amount of cryptocurrency into an account listed in the message to test whether the demand was real, but the money was never moved.

The second note was sent days after Guthrie disappeared, though its contents were not publicly reported until last week by several outlets and journalists. It said Guthrie had died and had been buried in nature.

A third message, reported by TMZ, came from someone claiming to know the identities of the abductors and to have video connected to the case. The person demanded one bitcoin in exchange for revealing the location of a cellphone containing the material, according to TMZ.

Savannah Guthrie, co-host of NBC’s “Today,” pleaded for the public’s help last week after reports about the second note became public, saying her family remains in agony and will not stop searching for her mother.