Nancy Guthrie Update: What The FBI Told Me | TMZ

I want to talk about Nancy Guthrie and some communications I've had with the FBI that I haven't talked about until now.But I want to start with these reports that this ransom letter that we received kind of apologizes to Savannah Guthrie and her family for the kidnapping and that the FBI that Nancy was no longer alive.That was not in the ransom note that we received.It is not in that ransom note at all.It does say that she's scared, but okay.But the ransom note makes no reference to Nancy Guthrie either dying or the kidnappers apologizing.

Now, there is a reference to Nancy Guthrie not being alive anymore, but that is from the person who sent us multiple emails saying that he knows or knew where Nancy Guthrie was and where the kidnappers were and he wanted money in return for information.We passed that along to the FBI as we did the ransom note.But this person kept sending us emails.And early on, he said, time is of the essence.And then a few days after the kidnapping, he said, time is no longer of the essence.Meaning, she wasn't alive.

So that's where that came from.Not the people who kidnapped her, but from the person who was sending us these notes.Now that person wanted, effectively $100 ,000.He actually reduced it at some point, but that's what he wanted in return for giving information about the war.the whereabouts of Nancy Guthrie or her remains and the kidnapper.This person also said that he was afraid that he might be implicated He had a burglary on his record from I think he said 11 years before And apparently he knew these kidnappers well enough that he was afraid he might be implicated He also said he wanted to go underground which is why he needed the money Because he was afraid that they would exact revenge on him for blowing the whistle on the kidnappers so the FBI never paid that money or never got the Guthrie family to pay the money to the person who was sending us these letters, these e -mails.

I will tell you that the FBI did put around $270 in the Bitcoin account of the kidnappers, and we knew that.We were asked not to talk about that while all of this was going on, but they wanted to see if they could trace that person.They couldn't.

As for this other person, the FBI took it seriously.

felt, at least in my communications with them, and I had numerous communications, they felt that this person might indeed know.For some reason, they never paid or never asked the Guthrie family to pay that person for information leading to the identity of the kidnappers and Nancy Guthrie's remains.I was always confused about that, because I'm a skeptical guy, But there's something about those emails that made me believe that this guy may well have known who the kidnappers were.And the reason I say that is..

initially he said, in the first letter, he said, time is of the essence.Meaning, you better hurry up.I can tell you where she is.But then the next day he wrote, time is no longer of the essence.If somebody is scamming and wants to get money, Why would they say time is no longer of the essence?You wanna say, no, time is still of the essence, so you can get the money and make people feel that it's urgent to pay it.

For him to say it's no longer of the essence, to me it felt more truthful because he was taking away the urgency to pay the money.So I always had this gnawing sense that he might be indeed legit, but for some reason the FBI never pulled the trigger to pay the money.So around three weeks ago, I called the FBI back.I hadn't heard from them in a while.And I said, look, it's been gnawing at me for a long time that there's something about this guy that felt legit.And I said, look, what if TMZ does a documentary and that we try and get in touch with this guy, and even pay the money.

And if he takes us to the location, then you get resolution.The Guthrie family gets resolution.And if he scams us, he scams us.But I just had this real feeling that it might be real.But we didn't want to interfere with the investigation.So the contact I had at the FBI said, look, that's interesting.

Let us get back to you.And I talked to him a few days later and he said, well, it's something they're looking into.And I thought, okay, fine.And then a week passed and I called back.and left a message, and usually my messages were responsive, where they would call back, and I got nothing back.And I've called a half a dozen times since over the last couple of weeks, and I've gotten nothing back.

For some reason, the FBI has gone radio silent on me, and we have had ongoing discussions, because we've tried to be helpful over the many months now that this has been going on, but they've ghosted me.

And I don't know what that's about, but I've kind of not talked about it, but at some point, I just want to put it out there that this felt like maybe we could do some good.

And for some reason, the FBI has gone radio silent.I don't understand it.I'm not suggesting that the FBI is doing anything wrong, because they've really tried to solve this.

But it's just curious to me that this one guy who has sent us, I think, around a dozen emails, It's just somebody that I felt knew something, but for whatever reason, this has all kind of evaporated into thin air.