Nancy Guthrie LATEST NEWS! Forensic psychologist’s analysis of ransom notes

Is this all? 6 months too late? Good morning, everyone. My name is Michelle. I hope you’re doing well. Welcome to another video. It is Saturday morning, the 1st of August. The 1st of August. Wow, 6 whole months after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie was taken out of her bed in the wee small hours of the 1st of February. 6 whole months ago.

Nancy’s home in the Catalina foothills of Tucson, Arizona, was invaded by at least one masked kidnapper who took her, leaving blood on the porch. And within days, a ransom note came in that has generated a huge amount of controversy. On the eve of this 6-month mark, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI released the ransom notes in their entirety.

 There was one that was sent a day after Nancy was taken. However, Nancy died before any of this could play out, according to the kidnapper, who, I believe, is real. I do. I’ve I’ve gone backwards and forwards, but I do believe it’s real. So, we’re going to go through some stuff that has happened since last time I talked about this case, because it’s been a while.

 I’ve not talked about this case because all that’s been coming out is drama relating to YouTubers and yeah. But, in the last few days, some interesting stuff has come out. So, all right, we’ll go back to July 27th and Savannah Guthrie, Nancy’s famous daughter. She’s a today chat show host, released a message on her Instagram directly to the kidnapper.

 Let’s take a listen. >> I’m coming on today with a very specific message. It has been months since our mom was taken from us. Our family is in agony. We are in a nightmare that will not end. Nothing about our situation has changed. We have done our part, but we will never stop looking for her. We will always ache for her and feel that hole in our hearts.

The world can be a cruel and unforgiving place, and I know that you have tried to do things the right way. So, I’m asking you, begging you, to do the right thing now. Make the right choice. Help us find [snorts] her. Tell us where to look for her. I truly believe it is never too late to do the right thing.

 Help us bring this situation to an end. For all of us, no matter where we’ve been and what we’ve done, I believe there is always a way home. Please make the right choice. >> Interesting wording. Please make the right choice. I’m begging you. Bring this situation to an end. Carefully crafted message. It didn’t sound to me like it was from the heart.

I’m sure it was, and her pain is obvious, but the wording of it, I think, was carefully crafted. Appealing to the kidnapper’s better side, I guess you would say. And when we look at the ransom notes in a moment and analyze those, you can see why she might appeal to the kidnappers’ sense of compassion. “But, we have done our part” is an interesting phrase as well.

 “We have done our part.” Well, they didn’t do their part because they didn’t pay the ransom. They said they were willing to pay after the second ransom note came in to say that Nancy was dead. They were willing to pay for information. Now, whether any money was sent that none of us knows about somehow, I don’t know.

“We have done our part” I think is the most interesting phrase in that whole message. But, yeah, perfectly crafted. “Please do the right thing.” A few other things I want to talk about before we get on to the ransom notes. The DNA the DNA There was hair found in Nancy’s home. And it was released on Thursday by law enforcement, just brief message from the FBI’s Phoenix office saying, “All hair have been resolved and does not point to a suspect.

” And the FBI declined to comment further. It’s taken them months to analyze it and not useful whatsoever. It doesn’t point to a suspect. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has done the rounds again. I stopped following him round the internet with his various interviews. He’s an idiot because he said here, “To find DNA on hair is extremely rare.

 Hair doesn’t produce DNA like touch DNA or bodily fluids.” Well, that’s not quite true. The hair root, that contains nuclear DNA. That contains cells that a whole genome can be produced from. The hair shaft, when you shed hair or a hair is pulled and it doesn’t bring the root with it, there is fragmented DNA on there. They can often these days get mitochondrial DNA, which can lead to somebody on the maternal line only.

 This is a 2026 paper in Genome Biology, the journal. Rootless hair as a reliable source. So, obviously, Sheriff Nanos hasn’t read this paper, but a small amount of fragmented DNA present in rootless hair shafts is unsuitable for many assays, including most PCR-based assays. The normal DNA analysis, the normal STR DNA analysis that is done.

 Yeah, the DNA in hair shafts is too fragmented for things like that, but with new technology that maybe Sheriff Nanos isn’t familiar with, interesting forensic data can be received. Rootless hair is often overlooked in biomedical and forensic analysis. Here, we apply methods for efficient recovery and sequencing of minute quantities of short fragmented DNA to single human hair shafts.

 Using this approach, we characterized DNA fragments in hair shafts. Despite the small quantities of fragmented DNA, we find multifold genome coverage that can be generated from a few centimeters of most hair shafts, enough to generate accurate genotype calls and statistically compelling evidence for identity or non-identity.

I think it’s most likely that you could rule someone out using fragmented DNA. But, the hair in the house didn’t lead them to a suspect. Maybe they know who that hair belongs to. Who knows? Because the FBI hasn’t given us too much to work with there. Also, I’ll just mention this. Remember Carlos, the first guy that was detained very, very, very early on in the case.

Well, the sheriff is probably upset to know that he is suing the sheriff’s office. The action, a precursor to a full lawsuit, so it’s not a full suit as of yet, was dated Monday and obtained by the NBC affiliate KVOA in Tucson. According to the outlet, it alleges wrongful arrest and reputational and property damage.

 The plaintiffs are Carlos, who was detained on the 10th of February, and later released without charge. He did some interviews, and I don’t think he’s got anything to do with the the case, honestly. He was a delivery driver. I think he’s probably delivered to the neighborhood. His phone’s been tracked to that area, and they jumped.

 And Daniel Maddox, who was placed in handcuffs outside the home that belonged to his mother, Josefina, which was then searched and allegedly damaged by investigators. Maddox was also released without charge after several hours. He’s seeking a half a million dollars. His mother is claiming a mere $250,000 for property damage.

 So, yeah, that happened. But anyway, let’s talk about these ransom notes that have been released in full just in time for the 6-month mark. Is this 6 months too late? This is the hallmark of utter desperation that they’ve done everything else they can, they’ve followed every other lead they can, and they have got nowhere.

 So, now they are appealing to the public. I think they should have appealed to the public far sooner. I know that the sheriff has been upset by the public, by YouTubers, and by people criticizing him. But, maybe the FBI should have taken charge of this and released this information to the public a lot sooner. I can understand them not releasing it straight away, but once they judged it to be real, perhaps they should have released this word into the public rather than wait until they were utterly desperate. However, it is what it is.

Going to read the ransom notes in full in a moment, but the information that came out from the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office was a joint media release. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI Phoenix Field Office have been working together for the past 6 months to locate Nancy Cooper. Nancy was last confirmed at her residence in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood of Tucson on the evening of January 31st, 2026.

 Through our collective investigative resources, with the assistance of the private sector, we have recorded videos from her residence showing an unidentified male who knows what happened to Nancy. Two videos recovered from Nancy’s doorbell camera may be from two separate days. What do you mean maybe? Okay. These videos are critical to our understanding of the unidentified male’s behavior and choices.

 They indicate he took steps to prepare for the event on the night of January 31st to February 1st. Well, yeah, if he was staking out the place, of course he did. Investigators continue to pursue every available technological investigative lead. However, community members remain a vital resource as we seek to provide answers for Nancy’s family.

 We would like to thank those who have already provided tips and information. We are asking for the public to continue to assist us and are confident that you can further the effort. We know there are individuals familiar with this unidentified male who may have observed changes in his behavior around the time frame of the videos to include a change in mood or display of anxiety, nervousness, or irritability.

A change in physical appearance, hair color, or cut, growth or removal of facial hair, etc. Unexplained injuries, cuts on hands, bruises, etc. How would you get cuts on hands and bruises? Do you know that Nancy fought back and bruised that person or cut that person? During the period Nancy was last seen, normal routine changes, missing work, classes, or appointments, sudden departure from the area around the time of her disappearance, vehicle cleaning or repairs, unexplained interest or disinterest in Nancy’s

neighborhood, noticeable intense interest or disinterest in the investigation, or an unexplained knowledge of the situation. Two ransom notes, as we know, were sent to local and national media outlets that purport to have been written by kidnappers. The local CBS affiliate in Tucson, KOLD-TV 13 News, received the first note on February 2nd and the second on February 6th.

 These communications reveal distinctive patterns of word choice, syntax, and phraseology that may reflect the writer’s unique linguistic style. And some people are saying, well, they could have been written by AI. I don’t think they were, and I’ll show you why in a minute. They also provide valuable insight into the person’s mindset, motives, and the evolution of their tone over time.

 Well, they became more compassionate sounding over time. But, over time when you’ve only got two to go off, it’s very limited. As with the unidentified male depicted in the video, we believe these distinctive linguistic characteristics may be recognizable to someone who knows or has interacted with the notes writer.

 A friend, family member, co-worker, classmate, or acquaintance may recognize these patterns of expression and possess information that could help identify the individual responsible. In some cases, there are times when people who may have knowledge initially do not come forward. This may be due to their close relationship with those who might be involved as well as a concern for their own safety, reputation, or standing in the community and among their friends.

 We recognize relationships and loyalties change over time as do people and their perspectives. It’s not too late to come forward. Regardless of how insignificant you think your information may be or whether you think we’re already aware of it, please contact us. If you’ve got any information, please call 1-800-Call-FBI.

It’s 1-800-225-5324 or 88-Crime, where you can remain anonymous. There is a reward available for your information. Yeah, there was $100,000 from the FBI, $1,000,000 from Savannah, and I think $100,000 from another outlet. So, yeah, a significant reward. It’s like money doesn’t matter to somebody who might be withholding information.

 Maybe that person feels threatened by the kidnapper or has got some loyalty to the kidnapper that they don’t want to break. All right, let’s look at these ransom notes now. I’m going to tell you why I think that this was written by a person rather than AI. there are some interesting details in here that I want to address.

Again, this is, I think, almost 6 months too late. There’s no reason why they couldn’t have released this word in earlier if they are now desperate and are appealing for the public’s information. We have the young mother, Nancy. She is safe, but scared. She will be held for ransom, and once payment is received, she will be released unharmed.

We will be holding her for a maximum of 7 days. You will need to send Bitcoin in the amount of 4 million USD. The way that’s written, 4 million USD, indicates to me that this isn’t somebody from the US. Before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday the 5th. If payment is not received, the ransom will increase to 6 million USD, which will need to be paid by 5:00 p.m.

on Monday the 9th. So, they were willing to hold her for more than 7 days. She was kidnapped in the early hours of Sunday morning, and the deadline was 5:00 p.m. the following Monday, so that’s 8 days. So, they were going to keep her for a maximum of 8 days, not 7 days. Let’s be very specific here. Once payment is received to the Bitcoin address below, she will be released within 12 hours of deposit to a safe drop-off location back in Tucson, which indicates that she wasn’t in Tucson at the time this ransom note was written.

So, it doesn’t necessarily mean she was being held in Mexico, but she wasn’t being held in Tucson. That’s what this indicates to me. To say back in Tucson means she’s not in Tucson at that moment. If payment is not received, and that received is spelled wrong. Now, they can spell received here. That’s spelled correctly.

But here, it’s spelled incorrectly. And that tells me this isn’t AI. AI doesn’t misspell words. Received spelled wrongly here, but spelled right here. Spelled right here. So, that’s just a typo, isn’t it? That’s a typo. So, this is not written by AI. If payment is not received by the last deadline on Monday the 9th at 5:00 p.m.

she will be killed. Your mother is aware of this, and her life is in your hands. It is the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible. You will not be able to contact me from here on out. There will be no negotiation. Do not play games. Law enforcement will not be able to help you.

 Law enforcement will not be able to help you. Well, no, they haven’t, have they? So, this was right. They haven’t been able to help. So, this is a person who is tech-savvy, who knows how to hide themselves, obviously book smart, maybe not street smart because they fiddled about with that camera too long, but maybe that was just a foot soldier who was on the camera, and the real brains of the operation was sitting behind a keyboard.

 Doesn’t necessarily track that there’s more than one person. I personally think there is, but she had a white smart watch on the floor at the foot of her bed, and the white floodlight in the backyard was destroyed. So, she had a white smart watch on the floor at the foot of her bed. I’m pretty much convinced that Nancy wouldn’t have kept her watch there.

Maybe it fell there. Maybe they left it there. It could be found there, so to know that piece of information indicates that that person was in that bedroom. The white floodlight in the backyard, anybody could look around the back and see that that was broken, but where the watch was when they left, I think that’s the information that tells me it’s real.

 And then the second one, the wording’s very different. Addressed to the whole family, not just Savannah. So, when they wanted money, they addressed it to Savannah because Savannah’s the rich one. Allegedly, she’s worth $40 million. But but when she died, they addressed the whole family. So, “We did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition.

We never intended to hurt her. That was not our intention.” Oh, but you said that she will be killed. Maybe they were never going to kill her. Don’t know. They were hoping that Savannah wouldn’t take that chance and would just pay. They didn’t pay cuz they wanted proof that Nancy was actually with them. “She perished shortly after she was taken. We believe it was heart-related.

” “She’s buried in Natchez, no.” “Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome. Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome.” So, she died before Thursday, didn’t she? Cuz if they’d have paid the 4 million on Thursday, they still wouldn’t have got her back alive because she died before then.

So, she died before Thursday. “We want your family to know this and hope you can all find peace. We are truly sorry.” >> [snorts] >> Now, some people think that that could be written by a woman because men don’t write in a compassionate way. I don’t believe that. I think maybe it’s potentially somebody who does respect their elders, but just saw the dollar signs and thought we’re going to kidnap this old lady and get money off her rich daughter.

 I do think it’s someone known to Nancy. Not necessarily the kidnapper, but somebody who has connections to Nancy. So, the friend of a friend, the friend of the housekeeper, friend of the pool people. I think it’s somebody who is loosely within Nancy’s social circle. So, didn’t really appreciate that she was ill.

Just saw her as a get-rich-quick scheme. Didn’t really think it through. Is book smart, but not street smart. Didn’t look into the possibility that she might die. So, didn’t know what medication she needed. She’s buried in nature. So, there was some respect. If this is true, there was some respect given to her after death.

Noodle. Come on, Noodle. Come on, Noodle. Good boy. Good boy, Noodle. Good boy. Good boy.