TMZ founder Harvey Levin revealed Monday that after a period of inactivity, the digital news site received a new ransom note claiming to have impactful information on Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
The anonymous sender, who has previously reached out to Levin and TMZ “incessantly,” claimed to know who kidnapped the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie along with her location.
And while Levin and TMZ executive producer and host Charles Latibeaudiere said in a social media video Monday that the FBI has never appeared to take action on the sender, they forwarded Monday’s letter to investigators and hoped for the best. Levin said his “spidey senses tell me that there’s something about this guy” and that he has a feeling the sender really “knows something.”
“We got another letter today from this person, an email saying, ‘I know where her body is and who the kidnapper is. Give me half a Bitcoin and I’ll tell you.’ And this person has been really persistent, knowing that if it’s a scam, it’s a federal crime,” Levin said at the top of the segment, embedded below.
“Right, but they also made the point that they wanted to make it clear that they had nothing to do with it, they’ve been out of the country — who knows, and again, we forwarded to the FBI, as we have in the past,” Latibeaudiere added. “For whatever reason, and this is the thing we haven’t figured out, you have to assume that the law enforcement, they believe that this person is not legit. Otherwise, they would have advised Savannah to pay the money.”
Levin wasn’t buying it, and he explained why.
“I’ll tell you what, my spidey senses tell me that there’s something about this guy because one of the emails he sent said early on, ‘Time is of the essence to do this,’ and then the next day he said, ‘Time is no longer of the essence,’” the founder said. “If he was pulling a scam, why would you say time is no longer of the essence? You want to keep the value high. And the fact that he’s said this made me think this guy knows something.”
TMZ received yet another ransom note from a repeat sender this morning concerning the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, as viewers watched Savannah make her return to the "Today" show anchor desk. pic.twitter.com/F26OvcvulE
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 6, 2026
Levin emphasized that he’s “not FBI,” but Latibeaudiere appeared to agree with the assessment.
“We’re not privy to all the information they are,” he said, “but from the outside looking in, it sure seems like this person knows something.”
The ransom letter was reportedly sent to TMZ Monday morning, the same day Savannah returned to anchor “Today” two months after the search for her missing mother began.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI are both continuing to lead the Arizona investigation into Nancy’s disappearance. Savannah has offered a $1 million reward in addition to the FBI’s $100,000 reward for information that leads to her mother’s recovery.
The sender of the TMZ ransom note reportedly demanded “half a Bitcoin” to share the information they have on Nancy’s whereabouts. At the time of publishing, one Bitcoin is worth $69,954.02.
