By Evan Garcia and Steve Gorman
TUCSON, Arizona, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Investigators searching through a sixth day for the elderly mother of U.S. television journalist Savannah Guthrie are examining a newly surfaced message in the presumed kidnapping, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Friday.
Authorities did not specify the nature or content of the latest communication, or where it was received, but the FBI and sheriff’s department said in a joint statement that investigators were “actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity.”
News of the message came three days after a purported ransom note was sent to media outlets and a day after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie’s relatives renewed their appeal to whoever may be holding her captive to contact the family directly “so we can move forward.”
The first of two deadlines set in Tuesday’s ransom letter, as described by law enforcement officials, came and went early on Thursday evening. A second deadline was set for next Monday.
The joint statement said nothing else about the latest message except to call it “one new piece of information” in the investigation.
Tucson television station KOLD-TV, a CBS News affiliate and one of the news outlets sent a copy of Tuesday’s ransom note, said it received the latest message on Friday morning and forwarded it to law enforcement. It also turned over the internet protocol, or IP, address from where it originated.
KOLD said it was keeping details of the message confidential out of respect for the Guthrie family. But it said the new note contains information that seemed intended to prove that the senders were the same as those who sent Tuesday’s note.
TEARFUL APPEAL
The elder Guthrie was last seen when family members dropped her off at her home near Tucson on January 31, after she had dinner with them, and relatives reported her missing the following day, authorities said.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said the woman is frail, has extremely limited mobility, and could not have left her home unassisted, leading investigators to conclude early on that she had been kidnapped.
Her daughter, co-anchor of NBC’s morning news show “Today” since 2012, posted an online video on Wednesday tearfully pleading for her mother’s safe return and appealing to the presumed abductors to open a line of communication with the family.
Nancy Guthrie’s son, Camron Guthrie, followed up with a second video on Thursday evening, around the time that a 5 p.m. ransom deadline elapsed, reiterating the family’s desire to establish direct contact with kidnappers while demanding some proof “that you have our mom.”
On Thursday, five days into the search, investigators had not yet obtained proof of life, or identified a suspect or “person of interest,” Nanos told reporters, adding authorities were operating on the presumption that she was still alive.
CHILLING CLUES
Officials said the members of the family had been cooperative in the investigation, but any decisions about paying a ransom ultimately rested with them.
Authorities revealed a number of chilling clues from the case on Thursday, including confirming that Nancy Guthrie’s blood was found on the porch steps outside her front door. They also revealed that her that her doorbell camera was disabled and her pacemaker app disconnected from her telephone line in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday morning, when she presumably was kidnapped.
On Friday, the sheriff’s department said that detectives had returned to “conduct follow-up at the home and in the surrounding neighborhood,” restricting traffic in front of the residence to ease access for investigators.
Three FBI agents were seen entering the house and leaving it a short time later on Friday afternoon.
The apparent home-invasion kidnapping of a vulnerable elder whose daughter is a well-known television news personality – the two have appeared together on the “Today” show – has drawn intense U.S. media attention.
U.S. President Donald Trump has spoken publicly about the case more than once this week. Talking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, Trump suggested a resolution to the case was at hand, saying, “I think we could have some answers coming up fairly soon.”
(Reporting by Evan Garcia in Tucson, Arizona; Writing and additional reportiong by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Costas Pita in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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