You know, I guess we got to start with Nancy Guthrie, right? I mean, um, she’s back on the Today Show and, uh, she’s, um, you know, I guess you got to go ahead and put your put yourself out there even in times of grief.

Um, in fact, we’ve got S one, which is Savannah’s return to the Today Show.

Good morning.

Welcome to Today on this Monday morning.

We are so glad you started your week with us, and it is good to be home.

Yes, it is good to have you back at home.

Well, here we go.

Ready or not, let’s do the news.

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Yes.

So, good to have you back.

[cheering] We [screaming] are back back at 8:30 on this beautiful Monday morning.

And it’s a special [cheering] Monday morning uh for us and for this crowd as well.

Special uh because we’re welcoming back our North Star.

SG, come on out here.

Come on back [cheering] up.

[screaming] These signs are so beautiful.

You guys have been so beautiful.

I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my whole family.

We feel it and we feel your prayers.

So, thank you so much.

I’m glad she’s back.

That’s uh that’s a good thing.

And I think that a lot of us our hearts have gone out to her and her family and just can’t even imagine what she’s been through.

So, it’s important for her to be there with the people she loves.

Oh, absolutely.

And you know, um, I think that, you know, they say time heals all wounds and and part of that is that as you move forward with your life, you get back into your routine.

But at some point, until she has closure, uh, I just don’t see how you can really grieve, right? Because we all have to go through that in when we experience loss.

We all have experienced it.

We all experience grief, but it’s essential to human well-being to be able to grieve.

Which brings us to these uh you know, you teased in the intro, Dave, these um I guess alleged ransom notes that TMZ is talking about, and this comes out what on the same day that she returns to the Today Show.

Yeah.

And this is awful.

I mean, hasn’t the family been through enough? I mean, this person is apparently the same person who’s been dealing with or sending these notes and it’s been like two months now where this person apparently has said that they can rat out the kidnappers and now they say they’re demanding one bitcoin, which how much is that worth? I I’m not a Bitcoin person.

I don’t know if you know, Phil, to deliver them on a silver platter.

This is something they’ve said before.

I mean, if this person really were a dogooder who wants to be a good Samaritan, give us the information, but instead this is a despicable individual who’s trying to monetize someone’s pain.

And this was right after she appears, you know, on on TV back to her show that she loves.

She they TMZ gets this note that says from this person that I saw Nancy Guthrie alive with the kidnappers in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

And this time though, the note says she is dead.

And it’s just I mean this is heart-wrenching.

So I hope that they catch this person.

They may never catch the kidnappers, but I hope they can catch these evil people who are trying to monetize someone’s grief.

Well, they sent the TMZ says they sent the course the alleged notes to I shouldn’t say allegedly.

I guess they are notes, but they’re from the alleged witness, which we don’t know if they’re telling the truth or not.

TMZ says that the FBI doesn’t seem to be buying it, which tracks with what we can see and hear with our own eyes.

Because look, if the FBI thought there was something to these notes, I think there would have been more effort to um pursue them um in the days and weeks more immediately following Nancy Guthri’s disappearance.

I for one, you know, I’m not um necessarily buying it.

To me, they don’t seem real.

Um, you know, TMZ is reporting that, like you mentioned, on on the very Monday morning, April 6th, that Savannah returned to the Today Show.

They got two notes.

Um, and they say they’re going to deliver them, I guess, meaning the perpetrator on a silver platter, as you mentioned, in exchange for one Bitcoin.

I think we have some video sought to is Harvey Levan over at TMZ discussing the those new notes.

And Harvey disagrees with me.

Apparently, he thinks that the sender does know something.

I think the sender is full of But let’s see what Harvey says.

We got another letter today um from this person, an email saying, “I know where her body is and who the kidnapper is.

Give us give me half a Bitcoin and I’ll tell you.

” And this person has been really persistent knowing that if it’s a scam um it’s a federal crime, right? But they also made the point that they wanted to make it clear that they have nothing to do with it.

right? They’ve been out of the country, but who knows? We forward it to the FBI as we have in the past.

And 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.

My Spidey senses tell me that there’s something about this guy because one of the 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.

If he was pulling a scam, why would you say time is no longer of the essence? You know, you want to keep the value.

And the fact that he said this made me think this guy knows him.

I did look it up, by the way, Phil.

One Bitcoin as of the market today is worth $69,32.

74.

Well, [clears throat] irrespect, you know, that’s true and it does fluctuate.

And here’s the thing, I think it’s a scam.

And so, let’s put it this way.

Contrary to what we just heard in that video, look, if it’s if it’s not a scam, why why are you sending it to TMZ? If it’s not a scam, right, why aren’t you sending it directly to the family or even to the FBI, right? Because they want to get paid.

If you if you’re just wanting to run a scam, run a hoax, if you’re wanting to, God forbid, they’re doing this for the purpose of intentionally, you know, um harming the I guess the the psyches and the mental well-beings of the Guthrie family.

If you’re not trying to just traumatize them, why are you sending it to TMZ? because this absolutely reeks and the timing of it uh which coincides with her return to the day to the Today Show.

[snorts] I think it, you know, I I I think it’s malicious.

I think that they are doing this um out of some sense of malice.

I think they’re doing it because they get some kind of sick satisfaction out of taunting the Guthrie family.

Yeah, that’s what they’re doing.

I mean, they’re they have exasperation about how much has been in their in their words wasted in the investigation of this case when they could just break it open for merely half a Bitcoin, which is what they asked for before, now one Bitcoin.

Uh, no, dude.

You’re evil.

That’s an evil act to be taking advantage of this family.

And also, I don’t think you really know anything.

So, hopefully you’re watching because I don’t think you know anything.

I think you’re just looking for a payday and you’re not going to get it.

And hopefully, you’ll get yours in this world or the next one.

That’s my message to you.

question for so why though why is it so hard to to track the sender of these emails? I mean uh and I and I honestly don’t know because you know I’m not a tech expert.

Uh is it because they hide behind encryption? What is the what is the reason that that they can send these ransom notes supposedly or whatever they are? Not even ransom notes.

It’s just I think extortion notes is what we should call them.

Why is it they can send these to TMZ with without fear of being found out? I’m not an IT person, but we do prize some level of privacy that still exists in this country despite the fact cameras are everywhere and IP data is everywhere.

So, there is still ways the dark web is flourishing with child sex trafficking and drugs and people like this who know how to send things anonymously and use Bitcoin and crypto as a way to get paid.

So not surprised by it.

I can’t really explain the details about it, the technology behind it.

It’s above my pay grade, but it exists sadly.

And as someone who was state attorney for 12 years, we would see that crypto was the choice for these criminals out there who wanted to get paid anonymously.

Well, you know, I here’s the thing.

We do have privacy in this country, but I don’t know from that the person is even in the United States.

They they say that they saw her um I think didn’t they say they saw her deceased in Mexico or they saw her in Mexico? So if they saw her in Mexico then presumably uh they’re in Mexico if you take it at face value.

But who really knows?