Two disturbing ransom messages sent to Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie have been made public, with one claiming that her missing mother “perished shortly after she was taken” and had been “buried in nature.”

The sheriff’s office released the two notes in their entirety on Friday. The first demanded a $4 million ransom, while the second, written in a similar style, said 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie had died and included an apology.

The disclosure comes as the closely watched investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance reaches six months. She vanished from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on February 1.

The messages, received by 13 News on February 2 and February 6, each purported to come from Guthrie’s captor. They were later provided to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.

The first letter: 

‘Hello Savannah,

We have your 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 before 5PM on Thursday the 5th. If payment is not received, the ransom will be increased to 6 million USD which will need to be paid by 5PM on Monday the 9th. 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. If payment is not received by the last deadline on Monday the 9th at 5PM, she will be killed. Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands. It is in 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.

Bitcoin address: ********

She had a white smart watch on the floor of the foot of her bed and the white flood light in backyard was destroyed.’

Unlike the first note, the second made no demands but instead laid out what it claimed were haunting details about Guthrie’s final days. 

The second letter: 

‘Guthrie Family, We did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition. We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention. She perished shortly after she was taken. We believe it was heart related. She is buried in nature now. Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome. We want your family to know this and hope you all can find peace. We are truly sorry.

Bitcoin address: ********’ 

Investigators still have few clues and no official suspects, despite security footage capturing a masked man at her door and DNA reportedly being discovered inside her home. 

But the sheriff’s department, which is still investigating the case as a kidnapping-for-ransom, said it is ‘working this as hard as we can’ and insisted it will not go cold.

‘We have gathered a lot of evidence in this case and I wish you knew it, I wish the community could know all of the evidence, but that’s just not how investigations work,’ Sheriff Chris Nanos said, according to the outlet.

‘Whether it’s this case or any case. We have an obligation, we have a duty and a responsibility, to protect that case and its integrity,’ he added.

Meanwhile, two men who were arrested and later released in connection with Guthrie’s disappearance are preparing to file a $3.25 million lawsuit against the embattled sheriff, according to NBC News.

Carlos Palazuelos and Daniel Maddox, both from Arizona, filed a notice of claim Monday against Nanos and an unnamed detective, accusing them of wrongful arrest and reputational damage.

Newly revealed details from the notice obtained by NBC affiliate KVOA paints a dramatic picture of their arrests, including allegations that officers held the men at gunpoint and ‘ransacked’ one of their homes. 

Palazuelos, a food delivery driver, was arrested on February 10 near the Mexican border in Rio Rico and questioned for eight hours before agents searched his home. He was later released without charges. 

Hours later, Maddox was handcuffed at a home belonging to his mother and detained for several hours as part of the investigation into the still-unsolved case. He too was released without charges.

The notice, which is the first step toward a full lawsuit, said that authorities arrested Palazuelos ‘at gunpoint’ and held him for roughly seven to eight hours without probable cause.

It further claimed that officers carried out the arrest in a public manner before ‘ransacking’ his home. 

According to the action, Palazuelos is innocent, and his detention and hours-long interrogation caused him ‘physical, emotional and reputational harm.’ 

The notice also pointed to a social media post shared by Nanos after one person was arrested, in which the sheriff wrote: ‘The subject is currently being questioned in connection to the Nancy Guthrie investigation.’

It alleged that the post, combined with statements from the sheriff’s office, portrayed Palazuelos to the world as a suspect despite there being no evidence to justify that characterization.

‘Despite requests by undersigned counsel, Sheriff Nanos and the PCSD have refused to retract their statements or to make clear that Carlos is innocent and had no involvement in the Guthrie case,’ the notice said, according to NBC.

Palazuelos spoke to Telemundo outside his home and publicly insisted he had nothing to do with Guthrie’s disappearance after he was released from custody.

At the time, he said that his front and back doors were damaged during the search and that agents told him he resembled the person shown in grainy surveillance footage released from Guthrie’s home just hours earlier. 

Maddox, the second man named in the notice, also claimed that his detention was ‘wrongful and has caused him significant physical, mental and emotional pain and suffering.’

The filing alleged that armed men in military gear pointed their guns at Maddox and ordered him to lie on the floor of his own hallway after he stepped out of his room to investigate a loud noise.

It said he was then kept ‘under guard’ inside a van for several hours.   

His mother, Josefina Maddox, who owns the home and was also named in the filing, claimed the property was damaged during the chaotic search.

In the notice, lawyers wrote that they were offering to settle the claims for $2.5 million on behalf of Palazuelos and $500,000 on behalf of Maddox. 

Attorneys are also seeking $250,000 on Josefina’s behalf for the alleged property damage. 

In addition to Nanos and the unnamed detective, the notice listed the county and the sheriff’s department as entities that could face future claims, according to NBC.

The sheriff was questioned about the prior arrests during an ABC 15 interview released Thursday, where he said at least one of the men was not in the clear. 

A third man was arrested on February 13, three days after Maddox and Palazuelos, during a traffic stop near Guthrie’s Tucson neighborhood before being released. That same night, officers raided a home and questioned three people inside. 

‘Because we didn’t make an arrest, or released some people, doesn’t mean they’re cleared. It just means that we don’t have enough to hold you,’ Nanos said. 

He noted that investigators had ‘evidence’ that prompted search warrants at Palazuelos’ home and the other man’s residence, insisting that the evidence remains valid despite the court ordering their release. 

‘The evidence we’ve obtained, who knows, maybe a day from now, a month from now, a year from now, somebody might call in and say, “Oh you missed this.” And guess what? We’ll go back,’ he told the outlet.

When pressed on whether detectives were still investigating the two men, Nanos declined to comment.

His comments appeared to clash with earlier statements from the sheriff’s office, which suggested the detained men – as well as three other people questioned during the home search – were in the clear.

Also on Thursday, the department marked the six-month anniversary of Guthrie’s disappearance in a statement shared on X. 

‘The analysis of DNA and digital evidence has been underway for the past six months. This work is complex and time-intensive, but investigators continue to pursue every credible lead,’ it read.

‘As Savannah Guthrie recently said, it is never too late to do the right thing. Anyone with information is urged to come forward and help bring this case to a resolution.’

On Monday, Savannah publicly addressed her mother for the first time since June 23, when she delivered an emotional broadcast from the NBC anchor desk. 

In an Instagram video, she urged the kidnappers to ‘do the right thing’ and described living through what she called a never-ending nightmare. 

‘Nothing about our situation has changed. We have done our part. We will never stop looking for her,’ she said.