Latest / Crime Alert Hourly Update / New Ransom Note Emerges in Ongoing Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie | Crime Alert 09.30.26

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New Ransom Note Emerges in Ongoing Disappearance of Nancy Guthrie | Crime Alert 09.30.26 · Crime Alert Hourly Update

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sydney Silvani. A major development in a high-profile missing
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  Speaker 2: persons investigation as authorities reveal a new potential clue in
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  Speaker 2: the disappearance of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie's mother, Nancy Guthrie.
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  Speaker 2: The Pima County Sheriff's Department announced on Monday that investigators
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  Speaker 2: were recently made aware of a new possible ransom note
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  Speaker 2: connected to the ongoing case. Investigators are also aware of
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  Speaker 2: social media comments regarding the note and are looking further
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  Speaker 2: into the information to determine its credibility. This is not
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  Speaker 2: the first time alleged ransom notes have surfaced during the investigation.
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  Speaker 2: Back on July 31st, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos released
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  Speaker 2: two previous notes, hoping the writer's distinct wording or style
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  Speaker 2: might jar someone's memory and prompt community action to help
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  Speaker 2: break the case.
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  Speaker 1: It's out there. People have been.
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  Speaker 1: Media has covered some of this, and we just saw
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  Speaker 1: what was being said and felt like we need to
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  Speaker 1: put something out that's really accurate. And this was the
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  Speaker 1: time we felt, investigators felt like there's a number of
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  Speaker 1: pieces of information in these notes that someone might, it
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  Speaker 1: just might jar someone to say, you know, I've heard that,
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  Speaker 1: or the wording, the style of the writing is might
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  Speaker 1: jog somebody to kind of think about who would have
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  Speaker 1: written this? How was this done?
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  Speaker 2: The Sheriff's Department has been actively investigating Nancy's disappearance since
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  Speaker 2: February 1st. The 84-year-old was last seen near her home
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  Speaker 2: on January 31st after family members dropped her off. Her
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  Speaker 2: family reported her missing the next day when she failed
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  Speaker 2: to show up for a virtual church service. Sheriff Nanos
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  Speaker 2: emphasized that sharing information directly with the public remains essential.
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  Speaker 1: I think anybody who reads them, my investigators, we look
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  Speaker 1: at it, and clearly there's things in there that are
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  Speaker 1: very concerning to our investigative team. So we hope that
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  Speaker 1: by releasing the actual note, we'll get some response from
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  Speaker 1: the community.
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  Speaker 2: Savannah Guthrie has made multiple public pleas online and on
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  Speaker 2: air asking for answers. During a September 15th broadcast of Today,
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  Speaker 2: the 54-year-old anchor said she wants to give her mother
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  Speaker 2: a proper goodbye. Before that, in an August 1st Instagram post,
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  Speaker 2: Savannah described her family's devastation, writing that while they try
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  Speaker 2: to be strong every day, their hearts are in ruins.
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  Speaker 2: She begged anyone with information to step forward anonymously, noting
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  Speaker 2: that a substantial reward is available to bring this painful
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  Speaker 2: situation to an end. More crime and justice news after this.
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  Speaker 2: A New York Times executive is dead and his elderly
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  Speaker 2: in-laws are facing murder charges. 40-year-old Jonathan McKenzie, head of
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  Speaker 2: engineering for New York Times Games, was fatally shot in
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  Speaker 2: broad daylight on Saturday, September 26, in a parking lot
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  Speaker 2: in Dublin, California. Shortly after the shooting, Dublin police arrested
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  Speaker 2: McKenzie's in-laws, 77-year-old Shu-Yong Zhang and 77-year-old Sheely Chen, charging
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  Speaker 2: both with murder. Court records reveal McKenzie was embroiled in
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  Speaker 2: legal disputes with his wife, Candace Jang, filing for divorce
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  Speaker 2: in December after mutual protective order requests. Online records show
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  Speaker 2: McKenzie had been charged with child cruelty, pleading not guilty
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  Speaker 2: last October. A New York Times spokesperson confirmed his role
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  Speaker 2: but denied to comment on the charges. On LinkedIn, McKenzie
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  Speaker 2: had written about leadership and fatherhood, sharing a post about
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  Speaker 2: his newborn daughter following the 2021 Atlanta spa attacks and
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  Speaker 2: calling on Americans to unite. Both in-laws remain held on
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  Speaker 2: murder charges. In Mississippi, safety leaders and lawmakers are calling
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  Speaker 2: for a crackdown on kratom after two University of Mississippi
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  Speaker 2: students died last week, both found with a suspected synthetic
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  Speaker 2: form of the drug. 18-year-old Aiden Hamilton and 20-year-old Robert
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  Speaker 2: Strang died in separate incidents. Investigators found store-bought Kratom products
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  Speaker 2: in both students' rooms, focusing on S-Max pseudo-DHM pills. Hamilton
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  Speaker 2: died in his Stewart Hall dorm room on campus. His
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  Speaker 2: roommate noted heavy marijuana use, but agents focused on S-Max
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  Speaker 2: pills found on his dresser. Mississippi Department of Public Safety
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  Speaker 2: Commissioner Sean Tindall commented on the investigation.
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  Speaker 1: We're wanting to test those and make sure that anything
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  Speaker 1: that's in there is not being laced with any other
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  Speaker 1: chemicals or there's no other harmful chemicals in that product.
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  Speaker 2: Robert String was found dead inside his off-campus home on
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  Speaker 2: Van Buren Avenue. Investigators found 20 to 30 nitrous oxide
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  Speaker 2: cans along with a packet of S-Max on his nightstand.
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  Speaker 2: Roommates reported String took a Xanax bar Sunday afternoon before
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  Speaker 2: being found unresponsive the next day. Investigators traced the Kratom
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  Speaker 2: to Express Mart No. 7 in Yalabusha County and Puff's Vape,
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  Speaker 2: Tobacco & Beer in Oxford, where undercover agents arrested two
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  Speaker 2: employees and seized 500 units of Kratom. Notably, an employee
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  Speaker 2: had warned an undercover informant to be careful taking the
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  Speaker 2: pills because people are dying from them. With toxicology reports
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  Speaker 2: being fast-tracked by a Florida lab, Commissioner Tyndell noted the
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  Speaker 2: deaths could spur statewide legislative action.
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  Speaker 1: And so I think one of the things the legislature
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  Speaker 1: is going to look at and consider next year is
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  Speaker 1: are we at a point where we need a statewide
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  Speaker 1: ban on kratom?
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  Speaker 2: Although kratom is currently banned locally in Oxford and Lafayette County,
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  Speaker 2: state officials are weighing whether broader legislation is necessary. For
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  Speaker 2: more crime and justice news, be sure to join us
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  Speaker 2: for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Fox One, YouTube,
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  Speaker 2: Sirius XM, and now streaming on Tubi. With this crime alert,
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sydney Silvani.