A stunning new development has emerged in the mystery of the ransom notes tied to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.
According to a U.S. attorney’s office, a California man pleaded guilty to sending phony ransom demands to the family of Guthrie, the missing 84-year-old mother of “TODAY” co-host Savannah Guthrie who has been missing since late January.
Derrick Callella, 42, pleaded guilty last Thursday in federal court in Tucson to two counts of harassment via telecommunications device, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona press release.
His deal with prosecutors keeps him out of prison and calls for five years on probation, a U.S. Attorney spokesperson told Reuters.
The conviction is the only one so far in Guthrie’s disappearance, which remains unsolved after over five months.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 10. The charges he faced carried up to two years behind bars as well as a $250,000 fine.
According to the investigation, the FBI said Callella messaged Guthrie’s relatives on Feb. 4.
Callella conceded he already knew someone had floated a ransom demand, according to the U.S. Attorney’s statement obtained by Reuters. The statement said Callella confessed that he wanted to harass relatives by pursuing details about the search.
“Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,” a message read, according to court records cited by media outlet NewsNation.
Cellphone data showed a nine-second call to a relative moments later, investigators said.
The texts reached Guthrie’s oldest daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni just after the family posted a video seeking proof of life, KOLD-TV reported, citing court records and detectives.
Prosecutors said Thursday that Callella failed a drug test, according to KVOA4 Tucson. Court statements showed that Callella admitted he used drugs four days prior.
The FBI’s Phoenix field office said last Thursday that investigators have received several purported ransom notes, discarding some as “extortion attempts without legitimacy” while weighing others as possibly genuine. The bureau is still investigating the matter as a kidnapping for ransom, with local authorities running the case, according to the field office.
Statement on Guthrie Investigation pic.twitter.com/zTUKcjPfsv
— FBI Phoenix (@FBIPhoenix) July 1, 2026
“The Department of Justice will protect victims and families at all costs, and grief profiteers will be held accountable,” U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos warned others against similar hoaxes.
“The FBI takes these notes extremely seriously. They track them down, and if they find it to be fraudulent, they don’t just put it aside; they will arrest you, they have made arrests, I think they’ve made two or three arrests already,” Nanos told KOLD-TV.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her Tucson-area home Jan. 31, and a relative reported her missing to authorities on Feb. 1. Searchers found her wallet, phone, hearing aid and medication left behind, and DNA testing matched blood discovered on her porch to her.
No suspect in her disappearance has surfaced.
Savannah Guthrie has pleaded publicly for her mother’s safe return, telling viewers the family remains “in agony” over the disappearance of her mother, according to NBC News.