Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped, Savannah Guthrie’s mother is missing, and Derrick Callella was arrested for sending a fake ransom note. There is an update on the Tucson Arizona abduction case, and the family of the Today show host is asking for help.
Derrick Callella, 42, from the Los Angeles area of California, was arrested for sending a fake ransom note to the family of Nancy Guthrie, an 84-year-old woman who is missing. She is the mother of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. The federal government charged him with asking for ransom for a kidnapped person and making threatening calls without giving his name. The FBI called him a “total imposter” who was using the tragedy to make money with Bitcoin.
On January 31, 2026, Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, Arizona, after her family dropped her off after dinner. Authorities quickly decided it was a kidnapping because the adult was weak, had trouble moving, needed a pacemaker, and took heart medicine. There are still no suspects in her kidnapping, even though K-9 units, drones, and helicopters are still searching.
Savannah Guthrie and her brother Camron made emotional videos begging for their mother’s safe return and proof of life from her captors. The Pima County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI are looking into a separate ransom note that the media got two days before Callella’s arrest. Recently, a new strange message appeared, and officials have confirmed that it is real.
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information that leads to Nancy Guthrie’s recovery or the arrest of the people who did it. If you have information, please call 1-800-CALL-FBI or your local police. Callella’s scam is over, but the real kidnapping investigation is getting more serious as people ask for surveillance footage.
