Savannah Guthrie has been advised to consider paying part of a bitcoin ransom as investigators continue to search for her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie.
After multiple ransom emails emerged earlier this months, a former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer has said sending a portion of the demanded cryptocurrency could help track those behind the messages.
“Tickling the wire in this case would be putting half a bitcoin and seeing what happens to it,” she told Newsweek. “Do they take it? Do they convert it to pesos? It’s internationally tracked. How does it come out into currency? Do they just leave it there?”
She added that while the money may be lost, the transaction could provide a realistic lead. “I think it would be worth it to me.”
Investigators are treating the messages with caution, as some experts believe they may be scams taking advantage of the situation.
The emails are also contridicting as one person alleged Nancy was dead, while another claimed she had been seen alive in Mexico. None of the emails have been verified by authorities.
Savannah also resonated with the uncertainty, saying many of the messages are possibly not credible.
Nancy, 78, disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, at the end of January. Authorities believe she was abducted and pointed to signs of a struggle and security footage showing a masked man near the property.
