A cruel twist in the search for Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother has now led to a conviction: a California man has admitted in US federal court that he sent bogus ransom messages while pretending to be the abductor of the “Today” show co-host’s elderly mother.
Derrick Callella, 42, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of harassment by telecommunications device. So far, it is the only criminal conviction connected to the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, who vanished from her Tucson, Arizona, home five months ago.
The charges are punishable by up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Under a plea deal reached with prosecutors, however, Callella, of Hawthorne, California, is expected to serve five years of probation, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office said. Formal sentencing was scheduled for 10 September.
Savannah and Nancy Guthrie
Nancy Guthrie, who was in frail health and had limited mobility, was last seen alive at her home on 31 January.
Concern escalated the following day after she failed to appear at church as expected. A friend alerted relatives, who went to the home and discovered she was missing.
Investigators found that she had left behind basic necessities, including her wallet, cellphone, hearing aid and medication.
DNA testing later confirmed that blood discovered on Ms Guthrie’s front porch belonged to her.
Callella was arrested on 5 February, four days after Guthrie was reported missing.
By that point, court records and public statements from the FBI said, local media outlets had already received a ransom note on 2 February demanding payment in bitcoin and imposing deadlines.
As part of his guilty plea, Callella acknowledged that on 4 February he called and texted Ms Guthrie’s family to ask about a bitcoin transfer, and “he acknowledged that he knew an earlier ransom demand had been made,” the US Attorney’s Office said.
“Callella also admitted that his actions were meant to harass the family by seeking information about the investigation into the missing person’s disappearance,” the statement said.
The plea was entered one day after the FBI’s Phoenix field office said on X that agents had received “several” ransom notes during the investigation. Some, the bureau said, appeared to be “extortion attempts without legitimacy,” while others were still being assessed as potentially genuine.
The FBI has said it continues to investigate Ms Guthrie’s disappearance as a kidnapping-for-ransom case.
Last week, celebrity news outlet TMZ.com reported that it had received an email from a person claiming to know who abducted her and to possess video of the “main guy” tied to the kidnapping, along with footage of Ms Guthrie on the day she died.
But an FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation remains active, told Reuters on Tuesday that the latest letter sent to TMZ and the two ransom notes reported by media outlets in February have since been deemed not credible.
