California man pleads guilty after sending fake ransom note to Nancy Guthrie’s heartbroken family
A California man pleaded guilty after sending a bogus ransom note to the anxious family of missing Nancy Guthrie.
Derrick Callella, 42, pleaded guilty to two felonies — transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce and utilizing a telecommunications device with intent to abuse, threaten or harᴀss a person — on Thursday, KOLD reported.
His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 10.
Callella, from Hawthorne, messaged Guthrie’s daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni about the ailing 84-year-old shortly after she vanished in February, according to a criminal complaint filed in Arizona federal court.
“Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,” his message, sent to both Annie and Cioni, allegedly read.
Approximately three minutes after sending the texts, data obtained by authorities showed Callella also made a nine-second call to an unidentified family member of Nancy Guthrie, according to the court docs.
“In his plea, Callella admitted that he called and sent text messages to a missing person’s family on Feb. 4, 2026, which asked about a bitcoin transfer,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, said in a statement. “Callella acknowledged that he knew an earlier ransom demand had been made. Callella also admitted that his actions were meant to harᴀss the family by seeking information about the investigation into the missing person’s disappearance.”
Callella’s note was not linked to a Feb. 2 ransom demand sent to local media and TMZ, Fox News reported, citing court documents.
Nancy, the mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie, remains missing with no known suspects or leads from investigators five months after her disappearance.
Other ransom notes have correctly identified details that hadn’t been revealed to the public — including a broken security light on Guthrie’s house and the Apple Watch she had been wearing.
Authorities recovered footage of a masked, armed suspect from her doorbell camera, and collected DNA evidence in the early days of the search.
Last month, a tearful Savannah Guthrie once again begged anyone with information to come forward and help find her missing mom.
The celebrity broke down on camera in an address delivered after reports revealed that a ransom note believed to be sent by her missing mom’s kidnappers claimed she had died.
