Derrick Callella, the man accused of sending a fake ransom note to Nancy Guthrie’s family, appeared in federal court in Tucson for the first time on Thursday, February 12, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona said.
Earlier this month, Callella, who is from Hawthorne, California, was charged with transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce and utilizing a telecommunications device with the intent to abuse, threaten or harass a person without disclosing his identity.
A police complaint viewed by Us Weekly alleged that on February 4 Callella, 42, sent text messages to Nancy’s daughter and Today show cohost Savannah Guthrie’s sister, Annie Guthrie, and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, demanding a ransom payment amid Nancy’s disappearance. He is also accused of making a phone call to an unidentified member of Nancy’s family, which lasted around nine seconds.
“Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,” Callella allegedly wrote in text messages to Annie and Tommasso, per the criminal complaint.
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According to the document, Callella “stated that he pulled family information from a cyber website and that he had been following along and watching TV” news reports about Nancy’s February 1 disappearance. Callella “was trying to see if the family would respond,” the complaint claimed.
The FBI arrested Callella on February 5 after determining that the messages received by the Guthrie family were an “imposter ransom demand” unrelated to an unverified ransom demand sent to TMZ and local Tucson television news outlets KOLD and KGUN on February 2.
FBI Phoenix special agent in charge Heith Janke said during a February 5 news conference, “We have made one arrest related to an imposter ransom demand, and a complaint will be presented to a magistrate judge later today. … There’s no evidence to connect this to Nancy’s case. It was someone that was trying to profit off it.”
“My next message is to those imposters who are trying to take advantage and profit from this situation. We will investigate and ensure you are held accountable for your actions,” Janke said. “This is an 84-year-old grandma that needs vital medication for her well-being. You still have the time to do the right thing before this becomes a worse, much worse scenario for you.”
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The FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department have not yet verified the authenticity of the ransom notes sent to TMZ, KOLD and KGUN. The demand letters, sent by email, reportedly requested millions of dollars be transferred to a bitcoin address for Nancy’s safe return. Two deadlines, one on February 5 and one on Monday, February 9, passed without any transactions being made to the bitcoin address listed. (A small transaction was reportedly detected on Tuesday, February 10, however.)
Savannah, 54, and her siblings, Annie and Camron Guthrie, said in an Instagram video shared on Saturday, February 7, that they were prepared to pay a ransom. The Today show cohost posted the video after KOLD reported receiving a second ransom message in connection with Nancy’s suspected abduction.
“We received your message and we understand,” Savannah said in the video. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us and we will pay.”
On Tuesday, the FBI released surveillance footage and photographs of a potential suspect seen outside of Nancy’s home in the early hours of February 1. The individual, clad in a ski mask and wearing a backpack, appeared to tamper with a Nest doorbell camera attached to the entrance of Nancy’s home.
The FBI released more details about the potential suspect via X on Thursday. “The suspect is described as a male, approximately 5’9”–5’10” tall, with an average build. In the video, he is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack,” a post shared by FBI Phoenix said.
