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Derrick Callella, the man accused of sending a fraudulent ransom note to the family of Nancy Guthrie, made his first court appearance in Tucson on Thursday, February 12, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
Callella, a 42-year-old resident of Hawthorne, California, faces charges for allegedly transmitting a ransom demand across state lines and using a telecommunications device to harass or threaten without revealing his identity.
According to a police complaint obtained by Us Weekly, on February 4, Callella allegedly sent text messages to Nancy’s daughter, Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s sister, Annie Guthrie, and her husband, Tommaso Cioni. These messages demanded a ransom payment while Nancy was still missing. Additionally, Callella is accused of making a brief phone call, lasting approximately nine seconds, to an unidentified member of Nancy’s family.
In the text messages to Annie and Tommaso, Callella purportedly wrote, “Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,” as detailed in the criminal complaint.
The situation remains a mystery after Nancy Guthrie, mother of Today host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department issued a missing person report on February 1 via X, describing Nancy as a “vulnerable adult” who was last seen at her home in Arizona’s Catalina Foothills area the previous evening.
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.”
Annie Guthrie and her family have found themselves in the spotlight for a reason nobody wants to experience. On February 1, 2026, news broke that Nancy Guthrie was reported missing in Arizona after a family member called 911. In the days that followed, Annie and her siblings, who include Camron Guthrie and Today show anchor […]
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.