Alleged new ransom notes released in Nancy Guthrie investigation
Investigators are continuing to search for answers in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie. People claiming to be responsible for her kidnapping reportedly sought $4 million in Bitcoin and later alleged that she had “perished.” Newly disclosed ransom messages and additional evidence have given authorities more leads as the high-profile case remains unresolved.
NBC has reportedly tightened security at its Manhattan “Today” show studios following an incident involving co-anchor Craig Melvin, who was confronted in a vestibule. The move also comes months after the still-unsolved kidnapping of Savannah Guthrie’s mother from her Tucson, Arizona, home, according to a recent report.
“It was much-needed and took longer than people would have liked, but it does feel a lot better now,” an unnamed insider told Page Six.
While the new procedures have created extra steps for employees, an unidentified source said “Today” staff members have accepted the inconvenience in the interest of safety.
A man who resembles the suspect accused in the racially motivated attack on “Today” co-host Craig Melvin can be seen in the background of the program on the morning of the July 16, 2026, Rockefeller Center incident in New York. (‘Today’/NBC)
NBC has not publicly disclosed the full scope of the enhanced security protocols.
“We are reviewing the incident and our security protocols and remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who works at and visits our studios,” an NBC spokesperson said in July, after police arrested an intruder who entered a restricted area.
Details of the planned changes first emerged later that month through an internal memo obtained by Variety. NBC sources subsequently verified that the memo was genuine.
Among the measures cited in the memo, guests are now limited to bringing two companions, including stylists, publicists, social media staffers or other support workers.
Savannah Guthrie pictured with her mother, Nancy Guthrie. (Instagram/Savannah Guthrie)
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Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, was taken from her residence in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills on Feb. 1. She has not been found, and authorities have not publicly named any suspects or announced arrests in the ongoing investigation.
While Guthrie and her colleagues were still reeling from the kidnapping, a homeless man identified as 41-year-old Andrew Truelove snuck onto the set, allegedly hunting for Al Roker.
Andrew Truelove was arrested after allegedly entering NBC’s Rockefeller Center studios during a live broadcast of the Today show and shouting racist slurs at co-host Craig Melvin. Authorities initially said he was looking for Al Roker. Security personnel intervened and police took him into custody. (Kevin C. Downs/Redux)
He found Melvin instead in a vestibule inside a secure area of the studio and allegedly accosted him with a racial slur.
A review of footage from the “Today” show that morning reveals a man resembling Truelove and wearing the same clothing was pictured in the background repeatedly in the 8 a.m. hour.
Australian-born presenter Savannah Guthrie poses alongside her mother Nancy Guthrie during a production break while hosting NBC’s “Today Show” live from Australia at Sydney Opera House on May 4, 2015, in Sydney, Australia. (Don Arnold / Wireimage)
Truelove has a criminal record going back decades and in 2007 was convicted of trying to abduct an 8-year-old from a school in Norfolk, Virginia.
He faces hate crime charges of burglary, a felony, and menacing, a misdemeanor, in connection with the Melvin incident.
Court records in New York show a man with the same name and age as Truelove has additional pending cases in connection with an alleged assault in the NYPD’s 5th Precinct in January, trespassing and reckless endangerment charges on the city’s transit system from May — and a 12-count criminal mischief indictment from last year.