The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly concluded that a series of alleged ransom notes tied to the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping are fake, according to Reuters. That does not solve the case, obviously, but it does remove one noisy lane from an already distressing investigation.
Reuters reported Tuesday that investigators determined the notes were not genuine. The report did not say what evidence led the FBI to that conclusion, so the public version remains fairly limited: the notes were examined, and federal investigators do not believe they came from the actual kidnapper or kidnappers.
How the alleged ransom notes reached investigators
TMZ and other media outlets received the messages and turned them over to the FBI for analysis. Most of the notes arrived early in the case, when public attention was high and credible information was especially hard to separate from opportunistic claims.
TMZ reported receiving another message as recently as last week. That means the alleged communications continued well after the initial burst of attention, a grim reminder that major criminal cases can attract people with motives that are not exactly civic-minded.
According to TMZ, nearly a dozen emails came from the same man. He claimed he knew both the kidnapper’s identity and Nancy Guthrie’s location, while also insisting he was not involved in the crime.
