Investigators revealed that they’re looking into a new message that was sent to a Tucson news station amid the ongoing search for Nancy Guthrie. This comes as a Southern California man accused of sending a ransom note to the Guthrie family made his first court appearance on Friday.
Nancy, who is the mother of TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie, is believed to have been abducted from her Arizona home early Sunday. No suspect or person of interest has been identified in the case, according to authorities.
Derrick Callella, 42, of Hawthorne, is accused of sending the Guthrie family a hoax ransom letter.
Callella was arrested by the FBI in Hawthorne on Thursday and appeared in a Santa Ana federal courtroom on Friday afternoon.
A Torrance man has been charged with allegedly demanding Bitcoin from members of the Guthrie family in the wake of the disappearance of their mother, according to a federal complaint.
He’s accused of sending Guthrie’s daughter and son-in-law a text which read, “Did you get the Bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction.”
The text messages were sent two days after a local Tucson media outlet received a ransom demand that listed a Bitcoin wallet address to receive the payment, according to the complaint.
They were also sent shortly after Nancy’s children published a video online asking their mother’s kidnappers to contact them, the complaint also noted.
Callella allegedly used an app to create a fake phone number to text the family, and the account was tracked to an email associated with him, according to the complaint.
He allegedly admitted to sending the text messages after being read his Miranda rights, according to the complaint.
“When he said that he sent text messages, he was trying to see if the family would respond,” the complaint stated.
Callella is not linked to the Bitcoin ransom demand, according to the complaint.
Callella is charged with transmitting a demand for ransom and using a telecommunication device with the intent to abuse, threaten or harass a person.
The judge on Friday ordered him released on a $20,000 bond and told him to not contact victims or witnesses.
READ MORE: ‘We believe Nancy is still out there’: Latest on search for Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother
Authorities looking into “new message”
Investigators say they’re looking into a new message that was sent to one of the Tucson news stations. They say it is being taken seriously by law enforcement.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department posted an update that it and the FBI are now looking into a new message regarding Nancy Guthrie, and are actively checking its authenticity.
Investigators say they don’t have proof the 84-year-old mother of NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie is alive, but they do believe “she’s still out there.”
Her family is begging for any kind of communication from the person or people behind her disappearance.
“We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first, we have to know that you have our mom,” Cameron Guthrie said in a video from the family.
Authorities say they have no suspect or person of interest.
“Man, I wish technology was as easy as we believe it is, that: Here’s your picture. Here’s your bad guy, but it’s not. There are pieces of information that come to us from these tech groups that say, “This is what we have, and we can’t get any more.,'” said Chris Nanos from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
Meanwhile, at least three other ransom notes have been sent to media outlets. The FBI has not been able to confirm their authenticity.
ABC News contributed to this report.
