Nancy Guthrie Update: Man Pleads Guilty to Sending Fake Ransom Note in Kidnapping Case

A California man has admitted to sending a fake ransom message during the investigation into Nancy Guthrie‘s disappearance.

Derrick Callella pleaded guilty on Thursday, July 2, to transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce and using a telecommunications device to abuse, threaten or harass a person, according to a KOLD-TV report published on Thursday, July 2.

He will receive 10 years of probation when he’s sentenced on Sept. 10, and he was scheduled to report to a residential addiction treatment facility the same day he entered his plea, per the report.

According to the outlet, the FBI said Callella, of Hawthorne, California, texted two of Guthrie’s family members on Feb. 4 — her daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni — and also allegedly made a nine-second call to a relative.

Court records show he used a VOIP line to send the message: “Did you get the bitcoin were (sic) waiting on our end for the transaction.” Investigators noted the texts landed just moments after the Guthrie family released their first video pleading for proof their mother was still alive.

As In Touch previously reported, the FBI has concluded that all three ransom messages tied to Nancy’s case — including the two mailed to media outlets in early February and a third sent to TMZ in late June — were not genuine. “None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” an FBI official told Reuters. The bureau has not disclosed how investigators determined the notes were fake.

Nancy, 84, is believed to have been abducted from her Tucson, Arizona, home in late January. Her daughter, Today anchor Savannah Guthrie, 54, has repeatedly pleaded publicly for her mother’s safe return and has voiced skepticism over the string of ransom claims.

With Callella’s plea now entered, one thread of the monthslong case has reached a resolution — even as the search for Nancy continues.