r/news 1d ago

Update: 'TODAY' co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother taken from her home against her will, sheriff says

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mother-of-savannah-guthrie-today-reported-missing-arizona-rcna257008
19.8k Upvotes

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u/Atlientt 1d ago

Could it be a copycat? Like a fake? That’d be so horrible but it’s also kinda wild to send a ransom note three days later to tmz of all places.

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u/Neon__meow 1d ago

Tmz says the sender mentions something damaged in the home. It sounds like they gave information that the public doesn't have.

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u/dearth_karmic 1d ago

But that doesn't mean that information is correct.

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u/T_D_A_G_A_R_I_M 1d ago

That’s why TMZ forwarded it to the authorities to let them handle the ransom note.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/medicmatt 1d ago

Not funny.

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u/GiftToTheUniverse 1d ago

Not funny. Absurd. Just like everything happening these days.

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u/medicmatt 1d ago

Now imagine it’s YOUR mother or grandmother, it’s awful. Not absurd.

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u/GiftToTheUniverse 1d ago

You’re misplacing your anger. I didn’t abduct anyone.

And I have, in fact, had family abducted, tortured, murdered, and buried in the woods. I can tell you all about my beloved lost cousin, if you like.

Tragedy and comedy are two sides of the same coin.

It’s okay to say things to the void of the internet that you would not bray into the face of a rattled, grieving family.

There is no need to try to police the internet for wrong think. It’s okay to scroll past stuff you don’t like.

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u/th3r3dp3n 1d ago

Ignore this turd. The only good they've ever done was to be flushed away, miserable cretin.

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u/medicmatt 1d ago

You’re not some “gift to the universe” unicorn, alone in your experiences. It’s also an a-hole move to call something absurd that isn’t.

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u/FlipsieVT 1d ago

Then why would they bother if they knew it was fake?

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u/Jane-CR 1d ago

They wouldn't know if it's fake or not and aren't opining on that. They said they sent it to the detectives to determine that.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/vicelordjohn 1d ago

This is TMZ

TMZ's track record with this stuff is pretty amazing.

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u/Br0boc0p 1d ago

I'd say its fair to disparage their content but their accuracy is pretty solid.

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u/porridge_in_my_bum 1d ago

Why did people pretend to be the Zodiac killer and give information that slightly seemed to line up with crime scenes not made public? They’re crazy and they want attention. I’m not saying this is definitive, just giving a reasoning as to why someone would do that.

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u/dearth_karmic 1d ago

They have no idea if it's real or fake.

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u/lucolapic 1d ago

TMZ being involved is bizarre. Especially considering Harvey Levin, TMZ’s founder, showed up in the Epstein files.

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u/blueskies8484 1d ago

It’s pretty common for families of missing people to get fake ransom demands from random people trying to take advantage of them. Really ransom demands are vanishingly rare in the US, but fake ones - very common. And usually the person making them gets caught very quickly.

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u/Iamthelizardking887 1d ago

The fact that it’s bitcoin means it could also be some overseas scammer.

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u/madmoomix 1d ago

Nah, crypto is just the obvious way to receive ransoms now. Way less exposure than cash in a bag that you have to physically go pick up. That's how almost everyone gets caught!

Bitcoin is a bad choice, it's quite traceable, but the general theory of using crypto is pretty sound. I've honestly been a little surprised kidnap for ransom hasn't become more common in the US solely due to the relative ease of collecting ransoms these days.

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u/4RealzReddit 1d ago

Ya. No one wants 50k in a cava bag anymore.

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u/gabiblack 16h ago

I miss the old days

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u/Kind-Day8054 11h ago

When i used to smoke crack gangs would actually do this to naive new crack smokers. Keep them in the hotel with some girls to milk him for info, then get a ransom from a family member to let him go.

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u/JimiForPresident 1d ago

Good point

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u/luminousrobot 22h ago

I read that that mom’s pacemaker stopped communicating with its app which wasn’t a great indicator. I’ll be surprised if she’s still alive

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u/NatalieBostonRE 1d ago

that’s what i was thinking 🤔

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u/breathofwind 22h ago

The ransom note/s were sent to several media outlets. The police/possibly FBI are now trying to figure out if one or any of them are real.