Author: Benny Greenspan | Wild About Trial
It’s been 6 days since Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, has been missing after not being found in her home in Tucson, Arizona.
Today, Thursday, February 5, 2026, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department held a press conference to update the people on the search for Guthrie, when they revealed that an arrest had been made relating to Guthrie’s disappearance.
Unfortunately, the arrest was not made on Guthrie’s kidnapper, but another individual who made an imposter ransom demand in relation to Guthrie’s kidnapping. This individual was later revealed to be a man named Derrick Callella. Authorities in the press conference stated that a formal complaint would be presented to a magistrate later in the day.
Callella allegedly sent messages to the Guthrie family after the family released a video message asking for proof of the life of Nancy Guthrie. Federal agents tracked the messages to Callella’s email leading to his arrest. Callella additionally admitted to the officers that he sent the text messages, one of which said, “Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction.”
Callella is being charged with two federal crimes: one count of intent to transmit a demand for ransom and one count of making a phone call without disclosing identity to abuse, threaten or harass any specific person (18 U.S.C. § 875(b) and 47 U.S.C. § 223(a)(1)(C)). The ransom count has the higher federal sentence going up to 20 years in addition to a possible fine up to $250,000. The “phone call” related count is a lesser crime, up to 2 years federally if the harassment is considered to be “non-obscene.” Considering the harassment was pertaining to the kidnapping of a family’s mother, that would certainly qualify for an obscenity enhancement. While it is good to see individuals harassing the Guthrie family being held accountable for their despicable acts in a tragic time for the family’s life, the ultimate hope is to see Nancy Guthrie return safely to her home.
