TMZ: New Bitcoin Tip Note in Guthrie Case Sent to FBI (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: TMZ's Harvey Levin has some new reporting on the Nancy Guthrie investigation. Obviously, he's been breaking news from the start and received the initial ransom note for Guthrie. TMZ is now reporting they've received a new note today from someone who said they are not the kidnapper, but they know who the kidnapper is. And then this individual demanded one bitcoin, which is currently valued about $67,000 in exchange for the information about the kidnapper. So, TMZ founder Harvey Levin is now out front. So, Harvey, okay, you got a lot of new information here, but I guess let's just start with this note that you've received. You said they've got a bitcoin address in there, different than the one in the original note, obviously, because this person's saying they're a different person. You verified that note. So, what can you tell us? Has any payments, activity on this new address? And what about this letter?

[00:00:52] Speaker 2: We haven't seen any. The letter essentially says, I've tried to get in touch with Savannah's brother and sister to no avail. And they sent it to us then. And they said, if they want to get the name of the individual who is involved in this kidnapping, send the bitcoin, give us a bitcoin through this address. And they say time is more than relevant. That's the way it ends. Time is more than relevant. We have sent this on to the FBI and to the sheriff's department. And that's all we have heard. You know, I was thinking about this. Doing it this way, I'm not sure is a crime. Now, if this is a ruse and they are just trying to get money without having information, then it's a crime. But I'm not sure the letter itself is a crime. What they're saying is, I'm willing to give you information, but I want a bitcoin. I'm not sure that's a crime.

[00:01:58] Speaker 1: So, when you look at a letter like this, I mean, obviously, you could think of it as a ruse. This is a person trying to jump on this and get $67,000 and then give you nothing. I mean, obviously, we all can see that that's possible. But as you look at it, is there anything that stands out to you to suggest that this person does know who the kidnapper is or doesn't know?

[00:02:18] Speaker 2: No. Honestly, no. The FBI certainly wanted it, as did the sheriff's department. And that's about all I can tell you about it, Erin.

[00:02:29] Speaker 1: All right. So, I'm also curious, Harvey, how you think about it this way. I mean, I was saying the rough value of a bitcoin, right, is $67,000. Now, the FBI has a reward of $50,000 for information, which would ostensibly be much more difficult to collect, obviously. But I guess if whoever sent this note does know who the kidnapper is, you know, how do you kind of think through the logic here as to why they do this to try to get the 67, as opposed to, you know, calling the FBI and doing the right thing and getting 50?

[00:02:59] Speaker 2: Because there have been cases in the past, I think we've all covered them, Erin, where the reward money is not given to somebody you would think at first blush is the person who helped solve the crime. We've seen that before. So, this is, I guess you would say, a bird in the hand.

[00:03:19] Speaker 1: Right, right, right. I'm just thinking, you know, obviously very different circumstances, but, you know, the comment made by the White House about paying out on Maduro, right, and that they would avoid paying that out. All right. So, you know, last night we were talking about the payment, right, and you had said that there was a payment to the Bitcoin account in the original ransom letter which you received, right? And then that payment came, and then fast and furious, right, they took this individual in who it turned out was not related to this, and that was wrong. But that is fast and furious what led to that. But nonetheless, the money had gone into that Bitcoin account that you had in that letter. Have you seen anything else going on with that account?

[00:04:03] Speaker 2: No, but there was just a boatload of information on social media last night that 15 minutes or so after we saw activity in that account, there was another Bitcoin account that somebody found where he said that somebody deposited $6 million, and a lot of people were speculating that the $6 million was then was actually the ransom money, and that is the correct amount. So we did some checking with law enforcement today, and we can tell you that $6 million is unrelated to the Nancy Guthrie case.

[00:04:46] Speaker 1: So unrelated, even though the amount is $6 million, that it's unrelated? Yes. Okay, all right, so that's obviously very significant. Now also, Harvey, you've been talking to your sources, I know, about what anybody watching has seen or had conversations about, which is a lot of theories and rumors that are out there about what happened here, including things like the car near Nancy Guthrie's home that was towed away by authorities, Nancy Guthrie's family members. What are they telling you?

[00:05:15] Speaker 2: I spent some time on the phone today on this with law enforcement, and what I can tell you is they have come up with goose eggs. They have looked for 10 days to find surveillance video or something meaningful to help them figure out what car this person used to get there and to escape, and they have not found it yet, not for lack of trying, and they're still looking, but so far they are stymied. That was a little bit surprising to me, but they have hit a series of dead ends.

[00:05:50] Speaker 1: Which is pretty incredible to think about it. You also have, and this is interesting, Harvey, you know, because we look at the backpack and, you know, the reporting tonight, you know, the New York Post got a picture of FBI agents picking up that glove about a mile from Nancy Guthrie's home that may or may not be related to the glove that we all saw in the doorbell cam footage, but you've been trying to figure out who made the glove, the backpack, the gun, the holster, all of it, right? Because all of this could say a lot, what this person was wearing and where they got it from. So what are you finding on this?

[00:06:26] Speaker 2: Well, here's what I'm finding. It just seemed obvious to me that what they were going to do, what law enforcement was going to do, is they were going to track down, you know, who bought some of these things from a store in the Tucson area, because they do believe this person is from that area, or Amazon or something like that. So I have confirmed with law enforcement that is exactly what they're doing. And what I'm told, and I'm going to have to refer to my notes, that the three items they were particularly interested in were the backpack, the gloves, and the gun. So let me talk about the backpack, because what we found this morning was there were reflective pieces on this backpack, and we matched them, we believed, to this Walmart Ozark Trail Hiker backpack, and they have the same reflective marks on them. And just a little bit ago, KOLD said that law enforcement told them that is indeed the backpack, this Walmart Ozark Trail Hiker backpack. So, you know, that's something that would be relevant, certainly, to police, to the FBI, to figure out, you know, did somebody buy that, you know, in the last few days? Now, it could have been something somebody had for a long time. I think more interesting, Erin, is the gun. Because if you look at that gun, it seems like there is a polyester holster on it. Now, I don't know that much about firearms, but we've done some digging. And what we're told is that type of holster typically carries a revolver. And in this case, it was a semi-automatic handgun. So what occurred to us is that if somebody showed up with an odd sort of weapon in that type of holster, that might have been noticed by somebody, say, at a gun range. So we've been calling around gun ranges to find out if they saw anybody with that type of holster, just because it was a little bit odd. We had no luck, but I know authorities are looking at just that. So these three things, the backpack, the gloves, and the gun, are that they're particularly interested in. And again, you know, if somebody goes into a Home Depot, say, and they buy one of these items, even if they pay cash, they have records of when it was purchased. And then you look at the surveillance video and you see who picked it out of off the shelf and took it to the cash register. And that's the way a lot of crimes are solved. And I know that's one of the things law enforcement is trying to do right now.

[00:09:11] Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean, obviously, as you said, you don't know when they bought the backpack. But obviously, Walmart will cooperate, right? I mean, they can see every single one of those Ozark Trailblazer backpacks when they were bought and where they were bought. You know, I mean, one of these things could end up being very significant. We don't know. All right. And Harvey, just one quick thing, just a triple check here. The account last night that the money was wired into, the original one, you haven't seen anything new in that one, right?

[00:09:40] Speaker 2: No, no. Same amount.

[00:09:43] Speaker 1: Yeah. All right. All right. Well, Harvey, thanks so much. It is always great to talk to you and a lot of new details there. Thanks.

[00:09:49] Speaker 2: Good talking to you, Erin.