A former FBI hostage negotiator flagged a dark detail in the new Nancy Guthrie ransom note that was delivered to the family on Monday.
In the note, Guthrie's abductors claimed that the 84-year-old mother of "Today!" co-host Savannah Guthrie had been "buried with nature now," according to a source close to the investigation who spoke to NewsNation reporter Brian Entin. Chip Massey, a former hostage negotiator, told CNN's Erin Burnett that the abductors also included details in the note that point to where the investigation may go next.
"The messaging itself, Erin, as you pointed out, is also interesting because now we're shifting," Massey said. "The captors have shifted from a point of leverage to now it seems like they're trying to manage the narrative."
Guthrie disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona, in the middle of the night in late January after seeing her family at a dinner engagement. Authorities have released scant details about the suspects or their motives, other than a few pictures captured by the doorbell camera at Guthrie's home.
Massey said the new note suggests that the abductors want to convince the Guthries, and possibly the public, that Guthrie's death was an accident.
"Whatever the wording is, that's a narrative control," he said. "And so what we're seeing is that perhaps they're thinking, 'In the event that we are caught, or we want the public to see us in this light.' As opposed to murderous kidnappers."