A California man pleaded guilty on Thursday to sending a fake ransom note to the family of Nancy Guthrie, who went missing just over five months ago.
Derrick Callella, 42, faces two felony charges related to transmitting a demand for ransom in interstate commerce and utilizing a telecommunications device with intent to abuse, threaten, or harass a person. He entered a guilty plea on both counts.
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The defendant allegedly texted two members of the Guthrie family in February shortly after the 84-year-old woman disappeared. She is believed to have been abducted due to the existence of ransom notes, though authorities are starting to believe they’re fake.
“Did you get the bitcoin were waiting on our end for the transaction,” Callella allegedly texted to Guthrie’s oldest daughter, Annie, and her son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni.
The suspect sent the message after the Guthrie family released the first video message pleading with the alleged kidnappers and offering to pay for their relative’s release, according to investigators.
Callella is set to be sentenced on Sept. 10, after which he will start serving 10 years of probation for the crimes.
The case has resulted in very few substantive leads since Guthrie went missing at her Arizona home on Feb. 1.
The FBI believes none of the ransom notes sent to the anxious family were genuine, according to Reuters. If that’s true, the family likely wasn’t communicating with the actual kidnappers.
FBI FINDS NANCY GUTHRIE RANSOM NOTES WERE FAKE: REPORT
FBI Director Kash Patel declined to comment on the latest development in the missing persons case during an unrelated press conference on Wednesday. The bureau has been assisting Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos in the state-led investigation.
Guthrie, the mother of NBC News’s Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie, is speculated to be dead based on her fragile health and reliance on daily medication.
