More than seven months into the search for Nancy Guthrie, a forensic linguist says the ransom notes tied to her case contain a detail investigators may not have fully explored: consistently bad grammar.
Dr. Carole Chaski reviewed the two notes sent to the Guthrie family in the days after Nancy's February 1 disappearance and flagged repeated grammatical irregularities as unusual for someone attempting to write a convincing ransom demand. The first note read, in part, "We have your mother, Nancy. She is safe but scared," while a second, sent days later, claimed she had already died.
Chaski's analysis joins a growing body of forensic linguistic work on the notes. Investigators previously noted comma splices and unusual word choices - like writing "smart watch" and "flood light" as two words - that experts say could function as a kind of linguistic fingerprint if the writer is ever identified.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen the night of January 31 and reported missing the next day after failing to appear for a church livestream she never missed. The case remains active, with no suspect publicly named and a reward now exceeding $1 million for information leading to her safe return.
As investigators continue combing through every detail of the notes for a break in the case, the Guthrie family has continued to lean on their faith publicly, asking supporters to keep praying even as the search stretches into its eighth month.
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