A pair of messages that may have been sent by someone with knowledge of Nancy Guthrie's suspected kidnapping from her Arizona home contain a series of clues about their author, according to retired Colorado investigator Lisa Miller, who said grammatical habits and sentence patterns suggest both notes were likely written by the same person — and could ultimately trigger the tip detectives have been waiting for.
uncertain
detectives → send → tip
Authorities have said she was taken from her home in northern Tucson in the early hours of Feb. 1, after a masked intruder appeared on her front steps in recovered doorbell camera video.
asserted
intruder → say → video
Making them public last month could do more than jog someone's memory, Miller said.
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Miller → make → memory
It could also put pressure on whoever wrote the notes, potentially prompting a misstep that exposes the author to someone in their own circle.
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that → put → circle
"The bad guys can't help but look over their shoulder and wonder, are they onto me?
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they → help → me
Are they coming?
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they → come → ?
And that pressure creates behavioral leakage that we're looking for and people around them might see.
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people → create → them
"
But the notes themselves may give the public something specific to look for.
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notes → give → something
"Think about if you've heard someone in your group, maybe outside your orbit that you just encounter that uses this strange language, or if you're written a letter," Miller said.
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Miller → think → letter
"If you see something in their writing or in an email where they're using these comma splicings, those are the things that are useful to ask people to look for.
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that → see → people
The comma splices — where two sentences are joined with a comma rather than separated by a period — are a signature detail in both notes, she added.
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she → join → notes
"We see it also again in the second note," she said.
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she → see → note
"So it's continuous between the two notes, which is one of the reasons why I believe this continuity more likely than not indicates this one author."
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continuity → believe → author
The Pima County Sheriff's Department released the notes in July, six months after Guthrie's suspected abduction from her home in Tucson, Arizona.
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Department → release → Tucson
Her whereabouts remain unknown, and authorities said they are hoping that someone recognizes the sender's "unique linguistic style."
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someone → remain → style
"These are characteristics, these are things that law enforcement can use to ask people, crowdsource for help in this case," Miller said.
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Miller → use → case
And the comma splices aren't the only habits that caught her attention.
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that → catch → attention
"We're seeing also some open compounds through the notes," she said.
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she → see → notes
"We see 'heart related,' that should be hyphenated by most people when they write that.
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they → see → that
We see smartwatch written as two words.
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smartwatch → see → words
Most people write that as one.
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people → write → one
Floodlight, we see that written as words.
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that → see → words
So that is a continuity that we're seeing between the two."
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we → see → two
She also said she doesn't think the sender used AI to concoct the messages.
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sender → say → messages
There's a typo, for example, and the sentences don't have a smooth, AI-generated flow, she said.
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she → be → flow
Instead, the unusual language may reflect the writer's unique speech and writing habits, Miller said.
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Miller → reflect → habits
"There's something else, it's called idiolect," Miller explained.
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Miller → call → ?
"Idiolect is our personal style of communication and it can be affected by many things.
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it → affect → things
The region we grew up in, neighborhoods we live in, slang that we've adopted.
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we → grow → that
"
The sender's idiolect could be why they used the word "perished" rather than "died" and wrote that Guthrie had been "buried in nature," Miller speculated.
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Miller → use → nature
"Perhaps this idiolect, this personalized language is something that they've said based on religious upbringing, based on books they've read, maybe 'buried in nature' is something they utilize," she said.
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she → say → nature
Another possibility, she said, is that offenders typically try to minimize their wrongdoing.
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offenders → say → wrongdoing
"They blame others," Miller said.
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Miller → blame → others
"They blame, you know, the victim themselves.
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you → blame → victim
They distance themselves from that bad thing that they did."
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they → distance → that
Miller also flagged the sender's use of both a dollar sign and "USD" to specify the ransom amount, along with the way dates and times were written, as other notable quirks.
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dates → flag → quirks
"I would bring people from the public that are looking at these notes to look at that also, cause that's a distinction," she said.
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she → bring → that
Authorities have not yet confirmed that the notes are authentic, but Guthrie's daughter, "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie, has said she believes they may be — and investigators haven't ruled them out either.
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investigators → confirm → them
Anyone with information is asked to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI or, to remain anonymous, call 520-88-CRIME.
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Anyone → ask → CRIME
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