California man Derrick Callella has been arrested for sending what authorities believe to be a fake ransom demand in the suspected Tucson, Arizona, kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie. The Pima County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona and FBI are still investigating a separate ransom demand that was received two days before Callella’s.
Callella, born in 1983, is charged with two federal crimes. The first is for transmitting an interstate “demand for ransom … for the release of any kidnapped person.” The second is for using a telephone to send an interstate text message and make an interstate call “without disclosing his identity,” and “with intent to abuse, threaten or harass any specific person.”
On Feb. 2, 2026, Kold, the CBS affiliate in Tucson, received a ransom demand via its online tip portal. The demand included a “Bitcoin wallet address to receive the ransom payment.” This demand…
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