The message arrived like a thunderclap in the middle of an already unbearable storm. It was short, vague, and deeply unsettling—and it came just as the Guthrie family stood before cameras, their voices shaking as they pleaded for help finding their missing mother. Within moments of the public appeal airing, a text referencing bitcoin appeared on family members’ phones, instantly transforming fear into something darker. What had been a desperate search now carried the chilling possibility of exploitation.
The family did exactly what authorities urge in moments like this: they reported the communication immediately. Police recognized the potential danger in both the timing and the wording. In missing-person cases, even the faintest hint of ransom language can signal escalation, and investigators moved quickly to trace the source. That urgency would soon carry them more than 400 miles away, to a man in California who had no known connection to the Guthries—other than his fixation on their pain.
Court records identify the suspect as Derrick Callella, a man in his mid-40s who was detained after allegedly sending the messages to relatives of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, who vanished from her Arizona home. Prosecutors say the texts bore the hallmarks of ransom-style communication and were sent shortly after the family’s emotional appeal was broadcast. Around the same time, investigators say a brief phone call was placed to another family member—an action that compounded the terror of an already agonizing wait.
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