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Can Nancy Guthrie ransom note writing quirks help identify the suspect? Expert weighs in
A former Colorado investigator suggests that grammatical patterns in ransom notes related to Nancy Guthrie's case could help identify a suspect.
A former investigator from Colorado has stated that the recurring grammatical peculiarities and sentence structures found in the ransom notes related to the Nancy Guthrie case may provide crucial insights for identifying a suspect.
Lisa Miller discussed with Fox News Digital the two letters that were made public by the Pima County Sheriff's Department last month. The initial note requested millions in Bitcoin cryptocurrency for Nancy's return, whereas the subsequent note asserted that Nancy had "perished" and was "buried in nature."
Nancy, the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie from Today, was reported missing on February 1, with authorities suspecting she was taken from her residence in Tucson, Arizona.
Law enforcement has made available doorbell camera footage featuring a masked individual and has submitted DNA samples for analysis at the FBI laboratory in Quantico; however, no suspects have been publicly identified.
Expert analyzes ransom notes for clues in Nancy Guthrie case probe
Miller told Fox News Digital that the notes might provide the public with something to look out for, stating, “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've written a 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.”
She noted that the use of comma splices (where two independent clauses are connected by a comma instead of being divided by a period) occurs repeatedly in both notes. "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 [is] one author."
"These are characteristics, these are things that law enforcement can use to ask people, crowdsource for help in this case," Miller said, stressing that the notes also frequently include open compounds.
"We see 'heart related,' that should be hyphenated by most people when they write that," she said. "We see 'smartwatch' written as two words. Most people write that as one. 'Floodlight,' we see that written as two words. So that is a continuity that we're seeing between the two."
Miller emphasizes on sender's unique language style
Miller also expresses skepticism regarding the use of AI in composing the letters due to the presence of typographical errors. There is another factor at play, known as idiolect, she clarified. Idiolect refers to unique style of communication, which can be influenced by various factors, including the region where one is raised, the neighborhoods they inhabit, and the slang they have adopted.
She hypothesized that the sender's unique language style might explain their choice of the term "perished" over "died" and the expression "buried in nature."
Miller also emphasized the importance of noting how dates and times are formatted in the notes, as well as other peculiarities, such as the simultaneous use of a dollar sign and "USD" when referring to the ransom amount.
