Ex-LA County worker arrested in Nancy Guthrie case! – Story Of The Day!

Federal agents have made an arrest in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping investigation, but officials say it is not the breakthrough the public has been waiting for.

Authorities confirm they have taken a man into custody in connection with messages sent to the Guthrie family about bitcoin. Investigators believe the communication was an opportunistic hoax—an attempt to exploit a family’s fear—rather than evidence of involvement in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, the mother of TODAY co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing from her Tucson-area home on Sunday, February 1. From the beginning, officials have treated the case as a criminal matter. Ransom demands and public appeals followed, turning what began as a local emergency into a high-profile national story. As the days passed with no verified proof of life, the pressure intensified—on investigators, on the family, and on anyone watching from the outside.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, the man arrested is Derrick Callella, a Southern California resident. He was taken into custody on February 5 in Hawthorne, California, not far from Los Angeles International Airport. Prosecutors say Callella is facing two federal charges: one for allegedly sending a message demanding ransom for the release of a kidnapped person, and another for placing a phone call without identifying himself “with the intent to abuse, threaten or harass.”