🚨 THE FIRST RANSOM NOTE IN NANCY GUTHRIE’S C...

🚨 THE FIRST RANSOM NOTE IN NANCY GUTHRIE’S CASE HAS NOW BEEN REVEALED… ITS OPENING WORDS ARE LEAVING MANY PEOPLE CHI-LLED

The chilling ransom note warned Nancy’s daughter, Savannah Guthrie: “Do not play games”.

Details of the first ransom note in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance have emerged, with the sender reportedly warning Savannah Guthrie that her mother’s life “is in your hands.”

Nancy has been missing since Jan. 31, and was reported missing on Feb. 1. Authorities believe she was kidnapped from her Tucson, Ariz., home in the early morning hours by a masked man seen in surveillance footage who appeared to be tampering with her doorbell camera.

Briana Whitney; Savannah and Nancy Guthrie.Crime Junkie/Youtube; Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Crime journalist Briana Whitney joined Ashley Flowers on the Crime Junkie podcast, where she revealed what the first ransom note said.

Whitney read aloud from the note: “Hello, Savannah. We have your mother, Nancy. She is safe but scared. She will be held for ransom, and once payment is received, she will be released unharmed. We will be holding her for a maximum of seven days.”

Annie Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie, and Camron Guthrie.Savannah Guthrie/Instagram

Whitney said the note went on to demand the millions of dollars stated in U.S. currency and provided two deadlines. Sources previously told PEOPLE it specified two separate sums: $4 million in bitcoin due Thursday, Feb. 5, and if that was not met, an increased demand of $6 million by Monday, Feb. 9.

“Once payment is received to the Bitcoin address below, she will be released within 12 hours of deposit to a safe drop off location back in Tucson,” Whitney continued, reading aloud.

“If the payment is not received by the last deadline on Monday the 9th at 5 p.m., she will be killed. Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands. It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible. You will not be able to contact me from here on out. There will be no negotiation. Do not play games. Law enforcement will not be able to help you,” Whitney read.

At the end of the note, the sender included additional details about Nancy’s home, Whitney said.

“They said she had a white smartwatch that was on the floor near her bed, like at the foot of her bed, and that there was a floodlight in the backyard that had been destroyed,” she said.

Whitney added that the FBI is still investigating whether the note is legitimate.

PEOPLE’s request for comment from the FBI was not immediately returned. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department, the lead investigative agency in the case, said it has “no additional information to provide at this time.”

Whitney’s reporting on the note comes after a June 22 NBC News report revealed that the second ransom note sent to the Guthrie family and various media outlets claimed that Nancy, 84, was dead.

While the note indicated that she had died, it didn’t contain an apology or a request for payment for the release of her body, per NBC News.

Savannah, 54, was emotional on the Today show amid reports about the second ransom note. “I wanted to just take the opportunity to ask people, really to beg people, to come forward. Somebody knows something,” she said at the time.

“This is a new story that today is on your radar, but this is the life that my sister lives, that I live, that my brother lives, that our extended families live, that our children live every day. And we are in agony and we cannot be at peace.”

Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie, on the ‘Today’ set in 2023.Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

“No matter how much I try to come out here every day and to smile and find that joy — and I will, I promise I will — this is a moment to tell you that we need your help,” she continued. “We’re begging for your help. And I’m not gonna miss that opportunity.”

Savannah returned as co-anchor on April 6. Her former co-anchor, Hoda Kotb, stepped in to host alongside Craig Melvin during the two months that Savannah was away.

In June, Savannah joined Jenna Bush Hager on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle, and she was candid about her struggles since her return to Today in April.

“I cry every morning on the way to work, and I cry every morning on the way home,” she admitted. “I’m grateful to have good friends and to be able to come to such a beautiful and joyous and supportive place. Like so many people out there, you can hold all of these things together.”

“I try to tell my kids that too. We can hold our sadness and we can hold our joy. And if you don’t believe it, just watch me.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 and 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

SOURCE: https://people.com/nancy-guthrie-ransom-notes-report-details-12004812