An unnamed individual who claims to possess video of an alleged kidnapper with 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie sent a new letter to TMZ on Friday, but refused to hand over the footage, telling the outlet that metadata embedded in the file could be used to track them down.

The letter marks the latest in a string of anonymous contacts TMZ has received since Guthrie vanished from her Arizona home on February 1. This time, the sender says a phone stored in a "secure location" holds video of Guthrie on what the sender described as "the day that was probably her last," along with photos of "both involved" and their "names, addresses and age." The price for the password: Bitcoin.

It is the same email address and the same Bitcoin wallet as the person who first contacted TMZ weeks into Guthrie's disappearance. And it arrives days after a ransom note, reported by NewsNation, stated that Guthrie was "buried in nature," citing sources close to the investigation.

What the letter claims, and what it withholds

TMZ executive producer Charles Latibeaudiere described the letter's contents on NewsNation's "Elizabeth Vargas Reports." The sender, he said, claims two kidnappers were directly involved, and that the video shows the "main guy."

"He says there are two people who are directly two kidnappers who were directly connected to this and they're the only ones who would know besides him, I guess, where Nancy's body is at this point."

Latibeaudiere also said the sender claims the video shows Guthrie with one of the kidnappers on her final day. But the sender will not send the footage, will not share a still image, and will not provide a way for TMZ to reach him.

"There's never any email for us to contact him. So we're basically just waiting whenever he decides he wants to to send these emails to us."

That one-way communication channel leaves TMZ, and, by extension, the FBI, entirely at the sender's mercy. There is no way to verify the claims, no way to authenticate the alleged video, and no way to press the sender for details. The metadata excuse is convenient. It may also be a tell.

Latibeaudiere added that the FBI has told TMZ there are "certain things" the bureau does not want shared publicly at this point. He did not elaborate on what those things are.

A pattern of anonymous letters, and zero proof

This is not the first anonymous communication TMZ has fielded. The Washington Examiner reported that TMZ has received at least four notes from a man claiming to know Guthrie's whereabouts. A previous note demanded $50,000 in Bitcoin in exchange for the name of the primary kidnapping suspect. The anonymous tipster has also claimed to have a criminal record from a burglary ten years ago, which he cited as the reason he fears coming forward.

TMZ founder Harvey Levin has publicly urged the sender to provide verifiable information. In one earlier exchange, Levin told Newsmax he offered to act as an intermediary between the tipster and the FBI.

"If you're worried about getting this money, and you really do have this information, send it to us.... We will forward it to the FBI."

In another instance, Levin warned the sender directly: "If you are not real, you're committing a crime. But if you are (legitimate), send us the information. We will pass it on to the FBI."

So far, none of the letters has produced actionable evidence. No video. No photograph. No name. Just claims, demands for cryptocurrency, and excuses for withholding proof.

The case has drawn intense national attention, in part because Guthrie is the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie. The anonymous emailer's Bitcoin demands have only deepened public frustration with the lack of progress.

The FBI's massive, and so far fruitless, search

Authorities believe Nancy Guthrie was taken from her Arizona home against her will. The FBI has thrown considerable resources at the case. The Associated Press reported that several hundred detectives and agents are now assigned to the investigation, combing desert terrain in the Tucson area for clues. Surveillance footage released by the bureau shows a masked person wearing a gun holster and backpack attempting to cover a doorbell camera on Guthrie's porch. That footage generated more than 4,000 tips.

The FBI described the suspect as a male approximately 5'9" to 5'10" with an average build, carrying a black 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack. The bureau increased its reward from $50,000 to $100,000 for information leading to Guthrie's location or the arrest of those involved.

Yet for all that manpower and all those tips, the investigation has produced no arrests. A man detained near the U.S.-Mexico border was released after questioning with no confirmed connection to the disappearance, the AP reported, a setback that left the case's direction unclear.

One of the anonymous letters claimed Guthrie was spotted "south of the border." Breitbart reported that TMZ received a note alleging the sender saw Guthrie in Mexico five days prior and was told to "shut up" about it. That claim, like the others, remains unverified.

President Trump weighed in publicly, warning the kidnappers they face the death penalty if Guthrie is not returned alive. "If she is killed, I will be instructing the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty," Trump said.

Unanswered questions keep piling up

The Nancy Guthrie case now stretches months past her February 1 disappearance, and fundamental questions remain unanswered. Who is the masked figure on the porch camera? Are the anonymous letters from someone with genuine knowledge, or from an opportunist running a Bitcoin scam against a grieving family and a desperate public?

The FBI has not publicly stated whether it considers the letter sender credible. The bureau's instruction to TMZ to withhold "certain things" suggests investigators may be working angles they do not want compromised, or it may simply reflect standard caution in a high-profile case with no solid leads.

Local law enforcement has faced its own scrutiny. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos admitted to withholding information in the case as public pressure mounted, raising questions about coordination between local and federal investigators.

The metadata excuse offered by the latest letter sender deserves particular skepticism. Stripping metadata from a digital photo or video is not difficult. Free tools exist for exactly that purpose. A sender sophisticated enough to use Bitcoin and to understand metadata tracking should be sophisticated enough to scrub a file before sending it. The refusal to do so suggests the sender either does not possess the evidence claimed, or has reasons for withholding it that have nothing to do with self-protection.

Meanwhile, the Guthrie family waits. An 84-year-old woman remains missing. FBI Director Patel has confronted the Pima County sheriff over the handling of the abduction, a sign that even within law enforcement, confidence in the investigation's trajectory is not universal.

Bitcoin demands and dead ends

The repeated demand for Bitcoin payment follows a pattern familiar to cybercrime investigators: anonymous contact, unverifiable claims, cryptocurrency as the only acceptable payment, and an ever-shifting set of promises. Whether this is a kidnapper, an accomplice, or a con artist exploiting a tragedy, the result is the same, distraction, delay, and no closer to finding Nancy Guthrie.

Latibeaudiere's description of the arrangement captures the absurdity. TMZ cannot contact the sender. The sender controls the timing, the terms, and the information flow. The FBI has told TMZ to hold back details. And the public is left watching a slow-motion standoff between an entertainment outlet and an anonymous emailer while hundreds of federal agents search the Arizona desert.

None of this is how a serious investigation should work. Tips should flow to law enforcement, not to celebrity news sites. Witnesses should cooperate with the FBI, not negotiate Bitcoin ransoms through intermediaries. And after months of searching, the American public deserves more than anonymous letters, unverified claims, and excuses about metadata.

An 84-year-old woman was taken from her home. The people who know what happened owe her more than a password behind a paywall.