Federal agents say 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie is still missing, and this first arrest offers no comfort. In Hawthorne, California, they quietly took Derrick Callella into custody, accusing him not of kidnapping, but of cruelty: sending a bogus ransom text to Nancy’s daughter and son-in-law, asking if they had “got the bitcoin.” Investigators say he later admitted using a VOIP app, just to see if the family would respond.
Callella, already previously named in an unemployment benefits theft case, now faces federal charges tied to harassment and fake ransom demands. Meanwhile, the real kidnappers — if they exist — remain in the shadows. The FBI is still treating an earlier bitcoin ransom note as potentially real, combing through tips as Savannah Guthrie pleads for proof her mother is alive. A $50,000 reward stands, and a family waits in agonizing uncertainty.
