The catastrophic mistake Nancy Guthrie investigation suffered in its early days: report

Officials searching for Nancy Guthrie made a major mistake in the early days of the investigation, according to a new report.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI allegedly blew a chance to find the 84-year-old’s kidnappers in early February, sources told Air Mail.

The outlet claimed Saturday that on Feb. 1, hours after Savannah Guthrie’s mom was reported missing from her Arizona home, a potentially credible ransom note was sent — as was reported by media outlets at the time.

The alleged kidnappers, who provided accurate details about Nancy’s outfit at the time of her disappearance, and the damaged floodlight in her Tucson backyard, requested $4 million in Bitcoin by Feb. 5.

The note, which reportedly dubbed Nancy “safe but scared,” ended with the words, “Or else.”

Instead of paying the full sum and potentially tracking down the kidnapper when the Bitcoin was turned into cash — and giving the money back to the Guthrie family — officials used a “tickling the wire” tactic.

Investigators sent $152 to the Bitcoin address, hoping this amount would be withdrawn and present them with new leads.

This move, however, did not “tempt” the alleged kidnapper, who was captured in chilling security camera footage from Nancy’s home, and the Bitcoin sat untouched.

On Feb. 6, an email from the same I.P. address arrived and, according to sources close to the case, read as “sputtering,” “labored” and “less confident” than the last.

The individual shared an “apology” for Nancy’s inadvertent death, as well as a request that a ransom payment be made for the return of her body.

The outlet claimed, “The task force had to throw up their hands in dismay and concede that … nothing in the collections of carefully analyzed notes had gotten them any closer to finding the culprits. … It was too late. The damage had been done.”

Savannah and her siblings, Camron Guthrie and Annie Guthrie, addressed the bleak ransom note in an Instagram plea the following day.

“We received your message and understand,” the NBC personality said. “We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

Later that same month, she acknowledged her mom’s probable passing in another social media video.

“We know that she may be lost,” the news anchor said at the time. “She may already be gone. She may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in Heaven with her mom and her dad and with her beloved brother Pierce and with our daddy.”

When Savannah gave her first interview on the tragedy to colleague Hoda Kotb in March, she spoke to the veracity of the ransom notes received.

“I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real,” she said.

She has since returned to her “Today” show duties with co-host Craig Melvin, honoring her still-missing mom with a yellow dress on her first day back.

Savannah recently acknowledged Nancy’s absence while tearing up on air, admitting, “I cry every morning on the way to work and I cry every morning on the way home.”

The search for Nancy has passed the five-month mark.