Man gets probation for fake ransom note to missing woman’s family

Derrick Callella, 42, of Hawthorne, California, pleaded guilty in federal court in Tucson on July 2 to two counts tied to a false ransom demand sent to the family of missing Arizona woman Nancy Guthrie. He received five years of probation, and U.S. District Judge John C. Hinderaker set formal sentencing for September 10.

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing by her family on February 1, 2026. The FBI says the 84-year-old was last seen the evening of January 31 at her home in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood of Tucson, and agents have described her as a vulnerable adult who has difficulty walking, has a pacemaker and needs daily medication for a heart condition. The bureau first offered a reward of up to $50,000 and later increased it to as much as $100,000 for information leading to her location and the arrest and conviction of anyone involved.

According to federal prosecutors, Callella admitted he called and texted two family members on February 4, then made a brief phone call minutes later, asking about a bitcoin transfer. Investigators traced the messages back to him, and prosecutors said he knew an earlier ransom demand had already been made. Callella also told investigators he had been following the case on television and found the family’s contact information online, then sent the messages to see whether they would respond.

That admission put a criminal label on one of the most corrosive parts of the Guthrie case: a hoax that could not bring answers, but could still force investigators to chase down false hope. The FBI said in a July 2026 update that some ransom notes connected to the disappearance had already been dismissed as extortion attempts without legitimacy, while other demands were still being examined as potentially real. Separating the admitted fake note from anything that might have had substance became part of the work of the case itself.

Early in the investigation, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said Guthrie’s home was being treated as a crime scene and that authorities believed she had been taken against her will. Pima County also imposed temporary no-parking restrictions in the Catalina Foothills Estates neighborhood because of heavy media and social-media streamer activity near the residence. Callella’s plea resolved only the fake ransom note, not the disappearance that drew it in the first place.