'Comma splices' to 'smartwatch': Nancy Guthrie ransom notes show repeated writing quirks that may help identify suspect

Two messages believed to be linked to the suspected kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie may contain clues about who wrote them, a retired Colorado investigator Lisa Miller told Fox News. She said similarities in grammar, sentence construction, and word choices suggest both notes were probably written by the same person.

Guthrie, 84, is the mother of "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie. She was taken from her home in northern Tucson in the early hours of February 1 after a masked person was captured on doorbell camera footage outside the property.

Miller said the public release of the messages could help investigators by encouraging people to recognise the writer's unusual language patterns. She suggested that someone who knows the sender could notice similar writing in emails, letters or other communications.

'Comma splices' seen in both notes

One of the most distinctive features, Miller said, is the use of "comma splices", in which two complete sentences are joined with a comma instead of being separated by a full stop.

“We see it also again in the second note,” Miller was quoted as saying by Fox News. “So it's continuous between the two notes, which is one of the reasons why I believe this continuity more likely than not indicates this one author.”

The Pima County Sheriff's Department released the messages in July, six months after Guthrie's suspected abduction. Her whereabouts remain unknown, and authorities have urged the public to look for the sender's "unique linguistic style".

Miller said such details could help law enforcement seek information from people who may recognise the writing.

Unusual spelling and word combinations

The investigator also pointed to several other writing habits that appear in the notes. These include unusual "open compounds", where words that are normally written as a single word or hyphenated are separated.

"We're also seeing some open compounds through the notes," she said. “We see 'heart related,' that should be hyphenated by most people when they write that. We see smartwatch written as two words. Most people write that as one. Floodlight, we see that written as words. So that is a continuity that we're seeing between the two.”

Miller also said she did not believe the messages were generated using AI. She cited a typo and the lack of a consistently polished flow as reasons for her assessment.

Writer's 'idiolect' could offer further clues

Instead, Miller believes the unusual wording may reflect the author's personal communication style.

"There's something else, it's called idiolect," Miller explained. "Idiolect is our personal style of communication, and it can be affected by many things. The region we grew up in, neighborhoods we live in, slang that we've adopted."

She suggested that the writer's use of the word "perished" instead of "died" and the phrase "buried in nature" could be part of this individual linguistic style.

"They blame others," Miller said. "They blame, you know, the victim themselves. They distance themselves from that bad thing that they did."

Dates, ransom amount also highlighted

Miller said investigators and members of the public should also examine how the writer presented the ransom demand. She noted the use of both a dollar sign and "USD" to identify the amount, as well as the way dates and times were formatted.

"I would bring people from the public that are looking at these notes to look at that also, cause that's a distinction," she said.

Authorities have not confirmed whether the messages are genuine. However, Savannah Guthrie has said she believes they could be authentic, while investigators have also not ruled them out.