Nancy Guthrie Update: How Annie Guthrie & Tommaso Cioni Were ‘Harrassed’ by Cruel ‘Imposter’

As the Nancy Guthrie investigation continues into its fifth month with no update on suspects, a California man has pleaded guilty to sending a phony ransom note and harassing the missing 84-year-old’s daughter, Annie Guthrie, and son-in-law, Tommaso Cioni.

According to the local NBC affiliate news outlet KVOA, 42-year-old Derrick Callella pleaded guilty to two felony counts for sending a ransom demand across state lines and using a telecommunications device to threaten or harass. He must serve five years of probation and is scheduled to be sentenced on September 10.

Nancy, who is also the mother of Today’s Savannah Guthrie, went missing on February 1, when police believe she was abducted from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Investigators have released doorbell camera footage of a masked suspect and sent DNA for testing at the FBI lab in Quantico, but no suspects have been named publicly.

Callella, from Hawthorne, California, was arrested within days of Nancy’s disappearance on harassment charges. He was accused of contacting Annie and Cioni from a spoofed phone number on February 4 and asking, “Did you get the bitcoin were [sic] waiting on our end for the transaction,” per Fox News Digital. He allegedly then placed a nine-second call to the family.

“Through the course of the investigation, it was found that Callella was acting as an imposter, trying to take advantage of the ongoing situation,” federal prosecutors said in a statement in mid-February.

The Justice Department noted that Callella was trying to capitalize on earlier ransom demands reported in the news. After he was arrested, he admitted to those accusations and that he meant “to harass the family by seeking information about the investigation into the missing person’s disappearance.”

Annie and her husband faced scrutiny early on in the case after police impounded Annie’s car. It remained in law enforcement custody for weeks, likely to collect DNA evidence. In March, it was reported that the vehicle was in the process of being returned to the family.

In a February press conference, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos ruled out any involvement from the Guthrie family. “To be clear… the Guthrie family, to include all siblings and spouses, has been cleared as possible suspects,” he said. “The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case. To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims, plain and simple.”

On Wednesday (July 1), the FBIPhoenix X account released a statement about the different ransom notes received throughout the investigation.

“The FBI and its task force partners have received several ransom notes over the course of this investigation,” the statement read. “Some have been deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy. Other ransom demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such. This case continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case.”