LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A Los Angeles County man has pleaded guilty to false ransom demands in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie.
Derrick Calella is charged with two counts of telephone stalking.
His plea agreement in Tucson Federal Court calls for five years of probation on each count, to be served concurrently.
Federal prosecutors say a Hawthorne man sent two text messages and a phone call to Guthrie’s family shortly after the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie disappeared.
Calella is due back in court for sentencing in September and is currently being sent to inpatient drug treatment.
Savannah Guthrie last month made an emotional plea for viewers to come forward with any information about her missing mother, a day after it was revealed that a ransom note received months ago indicated she was dead.
“We are in agony and cannot be calm… We love our mother. We will never stop looking for her,” Guthrie said at the Today desk in New York, holding a napkin in her left hand.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, who lived alone, was reported missing from her Tucson-area home on February 1. More than a week later, the FBI released video from a camera near her front door showing a masked stranger. Her blood was found on the porch, but the case remains unsolved.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026 KABC Television LLC. All rights reserved.