BS Summary: This video contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Loss Aversion, Recency Bias, and Availability Heuristic, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 30.4% saturation with 183 hits. Analysis detected 797 faulty-reasoning hits from 601 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 49.2% and a BS Rank of 58% (10,703 of 25,189 videos). This video is worse (more manipulative) than 57.50% of the video peer group.
Tonight the Pima County Sheriff's Office for the first time releasing the two ransom notes that were sent to local news outlets in the days following Nancy Guthrie's abduction on February 1st.
The first note, which was sent one day after she was taken, begins with this chilling message.
Hello Savannah, we have your mother Nancy.
She is safe but scared.
She will be held for ransom and once payment is received she will be released unharmed.
It goes on to give the demand, $4 million in USD before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday the 5th or 6 million by 5:00 p.m. on Monday the 9th.
The note says if the payment is received she will be released within 12 hours of deposit to a safe drop-off location back in Tucson, but says if it is not she will be killed.
Your mother is aware of this and her life is in your hands.
It is in the best interest of everyone to have this completed as soon as possible.
You will not be able to contact me from here on out.
There will be no negotiation.
Do not play games.
Law enforcement will not be able to help you.
The note ends with a Bitcoin link for the payment redacted by police and a final line.
She had a white smart watch on the floor of the foot of her bed and the white floodlight in backyard was destroyed, which you can see here on drone footage.
Savannah shared this video a day after reports of this note became public.
>> We too have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media.
As a family we are doing everything that we can.
We are ready to talk.
>> Two days later the alleged kidnapper sent the second note.
It says, we did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition.
We never intended to hurt her.
That was not our intention.
She perished shortly after she was taken.
We believe it was heart related.
She is buried in nature now.
Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome.
We want your family to know this and hope you all can find peace.
We are truly sorry.
The next day the family shared this.
>> We We your message and we understand.
We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her.
This is the only way we will have peace.
This is very valuable to us and we will [snorts] pay.
>> Tonight, 6 months since the abduction, the Pima County Sheriff's Office saying they're making the notes public now in a hope someone recognizes something in them and comes forward.
>> Liz is joining us live now and Liz to that point, officials really want people to take a close look at the notes, how they're written.
They are hoping for new leads.
>> Yeah, Holly, that's right.
The Sheriff's Department says that these notes reveal distinctive patterns of word choice, syntax, and phrasing and that they provide insight into the suspect's mindset and motives.
For instance, they do point out the evolution of the writer's tone.
There's definitely that shift between the first and second note.
Officials absolutely are hoping these clues could jump-start new tips that help them lead them either to Nancy or who is whoever is behind these notes, Holly.
>> We thank you for watching and remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch [snorts] live on our YouTube channel.
Analysis
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