Ransom Letter Twist: A stunning new finding about ...

The three ransom notes and messages surrounding the Nancy Guthrie abduction case have reportedly been ruled fake, an FBI official told Reuters.

Nancy, the 84-year-old mom of Today’s Savannah Guthrie, was abducted from her Tucson, Ariz., home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, and in the months since, no official suspects have been identified.

Federal investigators have ruled the messages related to Nancy’s disappearance to be fake communications, per Reuters. This includes the two ransom notes received in February shortly after Nancy’s disappearance as well as the note recently received claiming to know the identities of Nancy’s kidnappers.

“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” the FBI official told Reuters. The official in question did not publicly identify themselves amid the ongoing investigation.

In a statement later Wednesday afternoon, FBI Phoenix said the agency and its partners have received “several” ransom notes over the course of the investigation, including some that they haven’t yet ruled out.

“Some have been deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy,” the statement reads. “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.”

According to the Reuters report, per the FBI official, the first two ransom notes were determined to have come from the same sender. The first note was sent to TMZ and demanded a sum in the millions in cryptocurrency. The second note, NBC News recently reported, claimed that Nancy had died shortly after being abducted.

After the news broke of the note claiming Nancy had died, Savannah addressed the situation on Today, noting that she has not been involved in any of the reporting on her mother’s case.

“But I can’t pretend I’m not here,” she added, tearfully. “And so since I am, I wanted to just take the opportunity to ask people, really to beg people, to come forward. Somebody knows something.”

To verify the authenticity of the notes, the FBI deposited a smaller amount of cryptocurrency in the account, but it was never touched, leading them to conclude that the account was fake, Reuters reported.

The FBI official did not explain how the agency determined that the third note claiming to identify Nancy’s abductors was deemed fake.

In response to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the claim that the ransom notes were fake, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which started the investigation into Nancy’s abduction, reiterated that the case is active and ongoing.

When asked about Reuters’ report at an unrelated press conference Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel declined to comment, saying the investigation was being led by state authorities and that the FBI was serving in an assisting role.

“The FBI has and will continue to offer all assistance possible in the investigation — however local authorities remain the lead,” the FBI Phoenix statement reads.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos confirmed Wednesday that his department has “received information regarding potential ransom notes related to” Guthrie’s kidnapping. “Every tip and lead is taken seriously and is forwarded directly to our detectives, who continue to work in coordination with the FBI,” he said.

During an emotional interview with Hoda Kotb in March, Savannah opened up about her thoughts on the notes.

“There are a lot of different notes, I think, that came. I think most of them — it’s my understanding — are not real. I didn’t see them,” Savannah said at the time. “But the person that would send a fake ransom note really has to look deeply at themselves to a family in pain. But I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real.”