{"id":19704,"date":"2026-06-13T22:31:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T22:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=19704"},"modified":"2026-06-13T22:31:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T22:31:23","slug":"he-sent-a-bitcoin-message-to-a-missing-womans-family-what-police-found-next-is-even-more-disturbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=19704","title":{"rendered":"He Sent a Bitcoin Message to a Missing Womans Family What Police Found Next Is Even More Disturbing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"qMYqUG_convSearchResultHighlightRoot\">\n<div class=\"\" data-turn-id-container=\"request-WEB:c39541d7-1086-46b1-a05b-f4c960529564-2\" data-is-intersecting=\"true\">\n<section class=\"text-token-text-primary w-full focus:outline-none has-data-writing-block:pointer-events-none [&amp;:has([data-writing-block])&gt;*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]\" dir=\"auto\" data-turn-id=\"request-WEB:c39541d7-1086-46b1-a05b-f4c960529564-2\" data-turn-id-container=\"request-WEB:c39541d7-1086-46b1-a05b-f4c960529564-2\" data-testid=\"conversation-turn-6\" data-scroll-anchor=\"false\" data-turn=\"assistant\">\n<div class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto pb-10 [--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-xs,calc(var(--spacing)*4))] @w-sm\/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-sm,calc(var(--spacing)*6))] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-lg,calc(var(--spacing)*16))] px-(--thread-content-margin)\">\n<div class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\" data-conversation-screenshot-content=\"\">\n<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col gap-4 grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal outline-none keyboard-focused:focus-ring [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-1\" dir=\"auto\" tabindex=\"0\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"6985638c-b67e-49c3-8cd2-1b2979203c01\" data-turn-start-message=\"true\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-5-3-mini\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert wrap-break-word w-full light markdown-new-styling\">\n<p data-start=\"80\" data-end=\"271\">A California man, <strong data-start=\"98\" data-end=\"118\">Derrick Callella<\/strong>, was arrested after sending fake Bitcoin ransom texts to the family of <strong data-start=\"190\" data-end=\"207\">Nancy Guthrie<\/strong>, an 84-year-old woman who went missing from her Arizona home.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"273\" data-end=\"601\">The messages appeared to demand cryptocurrency and briefly included a follow-up phone call, causing panic for the already distressed family. Authorities later traced the messages to Callella, who allegedly admitted he found the family\u2019s contact information online and sent the texts after following media coverage of the case.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"603\" data-end=\"867\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Investigators confirmed the messages were <strong data-start=\"645\" data-end=\"698\">not linked to the actual kidnapping investigation<\/strong>, but were instead an opportunistic hoax. Callella was charged with transmitting false ransom demands across state lines and attempting to exploit a missing-person case.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"z-0 flex min-h-[46px] justify-start\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 w-full empty:hidden\">\n<div class=\"text-center\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pointer-events-none -mt-px h-px translate-y-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom)-14*var(--spacing))]\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>A California man, Derrick Callella, was arrested after sending fake Bitcoin ransom texts to the family of Nancy Guthrie, an 84-year-old woman who went missing <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/?p=19704\" title=\"He Sent a Bitcoin Message to a Missing Womans Family What Police Found Next Is Even More Disturbing\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19706,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19704\/revisions\/19706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatswalk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}