All three kidnapping-related messages that have surfaced in news media reports about the disappearance of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s elderly mother have been deemed by federal investigators to be fake communications, an FBI official ​told Reuters on Tuesday.

The FBI assessment of inauthenticity pertains to the two ransom notes reported in early February, days after 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie vanished, and a third, more recent ‌message from someone claiming to know the kidnappers’ identities, the official said.

“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” the FBI official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of an active investigation.

A second law enforcement source familiar with the matter confirmed the FBI assessment of the ransom notes.

The disclosure that the FBI has discounted the veracity of the three notes – two of which were widely reported to have been communications from kidnappers – seemed to raise doubts ​about investigators’ fundamental premise that Nancy Guthrie was abducted for ransom to begin with.

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