Just days after Nancy Guthrie vanished, a fake Bitcoin ransom scammer tried to exploit her family’s worst nightmare. Five months later, on July 2, Derrick Callella, a 42-year-old man from Hawthorne, California, pleaded guilty after prosecutors said he sent Bitcoin-related ransom messages to Nancy Guthrie’s family after she vanished and after an earlier ransom demand had already been made. Derrick Callella is expected to receive 5 years probation, not prison, when he is sentenced on Sept. 10.

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by former homicide prosecutor Matt Murphy, author of The Book of Murder and host of the podcast In The Well on MK True Crime, to discuss whether this punishment fits the crime and what the case could mean for scammers who target grieving families during active criminal investigations.

The Nancy Guthrie case just got even more confusing, as the FBI is now pushing back on reports that every alleged ransom note tied to Savannah Guthrie’s missing mother was fake. Reuters reported that FBI sources believe all of the ransom-related messages are bogus, but TMZ’s Harvey Levin says his FBI contacts are telling him something very different: that some of the original ransom demands may still be considered potentially legitimate. 

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the chaos over the Nancy Guthrie ransom notes, the FBI’s new statement saying the case is still being investigated as a kidnapping for ransom, the role of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, and why the alleged messages sent to media outlets have become such a critical and controversial part of the investigation. Ashleigh is joined by James Hamilton, former FBI Supervisory Special Agent and founder of Hamilton Security Group, to discuss how investigators evaluate ransom demands, why different FBI sources may be giving different assessments, and what this latest twist means for the search for Nancy Guthrie.

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Alex Murdaugh is heading back to court for a new murder trial in 2027, and one overlooked piece of evidence could become a major problem for prosecutors: unknown male DNA found under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernail. 

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the latest pretrial hearing in the Murdaugh murders case with Peter Tragos, host of The Lawyer You Know, including the defense’s argument that Alex Murdaugh’s orange jumpsuit and shackles could poison the jury pool before the retrial even begins, why mystery male DNA under Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernail may get new attention with modern testing, how much of Murdaugh’s financial crimes history jurors may hear, the Becky Hill jury tampering fallout, and whether Alex Murdaugh has a real shot at beating the murder charges this time around.

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A critical new detail in the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping mystery may help explain why investigators have been taking the first ransom note so seriously. According to new reporting from CBS, the first ransom note received on February 2, 2026, included a highly specific detail about Nancy Guthrie’s Apple Watch: that it had a white band and was on the floor of Nancy's bedroom. 

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Crime Junkie Breaking News Reporter, Brianna Whitney, who has seen the wording of the ransom notes and shares what stood out to her, including the strange language, the apology, and what it was like reporting on the Nancy Guthrie case in real time as the first clues were coming in.

Mackenzie Shirilla’s mother, Natalie Shirilla, is speaking out after Netflix’s The Crash reignited outrage over the deadly 2022 Ohio crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan. Mackenzie was 17 years old when prosecutors said she deliberately drove into a brick wall at 100 miles per hour, killing her boyfriend and friend. She was convicted in a bench trial and sentenced to 15 years to life, but Natalie insists the public still does not know the full story.

In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Chris Cuomo, who sat down for an exclusive interview with Natalie Shirilla and pressed her on the questions still surrounding her daughter’s case, from the crash evidence and trial strategy to Mackenzie’s prison interview, misconduct reports, and allegations about prison girlfriends.

Cuomo Crime Time:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6KWjsqGTmSn_Bcobk4sfIQ

EXCLUSIVE: Mackenzie Shirilla's Mom Speaks Out for the First Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07TLSVuNg8

The Nancy Guthrie case just took another disturbing turn after new reporting revealed the chilling words allegedly sent after the 84-year-old Tucson grandmother vanished: “Hello Savannah. We have your mother, Nancy.” In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield breaks down the latest Nancy Guthrie ransom note details, including the alleged apology, the claim that Nancy “perished shortly after she was taken,” and the bizarre phrase that she was “buried with nature.” Ashleigh is joined by retired homicide detective and Cold Case Foundation director Chris McDonough, who weighs in on why the ransom notes may not fit a typical kidnapping-for-ransom case, what the “porch guy” video may reveal about the abductor, and whether a new theory about how Nancy was targeted could open an entirely different path in the investigation.

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Chilling New Details: A body has been found in the search for missing Lexington, South Carolina woman Elena Moore, but the coroner says there was “nothing obvious” at first glance. We've also learned that Elena Moore’s husband spent 14 years as a local deputy before becoming a private investigator. Police said early in the investigation that he was not a person of interest. In this episode of Drop Dead Serious, Ashleigh Banfield is joined by Sergeant Vicki Rains, who was featured in Netflix’s hit true crime docuseries, Missing: Dead or Alive? Rains served for more than 20 years in law enforcement, including with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department’s Victims Services Unit. She weighs in on the unusual timeline, the strange Ring camera video showing Moore disoriented days before she disappeared, the husband’s law enforcement background, and the questions investigators still need to answer. 

Previous Video: https://youtu.be/aZ6UHHD29FU
Elena Katherine Moore, 39, was last seen on June 11 after signing in at Planet Fitness in Lexington. Surveillance later showed her walking near Publix on Old Cherokee Road wearing the same olive-green zip-up hoodie and black athletic pants she had on earlier that night. Days later, police said they found a body wearing similar clothing, but official identification and cause of death were still pending.