Video Message from Guthrie Family to Mom's Captor Had Line from "The Silence of the Lambs"

What this episode is about

The Guthrie family recently shared a video message to their mother, Nancy, who is believed to be a kidnapping victim, which included a phrase eerily reminiscent of a line from the movie "The Silence of the Lambs." This strange choice of wording has raised questions about whether it was influenced by law enforcement, a signal from the captor, or simply the family's decision under distress, as online sleuths highlight its connection to the film's themes of abduction and investigation.

Key takeaways

• A seemingly benign family message may be veiled communication shaped by kidnapper tactics or law enforcement strategies.
• The phrase 'talk to her and you'll see' echoes a horror classic, raising chilling questions about intention and influence.
• FBI tactics in hostage negotiations might blend with pop culture, where filmmakers consult pros for eerily accurate scripts.
• The Guthrie family's scripted message sparks debate: genuine emotion or orchestrated plea? Public perception hangs in the balance.
• Pop culture references in high-stakes crises illustrate how language bridges fear and familiarity—intentional or not, it impacts.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Megyn Kelly (Guest) · 11 min speaking
• Ashley Banfield (Guest) · 5 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Savannah Guthrie, Silence of the Lambs, Ruth Martin, Fire Marshall Bill
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Silence of the Lambs, Ruth Martin, Ashley Banfield, Catherine Martin
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Silence of the Lambs
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Ashley Banfield
5. 12:00 – 15:00: Savannah Guthrie, Birch Gold Group

Notable quotes from "Video Message from Guthrie Family to Mom's Captor Had Line from "The Silence of the Lambs""

• We showed you earlier this week the Instagram message that Savannah and her siblings posted to their mother and to her suspected capttors. They dropped it on Wednesday evening and we talked about how it was strange. This is not a.

  about Savannah Guthrie · at 0:00

• Martin. Catherine, the daughter, has been kidnapped by Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who skins his female victims. In the scene where the phrase talk to her and you'll see is…

  about Silence of the Lambs · at 2:41

• Drop Deadad Serious podcast host and long-term crime reporter among other kinds of reporting, Ashley Banfield.

  about Ashley Banfield · at 4:45

• Made its way into Savannah's script too in quite the similar manner. very astute because in fact Jonathan Demi who created Silence of the Lambs did confer with the FBI did have…

  about Jonathan Demme · at 5:42

• Message and also made a 9-second phone call to some member of the Guthrie family who was just a fraudster. He had nothing to do with the other ransom notes per law enforcement…

  about Derek Calla · at 10:54

• There is a never- ending list of reasons that gold has risen over 700% in the last 20 years. And a never- ending list of reasons smart Americans diversify a portion of their…

  about Birch Gold Group · at 14:05

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Savannah Guthrie — Person · Referenced family member / public-facing spokesperson · 3 mentions · first at 0:02
  Her Instagram post and participation in the family video are scrutinized for unusual wording/capitalization and potential law-enforcement scripting.
• Ashley Banfield — Person · Main guest / referenced expert commentator · 2 mentions · first at 4:50
  Brought on to analyze the eerie similarity to Silence of the Lambs phrasing and discuss FBI playbook possibilities and case developments.
• Ruth Martin — Person · Fictional public official referenced as comparison · 3 mentions · first at 2:39
  Her on-air plea in The Silence of the Lambs is compared to the Guthrie family’s message, suggesting possible FBI-informed hostage-communication tropes.
  The scene where the phrase talk to her and you'll see is used, it's the kidnapping victim's mother, Senator Ruth Martin, sending a message to her daughter's captor. Watch our top story for this morning.
• Catherine Martin — Person · Fictional kidnapping victim referenced as comparison · 1 mention · first at 3:54
  Her storyline in The Silence of the Lambs is used to contextualize the phrase 'Talk to her and you’ll see' and why it drew attention online.
  Starling is investigating the kidnapping of Katherine Martin, the 25-year-old daughter of the fictional senator Ruth Martin. Catherine, the daughter, has been kidnapped by Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who skins his female victims. In.
• Derek Calla — Person · Referenced suspect (alleged fraudster in separate ransom attempt) · 5 mentions
  Mentioned as the person arrested for allegedly sending ransom demands via text/phone to family members, described as unrelated to the main ransom notes.
• Fire Marshall Bill — Person · Fictional antagonist referenced (film context) · 2 mentions · first at 2:44
  Named as the kidnapper/serial killer in The Silence of the Lambs; referenced to explain the origin and meaning of the quoted line.
  Daughter of the fictional senator Ruth Martin. Catherine, the daughter, has been kidnapped by Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who skins his female victims. In the scene where the…
• Jonathan Demme — Person · Referenced filmmaker (film production context) · 4 mentions
  Cited to support the claim that The Silence of the Lambs production consulted with the FBI, implying the phrasing could reflect real hostage-negotiation guidance.
• Jodie Foster — Person · Referenced actor (film context) · 1 mention · first at 2:31
  Identified as the actor who plays Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, which is central to the phrase comparison discussed.
  Movie's about. Most of but some of our audience is younger and may not. The main character, Clarice Starling, is played by Jodie Foster.
• John Douglas — Person · Referenced expert (FBI profiler) connected to film consultation · 1 mention · first at 5:50
  Named as a famous profiler who worked on The Silence of the Lambs, reinforcing the idea of an FBI 'playbook' influencing both the film and possibly the family messaging.
  Investigators with the FBI and agents with the FBI actually consult on the movie. John Douglas, one of the most famous profilers worked on Silence of the Lamb. So, it's…

Books & papers

• Silence of the Lambs — Book · Referenced work · 4 mentions · first at 2:20
  The book is referenced in the context of a kidnapping case, drawing parallels between a fictional scenario and a real-life event.

Media & podcasts

• Contagion — Media · Referenced work · 1 mention · first at 5:06
  The movie is referenced to draw parallels between its fictional pandemic scenario and real-life events during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Something much in the way if you ever watched that movie Contagion during the pandemic, starring Matt Damon. It had what the CDC would do in the case of a pandemic. So exact…

Sponsors

• Birch Gold Group — Product · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 14:16
  The product is mentioned as a sponsor in the podcast, promoting gold investment as a strategy during economic uncertainty.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 We showed you earlier this week the Instagram message that Savannah and her siblings posted to their mother uh and to her suspected capttors. They dropped it on Wednesday evening and we talked about how it was strange. This is not a judgment of how they handled themselves. This is an observation about the odd messaging and whether it means something, whether it was potentially directed by the kidnapper to be an acknowledgement of of something. It was just so odd in the way it was presented and phrased. And that could have been completely just at law enforcement's direction for reasons we don't understand or it could have been some sort of a signal that was asked for by a kidnapper or it could have just been the family's choices while under duress. We don't know but we're trying to figure out what we can.

0:55 This part in particular is coming back to surface and we'll explain why and pay particularly close attention to the ending. Watch. On behalf of our family, we want to thank all of you for the prayers for our beloved mom, Nancy. We feel them and we continue to believe that she feels them, too. Our mom is a kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light. She's funny, spunky, and clever. She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses. She loves fun and adventure.

1:50 She is a devoted friend. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you'll see. Talk to her and you'll see. It's kind of an interesting phrase. And notice how Savannah's sister Annie seems to take a deep breath at that very moment. It sounds like a phrase we might have heard before. And online sleuths confirm indeed we probably have. They discovered that line is from the 1991 horror crime film Silence of the Lambs. Before we play the clip, let me tell you what the movie's about. Most of you know, but some of our audience is younger and may not. The main character, Clarice Starling, is played by Jodie Foster.

2:35 Starling is investigating the kidnapping of Katherine Martin, the 25-year-old daughter of the fictional senator Ruth Martin. Catherine, the daughter, has been kidnapped by Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who skins his female victims. In the scene where the phrase talk to her and you'll see is used, it's the kidnapping victim's mother, Senator Ruth Martin, sending a message to her daughter's captor. Watch

3:03 our top story for this morning. Katherine Martin, the 25-year-old daughter of Senator Ruth Martin, listed first as a missing person, is now believed to have been kidnapped by the serial killer known only as Buffalo Bill. Memphis police sources indicate that the missing girl's blouse has been identified, sliced up the back in what has become a kind of grim, all too familiar calling card. Young Katherine Martin, as we've said, is the only daughter of US Senator Ruth Martin, the Republican junior senator from Tennessee. And while her kidnapping is not at this point considered to be politically motivated, nevertheless, it has stirred the government to its highest levels. Reach for comment on the ski slopes of Stow, Vermont, the president himself said to be, and I quote, intensely concerned. Just moments ago, Senator Martin takes this dramatic personal plea.

3:49 I'm speaking now to the person who is holding my daughter. Catherine is very gentle and kind. Talk to her and you'll see.

4:04 You heard that right at the end. Let's watch him back to back. She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you'll see. I'm speaking now to the person who is holding my daughter. Katherine is very gentle and kind. Talk to her and you'll see. Both reference how kind the person is and end with talk to her and you'll see. Now, we're not the only ones who noticed this and it's getting a lot of attention on social media today. Um, it is one of many, many, many developments that we need to go through. We're going to try to unpack what this means and more with Drop Deadad Serious podcast host and long-term crime reporter among other kinds of reporting, Ashley Banfield.

4:52 Ashley, welcome back. It is an eerie similarity and the choice of words could be completely coincidental or it might not be. It could be something the FBI suggested, you know, something much in the way if you ever watched that movie Contagion during the pandemic, uh, starring Matt Damon. It had what the CDC would do in the case of a pandemic. So exact, you knew that there was definitely a playbook from which the CDC had behaved and that they had shared that playbook with the filmmakers in this movie that was made long before the COVID pandemic. And it did make me wonder whether in preparing Silence of the Lambs, the filmmakers consulted with an FBI hostage negotiator, that kind of person who gave them the kind of messaging that they would typically give the the family members of a kidnap victim and it made its way into the script. And it may have made its way into Savannah's script too in quite the similar manner. very astute

5:48 because in fact Jonathan Demi who created Silence of the Lambs did confer with the FBI did have multiple investigators with the FBI and agents with the FBI actually consult on the movie. John Douglas, one of the most famous profilers worked on Silence of the Lamb. So, it's entirely possible that there is an age-old playbook um with all sorts of options and suggestions for agents to use when trying to make communications like this. And we were told by the FBI that they were working in concert with the Guthrie family as they should be um to help guide them through this extraordinary process. They were very careful also to say that in the end all scripting is up to the final decision of the family um you know who's going to read it which is obvious. But the guidance uh was was clearly annotated yesterday uh when they said that they were there. we saw them go in with the ring light and the um

6:43 Apple tripod uh the iPhone tripod to help set up the actual shoot for them as well. So, it's it's maybe not that surprising that perhaps pieces of a of an FBI playbook were used maybe unknowingly to the agents today that had been used, you know, decades ago in the creation of Silence of the Lambs. H it does make you wonder what else in the messaging that we've heard from the family because of course last night Cameron Guthrie the the brother of Savannah and Andy issuing his own direct to camera statement just him without the sisters and in in both of the video messages and in Savannah's Instagram post that was written which preceded both of these video messages.

7:30 There's just there are odd phrases that really have us wondering whether they have had more communication with a potential kidnapper than they're letting on, which would be totally appropriate. Obviously, they're not going to tell all of us everything that's happening. But her Instagram post sounded a little unlike Savannah. For for one thing, Ashley, it was not capitalized, which okay, it's it's a social media thing. You could make the case that a lot of people don't capitalize, but Savannah normally does. She does normally capitalize. We went back and checked her Instagram and her Twitter and much like yours truly and I imagine you too, most journalists would capitalize. We're not 20 and we're just sort of in the business. So, it's like we pay attention to those things.

8:17 But on this post of all posts, like the most important post of her life to date, this is the one that came out the night before the video of the three siblings. She posted on Tuesday evening, this is all without caps, even at the beginning of the very first sentence. We believe in prayer. We believe in voices raised in unison, in love, in hope. We believe in goodness. We believe in humanity. Above all, we believe in him. Him is capitalized. Nothing else is. Thank you. Again, the beginning of a sentence not capitalized. um for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy. The mentioning of her name, clearly that was suggested by law enforcement trying to get her name humanized her. Nancy, Nancy, she has a name. She she has kids. Uh and goes on and on. And then it ends with a quote, a Bible quote, and then listen to how she cites cites it. She she writes in quotes, "He," that's capitalized, "will

9:13 keep in perfect peace those whose hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord." Lord is capitalized. End quote. A verse of Isaiah for all time, for all of us. Bring her home. You know Savannah. I know Savannah, too. That doesn't sound like her. A verse of Isaiah for all time, for all of us. I don't know whether this is all coded, Ashley, but the messages are being very carefully coordinated, it seems to me, and may just be what law enforcement is telling them or could be responsive to some sort of a demand.

9:47 Well, you know, Savannah is actually pretty spiritual. Um, I'm not sure that she would have written the message. She's very spiritual. She wrote a whole book about but but the phrasiology out of the quote a verse of Isaiah for all time for all of us.

10:03 You know what that also could be is for her mom because um mom is very faithful. Mom goes to church and that might have been something uh again if we are to believe that this ransom effort is even true. I have my serious doubts about it. And yesterday the FBI uh said something in the press conference that I picked up on very quickly. They were asked about the deadlines. the second deadline and the FBI agent said in a normal kidnapping case

10:28 there would be contact by now. Um they have to take it seriously and it's why it's prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and the guy that they pulled in in California is going to have the book thrown at him. I think it's 8 to 10 is a minimum there for prison because it is uh

10:44 just FYI for those who who didn't listen to AM update uh there was a separate man who was arrested this morning or yesterday morning for for demanding a ransom of Annie and Tomas via text message and also made a 9-second phone call to some member of the Guthrie family who was just a fraudster. He had nothing to do with the other ransom notes per law enforcement nor with this case at all. We believe he was just trying to glom on to someone's tragedy and torture the family further and he's now under arrest. Keep going.

11:10 Yeah, that's Derek Ka Caya, I don't know, C A L L E L L A uh allegedly now charged in this and very seriously too. That's interstate commerce when you use the lines like that, using email, using phone lines to cross state lines and also and you know interfering with law enforcement. There's all sorts of things that could throw the book at him for that. But I would I would without question expect some prison time for this guy if he's guilty of these crimes. But, you know, to hear in the other notes, cuz there it's a little complicated, right? There's a note to TMZ, there an email, there's an email to TMZ, there's emails to two television uh stations that are local in Arizona, and then there's this one that was communicated directly to the family and cor communicated directly to Savannah sister Annie and her husband Thomas. So, um that is fascinating to hear though that they are focusing on the emailed um

12:00 ransom notes, but they also indicated not very clearly but slightly clearly in the press conference that those three that went to the outlets seem to be from the same person and they noted a couple of things.

12:12 They did for the first time say that they're identical. For the first time, the FBI confirmed in response to a question that they it is the same note. Um Jim Fitzgerald who's been on with us every day formerly of the FBI has said that's the one one thing he really wanted to know was was it exactly the same, you know, or could there have been like some sort of a copycat or did they for some reason the FBI yesterday said all three the same?

12:32 I have my questions about the details in them as well because the there were details released yesterday about flood lights, broken flood lights potentially. Um

12:40 wait, stand by. I definitely want to get into that. I do. But let me just finish up on the messaging from the family. Then I want to talk about your exclusive reporting and then I definitely want to get into these notes because they're they they're very interesting. Um, one other thing on the messaging. We noticed that I mean the family I think is being very disciplined on exactly what it says and how it says it. We we talked yesterday about how very clearly Savannah Guthrie knows how to speak at ease directly to camera unscripted. She chose not to do that. Quite clearly they're being really careful about if somebody's got her, not triggering him, saying what needs to be said to reach him in the best way possible to actually get a response. You know, they they're desperate. You can see in the family's messaging for interaction with this person if he exists and has their mom, you know.

13:28 Yeah. Exactly. I want proof of life and they're they're desperate to have a communication because very clearly Harvey Leven made this clear yesterday on on various appearances. The the ransom note said Thursday night is your first deadline and Harvey suggested Monday is your second deadline. And it certainly sounds like if they didn't meet the Thursday night deadline, the price was going up or the consequence

13:47 and by Monday was yeah the price or the consequence some sort of negative consequence.

13:52 And then and then by Monday they were suggesting without saying it that that's when you know they said that would be the end for her. That was that was the clear implication. International disputes, inflation, rising national debt, digital currency. There is a never- ending list of reasons that gold has risen over 700% in the last 20 years. And a never- ending list of reasons smart Americans diversify a portion of their savings into precious metals with Birch Gold Group. Gold can thrive during uncertainty, which is why it's a crucial part of a balanced strategy. It gives you peace of mind given all the events that could impact the US economy. See if holding gold in a tax sheltered retirement account is right for you.

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Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Video Message from Guthrie Family to Mom's Captor Had Line from "The Silence of the Lambs""?

Megyn Kelly (Guest), Ashley Banfield (Guest).

What is "Video Message from Guthrie Family to Mom's Captor Had Line from "The Silence of the Lambs"" about?

The Guthrie family recently shared a video message to their mother, Nancy, who is believed to be a kidnapping victim, which included a phrase eerily reminiscent of a line from the movie "The Silence of the Lambs." This strange choice of wording has raised questions about whether it was influenced by law enforcement, a signal from the captor, or simply the family's decision under distress, as…

What is mentioned in this Megyn Kelly episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Savannah Guthrie, Silence of the Lambs, Ashley Banfield, Ruth Martin, Catherine Martin, Contagion. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Video Message from Guthrie Family to Mom's Captor Had Line from "The Silence of the Lambs""?

The episode runs 15 min; the transcript is about 2,685 words in 26 timestamped sections.

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