More than six months after Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home, investigators are seeing a new wave of information from the public — and authorities believe the recent release of two ransom notes may be responsible.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the Nancy Guthrie Task Force has experienced a “slight increase” in tips since investigators made the two communications public, giving detectives additional leads to examine in a case that has remained unresolved since February.

Nancy, the 84-year-old mother of “TODAY” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home in the Catalina Foothills near Tucson in the early hours of February 1. Investigators have said evidence from the residence led them to believe she was taken against her will.

The two notes now attracting renewed attention were sent only days after she vanished.

The first, dated February 2, demanded millions of dollars in Bitcoin in exchange for Nancy’s release. According to reports, the writer initially demanded $4 million and threatened to raise the amount if the payment was not made by a specified deadline.

A second message arrived on February 6 and presented a dramatically different story. Its writer claimed Nancy had died after being abducted and alleged that her death was connected to a medical condition. The message also claimed that she had been buried outdoors.

Those statements remain claims made by the anonymous writer — not established findings from investigators. Nancy remains missing, and authorities have not announced the discovery of her body.

What makes the notes potentially important is not simply what they claim happened, but what their author may have known.

Former FBI crisis negotiator Jason Pack told the New York Post that certain details could suggest the writer possessed specific knowledge of the scene. One example involves a reference to a smartwatch that investigators reportedly recovered at Nancy’s home.

The language itself may provide another clue.

Authorities have highlighted distinctive linguistic characteristics in the communications, hoping that someone who knows the writer might recognize the vocabulary, sentence structure or unusual phrasing.

That appears to be one reason investigators decided to take the unusual step of releasing the notes publicly months after they were originally received.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos previously said authorities hoped making portions of the communications public would “jog somebody” and generate a response from someone who recognizes something significant.

Nancy’s family has made a similar appeal.

Savannah Guthrie recently urged anyone who recognizes the writing — or who has noticed unusual or troubling behavior from someone they know — to contact investigators.

Now, authorities say new information is coming in.

Every tip received by the task force is being reviewed and followed up, according to the sheriff’s department. Whether any of the latest submissions will produce the breakthrough investigators have been seeking remains unknown.

There is also still a fundamental mystery surrounding the notes themselves: investigators have not publicly established that the person who wrote them was actually responsible for Nancy’s disappearance.

Experts examining the case have offered competing interpretations. Some believe details contained in the messages deserve serious scrutiny because they could point toward someone with inside knowledge, while others have questioned whether the communications could ultimately prove to be misleading or even fraudulent.

That uncertainty makes the new tips especially important.

Six months into the investigation, authorities continue trying to connect the pieces — evidence recovered from Nancy’s home, surveillance material, digital and forensic evidence, the mysterious communications and information submitted by members of the public.

The release of the ransom notes was effectively a gamble that someone outside the investigation might recognize something detectives could not.

For the first time since that decision, investigators now know it has prompted additional people to come forward.

Whether one of those tips finally provides the missing connection remains the unanswered question at the center of the case.

Main Sources: New York Post, PEOPLE, ABC News, Fox News