Savannah Guthrie, host of NBC’s “Today” show, has once again released a video on Monday (local time), seeking the return of her 84-year-old mother, , who went missing on February 1 from her home in Tucson, Arizona.
In her video, Savannah says that her family is living through an unending nightmare that began roughly six months ago. She pleaded with the kidnappers and said, “Tell us where to look for her.”
The video released on Monday is the latest public plea from the journalist, whose mother was last seen on January 31 after having dinner with her daughter Annie Guthrie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni. Savannah added that her family will never stop looking for their mother.
She added, “The world can be a cruel and unforgiving place, and I know that you have tried to do things the right way. So I’m asking you, begging you, to do the right thing now. Make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her. I truly believe it is never too late to do the right thing.”
Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case: Here’s what we know
Authorities believe that was kidnapped, abducted, or otherwise taken against her will on February 1. They found blood near the front doorstep of her home just outside Tucson, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later released surveillance footage that showed a masked man on the porch that night.
In the weeks after she vanished, search teams and volunteers combed the nearby desert terrain, marked by cacti, bushes, and boulders. Additionally, a volunteer group recently looked for her body near the Arizona-Mexico border. While authorities did not reveal how many purported ransom demands were made following her disappearance, three news organizations reported receiving on several occasions and turned them over to investigators.
The FBI ruled out some of these ransom notes as nothing more than extortion attempts, but said that it is still evaluating others that could be legitimate.
Last month, news organization TMZ reportedly received an email that suggested the sender knows the identities of Nancy Guthrie’s kidnappers. The development came days after investigators probing the case concluded that the ransom note claiming she had died came from her abductors. In the last email received by TMZ, the sender claimed to have a video of the “main guy,” along with the 84-year-old, on the day she died. The outlet said it confirmed that the latest email originated from the same sender as the previous messages, citing the use of the same alias and the identical address.
Further, the sender claimed that there were two involved and wrote, “I have a phone stashed in a secure location guaranteeing both the information it stores and the safety of the phone.” He went on to say, “What it contains is my definition of delivering them on a silver platter: a short video of the main guy with Nancy, the day that was probably her last, pictures of both involved, names and addresses, and their ages.”
Savannah Guthrie seeks answers
Previously, Savannah made a series of posts, pleading for people to share information about her mother after she went missing. In the days after her disappearance, Guthrie and her siblings acknowledged that they were aware of media reports about an alleged ransom letter and were willing to engage with whoever sent it. However, they insisted on proof that their mother was still alive. Weeks later, Guthrie announced that her family had offered a reward for information leading to her mother’s recovery. She also acknowledged for the first time that her mother might no longer be alive, while maintaining that the family had not given up hope.
(with agency inputs)
