“Today,” anchor Savannah Guthrie expressed that her family is in “agony” following her mother, Nancy, being reported missing after being taken from her Arizona home on February 1. “Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony, we are in agony,” a tearful Guthrie told co-host Hoda Kotb Wednesday in a preview of the interview that is set to air over the course of this week.
Authorities, including the FBI, have been searching for Nancy for weeks but have been unable to break the case open or find out what happened to her. Savannah described the situation that she and her family are enduring as “unbearable.”
“And to think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night,” she told Kotb. “And in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought. And I will not hide my face. But she needs to come home now.”
Guthrie has been absent from the show since her mother went missing, but she returned to the Rockefeller Center studio to visit her colleagues on March 5. While Guthrie has been away, Kotb has been anchoring the show alongside Craig Melvin. “Today” will air the remainder of the interview in two parts on Thursday and Friday, Fox News reported.
Guthrie is believed to have been taken against her will, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos. Her son-in-law dropped her off at home around 10 p.m. the night before she went missing. In the early morning hours, a masked man appeared at her doorstep.
At approximately 2:30 a.m., her pacemaker made its last sync with her Apple devices, which suggests a potential timeframe for when she was taken from the home. Her watch and iPhone were found inside the house. Several ransom letters were sent to the entertainment-gossip outlet TMZ but nothing ever came of them. The Guthrie family has offered $1 million for information about their mother.
The “Today” show anchor has posted several videos on social media pleading for her mother’s return, but her sit-down interview with Kotb marks her first formal discussion about the situation.
NBC has not yet announced when Guthrie will return to “Today.” An insider from NBC informed Fox News Digital that she is eager to come back, and the show is also keen to have her. However, the timing and circumstances of her return remain uncertain.
The masked individual captured on Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera around the time authorities reported her disappearance is described as having an average height and build. He was seen carrying a black Ozark Trail backpack and appeared to be armed with a handgun.
The search for Nancy Guthrie has entered its seventh week, with investigators focusing on a vacant home near her Arizona residence as they follow new leads in a case authorities believe may involve a targeted abduction.
According to Brian Entin, a correspondent for NewsNation, FBI agents are now inquiring about a nearby property that was vacated shortly before Guthrie’s disappearance.
“Some of the things that they’re talking about is there’s one neighbor that moved out before Nancy disappeared, and they are asking more questions about that situation,” Entin said on his program this week.
“Not to say that that has anything to do with what happened. But that is something the FBI agents are asking about,” Entin said.
Entin, who has been reporting from outside Tucson for weeks, suggested that the investigation reflects a broader strategy by the investigators to revisit potential leads as the case develops. In a separate interview with Parade, retired Pima County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Bob Krygier, a former SWAT commander, noted that vacant properties can be significant in such cases. He described them as potential “home bases or staging locations” for suspects.