A visibly emotional Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday begged for public assistance in the ongoing investigation into her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie, just hours after details emerged that a second ransom note claimed the 84-year-old had died.
Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of the “Today” show, used the morning broadcast to deliver a direct appeal while making it clear she is staying out of the network’s reporting on the case.
“I love you guys and I love this place,” Savannah Guthrie told her co-hosts.
“This is unusual and unprecedented, to say the least, to be sitting here,” she continued. “But I don’t have any comment on this story and I’m not involved in our coverage — but I can’t pretend I’m not here. And so, since I am, I wanted to take the opportunity to ask people to beg people to come forward, somebody knows something.”
Savannah Guthrie detailed the toll the crisis has taken on her siblings and children, emphasizing the family’s ongoing torment.
“And this is a new story today that’s on your radar,” she said. “But this is the life that my sister lives, I live, that my brother lives, that our extended family lives, that our children live every day, and we are in agony.”
Savannah Guthrie added that she and her family could not “be at peace.”
“We’re begging for your help,” she said. “We love our mom and we’ll never stop looking for her, ever.”
The anchor’s appeal followed a major shift in the active investigation. A second ransom note sent to an Arizona television station on June 22 stated that Nancy Guthrie was dead. This letter did not include an apology or ask for cash.
Law enforcement officials have reviewed both communications and currently view them as potentially credible.
Savannah Guthrie previously issued direct statements to potential captors, but the family later acknowledged their mother might not have survived the abduction.
“ heating she may have already gone home to the Lord that she loves,” Guthrie stated in a February 24 Instagram video. “If this is what is to be, then we will accept it, but we need to know where she is. We need her to come home for that reason.”
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate the disappearance. Authorities previously treated the home as a potential crime scene, bringing in homicide investigators based on forensic observations.
“I hope we find her safe and sound, but we cannot ignore what’s in front of us,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said during a February press conference.
Security camera footage released by officials captured a masked suspect approaching the property shortly before Nancy Guthrie vanished.
