Savannah Guthrie returned to the TODAY show on Monday morning. This came two months after her mother Nancy Guthrie, 84, was kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Sadly, Nancy remains missing, and the search for her continues.
Now, a FBI expert is speaking out to say that the “walls are closing in” on Nancy’s kidnapper in the wake of Savannah’s TODAY return.
‘The Pressure Builds….’
Former FBI agent Jason Pack told Page Six that Savannah returning to TODAY will reinforce the fact that she has a “national platform” that will keep all eyes on her mother’s case.
“Every day that passes the pressure builds,” Pack said. “Keeping a secret like this is exhausting. And that gets harder with every morning that Savannah Guthrie sits behind that anchor desk.”
“Most criminals in cases like this count on the media moving on,” he continued. “They count on the family fading from public view. They count on people forgetting. This case is different. Savannah has a national platform and she shows up on it every single day. Every time a viewer sees her face, they think about her mother.”
Pack went on to emphasize that the more attention the case receives, the more “pressure on the people responsible goes up.”
“Add a reward of more than one million dollars and the full weight of FBI resources and you have a situation where the walls are not just closing, but they are closing from every direction at once,” he explained.
“At some point, someone is going to have the courage to make that call,” Pack concluded. “One phone call from someone who decides the reward money matters more than their silence is all it takes to bring law enforcement directly to their front door.”
Nancy’s Kidnapping
Nancy Guthrie was last seen on the night of Saturday, January 31. That evening, she had dinner with her daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni. They dropped her off at home afterwards at around 9:45pm, and she tragically hasn’t been seen since.
A masked intruder was captured on Nancy’s doorbell ring camera in the early hours of February 1. He managed to cover the camera with some plants before moving forward with the kidnapping.
It has since been revealed that the masked man had been seen in the doorbell ring camera prior to the night Nancy was taken. This indicates that he may have been casing out her home.
Savannah Returns To TODAY
This comes after Savannah returned to TODAY on Monday morning. She made no mention of her mother’s disappearance during the show.
“Good morning and welcome to TODAY on this Monday morning. We are so glad you started your week with us and it is good to be home,” Savannah said to open the show at 7am.
During the 8am hour, Savannah could not help but break down in tears as she greeted well-wishers with her colleagues on the TODAY show plaza. There, fans were holding loving signs and wearing yellow ribbons and shirts in honor of both Savannah and her mother.
“It’s a special Monday morning for us and for this crowd as well. Special, because we’re welcoming back our North Star, SG, come on out here,” Craig Melvin said as Savannah walked outside.
“These signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful,” Savannah told the crowd as she began to cry. “I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my family. We feel it. We feel your prayers so thank you so much.”
TODAY weatherman Al Roker offered Savannah his handkerchief. She then jokingly replied, “This is such a nice pocket square I don’t want to slobber on it.”
Check out the emotional moment for yourself in the video below.
We can only hope that the walls truly are closing in on whoever kidnapped Savannah’s mother. Please join us in saying a prayer for the return of Nancy Guthrie.