It’s been five months since the TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie’s 84 year-old mother Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Sadly, no trace of Nancy has been found, and she remains missing at this time.
This week, Savannah could not help but break down as she talked about the “unending trauma” of her mother’s kidnapping five months after it took place.
‘Agony And Unending Trauma…’
“It is five months of agony and unending trauma for our family,” Savannah, 54, told KOLD on Wednesday. “There is not a moment that goes by that we aren’t actively trying to find our mom.”
“We thank the people of Tucson for holding her in their hearts, as well as both the FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office for their tireless work on behalf of our family,” she continued. “Bring her home.”
Nancy 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.
The masked man was seen on the doorbell ring camera prior to the night Nancy was taken. This indicates that he may have been casing out her home.
No trace of Nancy has been found, and the desperate search for her continues.
FBI Drops Bomb
Earlier this week, the FBI determined that the three ransom notes that have come in for Nancy were fake. This includes two ransom notes received that were received in February days after Nancy disappeared. It also includes the note recently received claiming to know the identities of Nancy’s kidnappers.
“None of the ransom notes are believed to be genuine,” an FBI official told Reuters.
On Wednesday afternoon, FBI Phoenix issued a statement saying that they have received “several” ransom notes over the course of the investigation. This includes some that they haven’t yet ruled out.
“Some have been deemed to be extortion attempts without legitimacy,” the FBI’s statement reads. “Other ransom demands may potentially be legitimate and are still being investigated as such. This case continues to be investigated as a kidnapping for ransom case.”
Savannah Returns To TODAY
Savannah bravely returned to the TODAY show on April 6. She’d spent the previous two months in Tucson desperately trying to find her mother, to no avail. Savannah finally decided that she needed to get back to both her job and her own family, which includes her husband and two young children.
“I will not fall apart,” Savannah defiantly told her former TODAY colleague Hoda Kotb just before her return. “I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them, I will not let them take my joy.”
“They will not take my sister’s joy, they will not take my brother’s joy,” she continued. “They will not take our love, they will not take our faith. But our anguish is real. We need help. We need someone to tell the truth.”
‘I Cry Every Morning…’
Savannah revealed last month that though she sees the TODAY show as being a “little respite” in her day, it does not lessen the agonizing pain that she feels about her mother’s disappearance.
“It’s always with me,” Savannah stated. “I cry every morning on the way to work, and I cry every morning on the way home. And I’m grateful to have good friends and to be able to come to such a beautiful and joyous and supportive place. Like so many people out there, you can hold all of these things together. I try to tell my kids that too. We can hold our sadness and we can hold our joy. And if you don’t believe it, just watch me.”
Savannah added that even when she’s smiling on TODAY, it doesn’t mean that she’s forgotten her pain.
“I know maybe people wonder, ‘Whoa, what’s going on? How’s she able to do that job? Is she not thinking about it? Did she forget?’ No, never. Never,” she insisted.
Savannah concluded by saying that when it comes to her mother’s case, “We still need everybody’s prayers. I wish someone would call and say what they know and tell the truth.”
Watch Savannah talk more about this in the video below.
This has clearly been an excruciatingly difficult time for Savannah, and for her entire family. Please join us in saying a prayer for them, and for the return of Nancy Guthrie.