Savannah Guthrie is contemplating the hard questions while opening up about her family’s ongoing ordeal in the wake of her mother Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
During her first interview since her mom went missing on Feb. 1, the longtime Today anchor shared the heartbreaking fear that her 84-year-old mother’s abduction from her Catalina Foothills, Ariz., home might have been because of the spotlight on her family from Savannah’s fame.
“I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl — that lady has money. We can … make a quick buck.’ I mean, that would make sense,” Savannah told Hoda Kotb in a two-part, pre-taped interview, the first of which aired on Thursday.
Savannah Guthrie cries during her interview on ‘Today’
Credit: NBC/Today
The mother of the Today anchor was last seen outside her home on the evening of Jan. 31 when she was dropped off after having dinner with family. Nancy was declared missing the next day, after she didn’t show up at a friend’s house for her weekly church meeting.
The situation grew more dire when, on Feb. 2, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos announced that Nancy’s disappearance was being investigated as a crime and declared her home a crime scene, revealing that traces of Nancy’s blood had been discovered on her porch. Since then, authorities have described the case as a possible kidnapping or abduction, but clues have been scarce. There have been breaks in the case, such as ransom notes and security footage featuring a masked man tampering with Nancy’s doorbell, but nothing has led to concrete clues to Nancy’s whereabouts.
Savannah recalled that she and her siblings knew right away that something was amiss, and her brother Camron — whom she described as “brilliant” with a military career background — “saw very clearly right away what this was.”
“And even on the phone when I called him, he knew. He said, ‘I think she’s been kidnapped for ransom.’ And I said, ‘What?!'” she told Kotb. “It sounds so — how dumb could I be — but I said, ‘Do you think because of me?’ He said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe.'”
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As she got visibly emotional, Savannah said she hopes that isn’t the case, since there has been no definitive evidence to the theory. “Honestly, we don’t know anything. We don’t know anything,” she said.
“To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me? Can I just say, I’m so sorry, Mommy,” she added through her tears. “I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law. I’m just so sorry. I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry.”
Nancy Guthrie
Credit: Savannah Guthrie/Instagram
Seven weeks into the search for Nancy, authorities have not identified any suspects or persons of interest. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI urged those with information to contact them at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Savannah and her siblings have made several public pleas for information and increased the reward for Nancy’s return to $1 million. The family has acknowledged that while she “may already be gone,” they can not be at peace until her disappearance is resolved.
“We still believe in a miracle, we still believe that she can come home — hope against hope,” Savannah said in a video shared to her Instagram on Feb. 24, fighting back tears as she added that her family is “aching” for their missing matriarch. “As my sister says, ‘We are blowing on the embers of hope.'”
Savannah and Kotb’s emotional conversation will continue with a second part slated to air on Friday, March 27.
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