Savannah Guthrie and her siblings are increasing the reward for their missing mother, Nancy Guthrie. In a new video posted on Tuesday, Feb. 24, the Today show co-anchor spoke about the family’s continued hope for the recovery of the 84-year-old matriarch after she was “taken in the dark of night from her bed” on Feb. 1.
Calling the 24 days that her mother has been missing “agony,” Savannah, 54, said her family has been “fearing for her and aching for her and most of all just missing her”
The NBC co-host noted that her family understands that Nancy may be dead, adding, “We also know that she may be lost, she may already be gone. She may already have gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in Heaven… and 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 Guthrie family upped the reward for any information leading to Nancy’s recovery or an arrest in the case to $1 million. That number had previously been set at $100,000. In addition to the new reward, the Guthrie family is also donating $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“We also know that we are not alone in our loss. We know there are millions of families that have suffered from this uncertainty,” Savannah said before sharing the donation. “We hope that the attention that has been given to our mom and our family will extend to all the families like ours who are in need.”
Savannah said that in regards to her mother, her family still believes “in a miracle.” “As my sister [Annie Guthrie] says, ‘We are blowing on the embers of hope.’ ”
Ending her message with another plea, Savannah urged those with information to contact authorities. “Please, if you hear this message; if you’ve been waiting and you haven’t been sure, let this be your sign to please come forward, tell what you know and help us bring our beloved mom home so that we can either celebrate a glorious, miraculous homecoming or we can celebrate the beautiful, brave and courageous and noble life that she has lived,” Savannah said. “Please be the light in the dark.”
Savannah’s comments come shortly after her last video shared to Instagram, posted on Sunday, Feb. 15. In the clip, the journalist urged “whoever has her or knows where she is” to come forward, noting that it had been two weeks since her mother was taken and that she still had “hope.”
Addressing her mother’s kidnappers directly, she added, “I wanted to say to whoever has her or knows where she is that it’s never too late. And you’re not lost or alone. And it is never too late to do the right thing. And we are here. And we believe. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being.”
“It’s never too late,” she concluded, writing in the caption: “Bring her home. It’s never too late to do the next right thing.” Nancy was last seen alive on Saturday, Jan. 31 after she had dinner with family. She was reported missing on Sunday, Feb. 1 when she failed to attend a virtual church service.
In an interview with the Daily Mail published on Sunday, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos — who has largely been at the forefront of the investigation — explained why he believes Nancy was kidnapped rather than the victim of a burglary gone wrong.
“This is somebody who’s disappeared from the face of the earth, and now we have a camera that says here’s the person who did this,” he told the outlet, referring to footage of a masked intruder.
“And that’s what makes me say this is a kidnapping. The motivation for it is where we get stuck, right? Is it for money? I mean, we had the one demand where they asked for money. But is it really for money, or is it for revenge for something?”
Per the outlet, Nanos said up to 50,000 tips have been submitted regarding Nancy’s disappearance. He previously shared that it could take “years” to find Nancy. “Maybe it’s an hour from now,” Nanos said, per The New York Times. “Maybe it’s weeks or months or years from now. But we won’t quit. We’re going to find Nancy. We’re going to find this guy.”
Also on Sunday, an FBI spokesperson confirmed that a recovered glove “appears to match” the gloves worn by the “armed individual” seen in the footage from outside of Nancy’s home. “The one with the DNA profile recovered is different and appears to match the gloves of the subject in the surveillance video,” the spokesperson said.
