Savannah Guthrie believes there is a good chance her mom Nancy Guthrie was taken as a way “to make a quick buck” because of her own fame and wealth.
Savannah Guthrie’s first interview since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance nearly two months ago, an emotional conversation with her Today show colleague and friend Hoda Kotb, covered a lot of ground, beginning with the story of how Savannah Guthrie first learned her mom was missing.
On Feb. 1, Savannah Guthrie’s sister Annie Guthrie called her in a panic. Nancy Guthrie, who is 84 and pretty immobile, was missing from her Tucson, Arizona home. Her back doors were open and Nancy’s cell phone and purse were left behind — and then there was the blood on the porch and the forcibly-removed doorbell camera.
“It was just chaos and disbelief,” Savannah Guthrie recalled in the first part of the interview, airing on Thursday’s Today in the 7 a.m. ET hour.
Savannah Guthrie credits her brother, an ex-fighter pilot, for first identifying this as a kidnapping for ransom.
“Do you think it’s because of me?” Savannah Guthrie recalled asking her siblings at the time.
She knew the answer even when she asked the question.
“How dumb could I be?” she said to Kotb. “Like, I didn’t want to believe it.”
To be clear, it is not known as fact that this was a kidnapping for ransom, and that Savannah’s celebrity and net worth were the ultimate targets. But Savannah Guthrie says that is “probably” the reason.
“I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl — that lady has money and we could make a quick buck.’ I mean, that would make sense, but I don’t know,” she said. “But, yeah, that’s probably — it’s just too much to bear. To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me.”
Savannah Guthrie believes the two ransom notes the family responded to early in the investigation were “real.”
“And I have to say, ‘I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry.’ I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew … and my brother-in-law,” she continued. “I’m just, like, so sorry. I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
As the conversation, recorded on Tuesday, continued, Savannah Guthrie called the recovered video and images of her mom’s suspected kidnapper “absolutely terrifying.”
“I can’t imagine that that was who she saw standing over her bed,” she said. “I can’t, it’s too much.”
The following hour, Today rolled out more of the tearful conversation. The second piece was generally focused on the family’s enduring faith.
At one point, Savannah Guthrie says God has directly told her that Nancy is with Him.
“Early on, I felt and I heard — for one of the very few times in my life — I did hear God speak to me,” Savannah Guthrie said. “As I said to myself, ‘I can handle anything, God, I can handle anything. I just can’t handle not knowing. We can’t handle not knowing. I have to know.’ And I heard a voice, and it said, ‘You do know where she is, she’s with me. She’s with me.’ So whether she’s on this earth still or whether she is in Heaven, I know where she is, I know who she’s with.”
Savannah Guthrie, who co-anchors Today alongside Craig Melvin, has been away from the airwaves since Nancy Guthrie was taken in the early morning hours of Feb. 1. Nancy Guthrie remains missing and there has been no proof of life. The ongoing investigation is a joint effort between the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.
The search for Nancy Guthrie captivated the nation for weeks. At times, it felt like law enforcement was narrowing in on her captor(s), but the investigation has been at a crawl — possibly even a standstill — for some time now.
Savannah Guthrie is expected to return to the Today show soon, according to a source, but a date has yet to be announced. More from Kotb’s conversation with Savannah Guthrie will air on Friday.
The Guthrie family is offering $1 million “for any information that leads to [Nancy’s] recovery.”
“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. We are in agony. It is unbearable. And to think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night — every night,” Savannah said. “And in the darkness, I imagine her terror, and it is unthinkable — but those thoughts demand to be thought, and I will not hide my face. But she needs to come home now.”
Original Article on Hollywood Reporter