Savanna Guthrie has given her first interview since her mother, Nancy Guthrie, disappeared nearly two months ago.
The Today show co-host recounted to her colleague Hoda Kotb about the moments after she and her family learned their mother was missing and spoke about the pain they had experienced.
“We are in agony. It is unbearable,” she said.
These are the five unanswered questions following the interview.
The Context
Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home outside Tucson, Arizona, on January 31. She was reported missing the following day by her family.
Authorities believe that she was kidnapped and that drops of her blood were found on the front porch of her house.
The FBI released surveillance footage in February, which showed a masked individual, whom they called a suspect, on her doorstep the night she disappeared.
In the weeks that followed, investigators have not identified a suspect or provided the public with information about any significant breakthroughs in the case.
Did The Suspect Gain Entry Through the Back Door?
Savannah Guthrie said in the interview that the back doors of her mother’s house had been found propped open when her family first arrived after she had disappeared.
“We thought that she must have had some kind of medical episode in the night, and that somehow the paramedics had come because the back doors (of Nancy’s home) were propped open, and that didn’t make any sense,” she said.
“The doors were propped open,” she said.
This has, in turn, raised questions over whether the suspect gained entry through the back door.
The focus had previously been on the front door, as that is where masked individuals were seen on a doorbell camera.
Was There an Accomplice?
A neighbor of Nancy Guthrie’s, and a former homicide detective, has both previously suggested that there could have been one or multiple accomplices in Nancy Guthrie’s abduction.
The neighbor, who was identified only as Laura, told NewsNation’s Brian Entin on Brian Entin Investigates that she believes the suspect may have been waiting for an accomplice or accomplices who were already inside to open the front door.
Meanwhile, Kurt Dabb, a former homicide detective in Pima County, previously told Parade that suspected kidnappings or burglaries gone awry typically require coordination, likely suggesting “two to four accomplices,” Dabb said.
Authorities have not confirmed if they believe multiple suspects were involved.
The detail about the backdoor being open raises questions and could fuel speculation about multiple individuals being involved.
Is The Ransom Note Real?
Savannah Guthrie said she thinks most of the ransom notes related to her mother’s disappearance are “not real.” However, she believes the two notes she responded to were.
“There are a lot of different notes, I think that came,” Savannah Guthrie said. “And I think most of them, it’s my understanding, are not real. And I didn’t see them.”
“I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real,” she said.
Last month, Heith Janke, special agent in charge of the FBI Phoenix division, said at a press conference last month that the agency is in communication with the Guthrie family and offers advice from a law‑enforcement perspective, though any decision regarding a ransom is ultimately up to the family. In a later video posted on social media, Savannah Guthrie responded to the situation, saying: “We received your message and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us.”
The veracity of the ransom notes has not been confirmed by law enforcement.
How Did Kidnapping Impact Nancy?
Savannah Guthrie spoke in the video about the fears she has over the impact the kidnapping would have had on her mother.
“To think of what she went through,” she said. “I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night. And in the darkness, I imagine her terror. And it is unthinkable, but those thoughts demand to be thought.”
“A kidnapper who took an 84-year-old woman, in the dead of night, in her pyjamas, with no shoes, without her medicine, this little person,” Savannah Guthrie said.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos previously raised concerns, as Nancy Guthrie needs daily medication.
Early in the interview, Savannah Guthrie spoke about her mother’s health and said that she had been very frail.
“She can’t wander off. My mom, she was in tremendous pain, her back was very bad,” she said.
Why Was Nancy Kidnapped?
Another question that has circulated both before and after the interview is why Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped.
Speaking in the interview, Savannah Guthrie said that she fears it was because of her.
She recounted speaking to her brother on the phone, and that he had told her that he thought their mother had been kidnapped for ransom. She then recounted asking him if he thinks that it could have been because of her, and he said yes.
“But I knew that,” Savannah Guthrie said.
“I hope not, I mean, we still don’t know. Honestly, we don’t know anything. We don’t know anything,” she said. “I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom, and somebody thought ‘Oh, that girl, that lady has money. We could make a quick buck.’ That would make sense, but we don’t know.”
Savannah Guthrie then said that this was “too much to bear.”
“To think that I brought this to her bedside. That it’s because of me,” she said.
What Happens Next
Authorities and the Guthrie family urge anyone with information about the case to come forward.
Anyone with information is urged to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), 520-351-4900 or 88-CRIME or visit tips.fbi.gov.
