It’s been nearly two months since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie went missing. Her daughter, “TODAY” morning show co-host Savannah Guthrie, opened up this week about the continuing mystery.
“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. We are in agony. It is unbearable,” she told Hoda Kotb in an interview that previewed Wednesday and will be broadcast throughout the week, according to NBC News.
Tears streamed down the veteran journalist's face as she talked about her mother.
Nancy Guthrie’s family reported her missing on Feb. 1, shortly before Savannah was set to go to Italy to cover the Olympics. She never ended up going, and the search for her mother has only dragged on and become more complicated.
There have been ransom attempts, alleged fake ransom attempts, TMZ has gotten involved, Guthrie has posted emotional videos to Instagram and her family has offered a $1 million reward for information that leads to her mother’s whereabouts. Authorities have investigated blood on the front porch of Nancy Guthrie’s home (determined to be hers), unknown DNA found on the property, gloves, a backpack, and doorbell camera footage of a masked figure that has also been released to the public.
A potential suspect has been described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a male who is 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with an average build. Additionally, the FBI offered its own $50,000 reward leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie or to arrests of people involved in her disappearance.
According to authorities cited by NBC News, the 84-year-old was last seen on Jan. 31 at 9:45 p.m., after having dinner at her daughter, Annie Guthrie’s house. Her doorbell camera was cut off at 1:47 a.m. Feb. 1. Law enforcement believes she was kidnapped, and both state and federal agencies are involved in the investigation.
Still, it is unclear exactly what happened to Nancy Guthrie and how she disappeared from her Tucson, Ariz., -area home before she was able to make it to a virtual church service at a friend’s home. Why would someone kidnap her? Is she still alive? These questions now haunt her family.
“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.”
Savannah has been on leave during the search for her mother, but she plans to return to her post. Her full interview will air in two parts on Thursday and Friday.
