Savannah Guthrie family raises reward in search for missing mother
Savannah Guthrie said her family is offering a $1 million reward for information that leads to the recovery of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who has been missing since late January from a home just outside Tucson, Arizona.
Guthrie, a host of the NBC’s “Today” show, said in an Instagram post that the family is still holding out hope that Nancy Guthrie will be found alive. At the same time, Guthrie acknowledged that they also realize it might be too late.
“She may already be gone,” Guthrie wrote in the post, adding, “She may already have gone home to the Lord that she loves and is dancing in heaven.”
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen at her home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day, according to authorities involved in the case. Investigators have said they believe she was kidnapped, and the FBI has released surveillance videos showing a masked man outside Guthrie’s front door on the night she vanished.
Authorities have also said they found drops of her blood on the front porch, but they have not publicly revealed much additional evidence. Since the early days of her disappearance, officials have expressed concern about her health because she needs vital daily medicine.
Guthrie said her family needs information about where her mother is, “no matter what happened,” and urged the public to come forward. “Someone out there knows something that can bring her home,” she said.
The investigation has drawn a large response from both law enforcement and the public. Guthrie said several hundred people are working the case, and the Pima County Sheriff’s Office has said more than 20,000 tips have been received. The FBI and other agencies are also assisting.
Investigators’ efforts have continued amid intense speculation sparked by images made public earlier in the search. The porch camera footage released about two weeks ago, which showed a man wearing a backpack and gloves outside Nancy Guthrie’s house, provided investigators with what Guthrie described as a major break but also fueled questions online.
The sheriff’s department said Monday that it is aware of differences between the masked person’s clothing shown in various images that were released, including versions with and without a backpack. In a statement, the department said, “There is no date or time stamp associated with these images,” and that “Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”
Sheriff Chris Nanos previously said members of Guthrie’s family, including siblings and spouses, are not suspects. Guthrie also said Tuesday that her family plans to donate $500,000 to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, saying the attention on her mother and their family should extend to other families facing similar circumstances.