Today show host Savannah Guthrie pleaded with her mother’s alleged kidnapper again on Saturday, saying she and her siblings were willing to pay for Nancy Guthrie‘s return after receiving a message reportedly containing information about the 84-year-old.
“We received your message and we understand,” she said in an Instagram post. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace.”
“This is very valuable to us, and we will pay,” concluded an exhausted-looking Guthrie, who appeared sitting alongside her brother Camron and sister Annie.
Investigators, who say Guthrie was forcibly taken from her home in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 31, addressed the purported new message in an X post on Friday, saying they were “actively inspecting” it to determine its authenticity. The message’s contents have not been made public.
The 20-second video clip also didn’t mention details contained in the message, but followed a similar video from the siblings last week that addressed an alleged ransom letter sent to three news stations, including two of CNN’s Tucson affiliates, and along with gossip site TMZ.
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Saturday’s video, which FBI officials told NBC News they were aware of, was in reference to the second note. It followed the arrest of a man in Los Angeles on Thursday after he was accused of contacting the Guthrie family via text message, asking about bitcoin that was reportedly mentioned in the initial ransom demands.
In this image provided by NBCUniversal, Savannah Guthrie, right, and her mom Nancy speak, Wednesday, April 17, 2019, in New York.
Nathan Congleton/NBCUniversal via AP
The authenticity of last week’s ransom note is also under investigation. It included two deadlines: one set for Monday at 5 p.m. and another that passed last Thursday, as well as a request for funds.
Both notes were sent to KOLD, Jessica Bobula, the channel’s news director, said Saturday. She said the notes arrived in the station’s news tips system on Monday and Friday, respectively.
Bobula said neither note provided proof of life and that the second was not a ransom demand. The second seemed to be attempting to prove that it was from the same sender as the first, she explained.
“There is something in the note that we believe they are trying to use to make sure the investigators know that it is the same people,” Bobula said. “It seems as though they are trying to indicate only the sender of the previous email would know this detail.”
When asked if the senders of Friday’s note indicated what might happen to Guthrie if the Monday deadline is missed, she said, “They did,” without elaborating.
It also suggested that Guthrie could be harmed in some way, Bobula added.
Both messages were forwarded to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, with their IP information, she confirmed.
Authorities also searched the home of Annie Guthrie for several hours late Saturday, shortly after the siblings addressed the second note, but reported nothing of note was found at the scene.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:45 p.m on Jan. 31, when she was dropped off at home by family after having dinner with them, the sheriff’s department said.
She was reported missing around noon the next day after she didn’t show up to church.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to US$50,000 for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
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