Savannah Guthrie fears her fame could be reason for mother’s disappearance

Savannah Guthrie says she fears her own fame could have been the reason for her mother Nancy’s disappearance, which she has called “unbearable” in her first interview since the possible kidnapping.

Guthrie, a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show Today, discussed the possible reasons for the disappearance of Nancy, who is 84 years old and was reported missing on 1 February from her home near Tucson, Arizona, in an interview with Guthrie’s colleague Hoda Kotb.

“I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl – that lady has money. We can … make a quick buck.’ I mean, that would make sense,” Guthrie said.

“But we don’t know. Which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside. That it’s because of me. And I just have to say, I’m so sorry, mommy. I am so sorry.”

Guthrie said that her brother, who has a military background, immediately suspected it could be a kidnapping and that her own fame could have played a role.

“It sounds so, like, how dumb could I be? But I just – I didn’t wanna believe,’ Guthrie said about her conversation with her brother. “I just said, ‘Do you think because of me?’ And he said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe.’ But I knew that.”

Despite a search involving state and federal investigators, there has been no suspect or motive identified in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Last month, the FBI did recover footage from a Ring doorbell camera, which was destroyed in the incident, that showed a man approaching the front door wearing a backpack.

More than 13,000 tips have been received by the FBI since the footage was released but no arrests have been made. Two ransom notes have, though, been received, which Guthrie said she thinks are genuine.

“A person that would send a fake ransom note really has to look deeply at themselves, to a family in pain,” she said. “But I believe the two notes that we received that we responded to, I tend to believe those are real.”

Asked about the progress of the investigation, Guthrie said that “people have worked tirelessly, and we see that. But we need answers. We cannot be at peace without knowing. And someone can do the right thing, and it is never too late to do the right thing. And our hearts are focused on that.”