Savannah Guthrie shared more thoughts on her mother Nancy Guthrie’s continued disappearance.
During an emotional interview on the Thursday, March 26, broadcast of Today, Savannah, 54, spoke to Hoda Kotb about the possibility that someone targeted Nancy, 84, because of her daughter’s fame. She recalled speaking to her brother, Camron, who previously worked in military intelligence, about the kidnapper’s potential motive.
“I said, ‘Do you think [it was] because of me?’ And he said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe,’” Savannah remembered, breaking down into tears. “But I knew that. I hope not. I mean, we still don’t know. Honestly, we don’t know anything. We don’t know anything. So, 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.’ That would make sense, but we don’t know.”
She added that “it’s just too much to bear to think that I brought this to her bedside” as she and Kotb both got emotional. “That it’s because of me. I have to say I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law,” Savannah continued. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
A clip from Savannah’s emotional interview previously aired during the Wednesday, March 25, broadcast of Today.
“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. … It is unbearable,” the TV journalist told her former coanchor. “And to think of what she went through. 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. She needs to come home now.”
Hoda Kotb Reflects on Savannah Guthrie’s ‘Desperation’ to Find Missing Mom
Nancy was reported missing from her Arizona home in early February. More than a month later, police are still investigating Nancy’s whereabouts.
After the teaser for Thursday’s interview, Kotb, 61, praised Savannah’s candor in the emotionally charged sit-down.
“There is a desperation and also a steeliness about Savannah. She’s hoping that somebody, whoever this person is, will see something and say something,” Kotb said. “As you’ll see in the coming days, she talks about so many things. She talks about the investigation, she talks about her faith and she talks about how she’s getting through.”
Savannah, one of Nancy’s three children with late husband Charles Guthrie, took a leave of absence from her Today duties amid her mom’s disappearance.
“I have every intention of coming back,” Savannah told colleagues when she briefly returned to the studio on March 5. “I don’t know how to come back, but I don’t know how not to. You’re my family, and I would like to try.”
A Today source, meanwhile, clarified to Us on Monday, March 23, that there has not been any official “announcement regarding Savannah’s return date” to the morning show.
Guthrie Family Issues Statement About ‘Grief’ Amid Nancy’s Disappearance
As Savannah holds onto hope for her mom’s safe return, she and her siblings, Annie and Camron, have also offered a reward for any additional information.
“We are deeply grateful for the outpouring from neighbors, friends and the people of Tucson. We are all family now,” they said in a statement on Saturday, March 21. “We continue to believe it’s Tucsonians, and the greater Southern Arizona community, that hold the key to finding resolution in this case. Someone knows something.”
They concluded, “We cannot grieve; we can only ache and wonder. Our focus is solely on finding her and bringing her home. We want to celebrate her beautiful and courageous life but we cannot do that until she is brought to a final place of rest.”
