“TODAY” co-host Savannah Guthrie has opened up about the ongoing search for her mother, detailing the “agony” her family is going through more than seven weeks after her disappearance from her home in Arizona.
“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony. We are in agony. It is unbearable,” Savannah Guthrie told Hoda Kotb in an interview previewed Wednesday that will be broadcast throughout the week.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing by her family Feb. 1 from her home near Tucson, Arizona, after failing to attend a virtual church service at a friend’s house, authorities said. She was last seen the night before, around 9:45 p.m., after having dinner at her daughter Annie Guthrie’s home.
Watch Savannah Guthrie’s interview Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on “TODAY.”
Authorities have described the case as a possible kidnapping or abduction, but clues have been scarce.
“And to think of what she went through. I wake up every night in the middle of the night, every night,” Savannah Guthrie 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.”
Days after their mother disappeared, Savannah Guthrie — flanked by her sister and her brother, Camron Guthrie — posted a tearful video on Instagram begging for more information from their mother’s possible kidnapper and saying her family is “ready to talk.”
In the video, the siblings also thanked the public for “the prayers for our beloved mom.”
“We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them, too,” they said.
Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb during the interview.TODAY
Amid the ongoing search that includes both state and federal agencies, authorities released video of a person whom they have described as a suspect, showing a masked, armed figure appearing to tamper with a security camera on Guthrie’s Tucson-area home.
The FBI has said it is looking for a male who is 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with an average build. In the doorbell camera images, he was wearing a black Ozark Trail Hiker Pack 25-liter backpack.
That doorbell camera disconnected at 1.47 a.m. Feb. 1, according to a timeline previously released by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
Forensic testing showed that Guthrie’s blood was found on the porch of her home, authorities have said. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said that investigators may use genetic genealogy to try and identify the source of unknown DNA recovered from inside the house.
Nancy Guthrie.Pima County Sheriff’s Department
The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for her recovery. Separately, the FBI has offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to her recovery or to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.
Earlier this month, Savannah Guthrie, who has been on leave from her position at the “TODAY” show, visited the studio in New York City and said she plans to return to her post.
“While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home,” a spokesperson for the show said in a statement.
