Today show host Savannah Guthrie made an emotional appeal to viewers on Tuesday to come forward with any information about her missing mother, a day after news organisations said a ransom note received months ago had indicated that she was dead.
“We are in agony, and we cannot be at peace … We love our mum. We’ll never stop looking for her,” Guthrie said at the Today desk in New York, holding a tissue in her left hand.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, who lived alone, was reported missing from her Tucson-area home on February 1. The FBI released video more than a week later from a camera outside her front door showing a masked stranger. Her blood was found on the porch, but the case remains unsolved.
Some media outlets had previously reported receiving ransom notes in the days after Guthrie’s disappearance but had not disclosed the details while the investigation was at an early stage. Guthrie’s family was aware of the notes.
Tucson television station KOLD said Monday that it had received two notes, one demanding millions in bitcoin in exchange for Guthrie’s return and another that said she had died. Separately, CNN cited law enforcement sources in reporting on the contents of the notes.
CNN said a note indicated that those who kidnapped Guthrie did not mean to kill her but that she died shortly after her disappearance.
