‘The light is missing from our lives’: Savannah Guthrie… — Transcript

we want to

get to today show co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and her siblings who are now publicly pleading for the safe return of their missing mother. In a raw and heart-wrenching video posted on social media last night, the family makes a direct appeal to any possible abductor of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, who was last seen at her home near Tucson on Saturday night in what police believe may have been a kidnapping. Here is the family’s plea in full.

On behalf of our family,

We want to thank all of you for the prayers for our beloved mom, Nancy.

We feel them, and we continue to believe that she feels them too.

Our mom is a kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman of goodness and light.

She is funny and spunky and clever.

She has grandchildren that adore her and crowd around her and cover her with kisses.

She loves fun and adventure.

She is a devoted friend.

She is full of kindness and knowledge. Talk to her and you’ll see.

The light is missing from our lives.

Nancy is our mother.

We are her children. She is our beacon.

She holds fast to joy in all of life’s circumstances. She chooses joy day after day.

Despite having already passed through great trials of pain and grief.

We are always going to be merely human.

Just normal human people who need our mom.

Mama.

Mama.

If you’re listening,

we need you to come home.

We miss you.

Our mom

is our heart

and our home.

She is 84 years old.

Her health, her heart is fragile.

She lives in constant pain.

She is without any medicine.

She needs it to survive.

And she needs it not to suffer.

We too have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media.

As a family, we are doing everything that we can.

We are ready to talk.

However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated.

We need to know without a doubt that she is alive.

And that you have her.

We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen.

Please reach out to us.

Mommy,

If you are hearing this,

you are a strong woman.

You are God’s precious daughter, Nancy.

We believe and know that even in this valley, he is with you.

Everyone is looking for you, mommy, everywhere.

We will not rest.

Your children will not rest until we are together again.

We speak to you every moment and we pray without ceasing.

And we rejoice in advance for the day that we hold you in our arms again.

We love you, mom.

We love you, mom.

We love you, mom.

Stay strong.

We love you, mom.

We love you.

You know, Willie, obviously,

for anybody watching that, that’s so painful. I, we, we love Savannah so much and have for a couple decades now since we’ve known her.

Anybody that knows her can’t help but love her.

That was, I know for you especially.

And friends in the Today Show family, that, that

that had to be especially difficult to watch.

It’s just really hard to see your dear friend in that kind of pain.

That unspeakable pain.

Looking for her mother.

That’s Savannah in the middle there, that’s Annie, her sister on the left, and her brother Cameron on the right.

A retired F-16 pilot.

Just a wonderful family, wonderful people.

Looking for their beautiful mother.

Who’s still missing this morning in Arizona.

Investigators emphasize they have not identified a suspect or a person of interest in the case.

Despite what’s floating around in some corners of social media.

There is no suspect, there’s no person of interest.

In a social media post yesterday, President Trump said he has spoken with Savannah.

And is directing all federal law enforcement to help the family and to help local police.

He also made a phone call yesterday directly to Savannah.

Let’s bring in retired FBI special agent Rob D’Amico.

He was a member of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team.

And is an MS Now National Security and Intel analyst.

Rob, thanks for being with us again this morning.

This is the first time we’ve seen Savannah and Annie and Cameron speak publicly.

What do you make of the video?

What do you make of what you heard in the video?

The big thing is

they’re obviously being led by the FBI’s hostage negotiators.

Because when you speak out like this,

you have to personalize the person that is missing.

You have to make the kidnappers look at her and not see an object of money or whatever they think they can get out of this.

You have to make them see Nancy.

You have to make them see their mom.

They have to make them see the grandmother.

They, they said if, if, and they also gave her some strong strength.

In speaking to her, if they get a chance, if she gets a chance to see this,

to stay strong, everyone’s looking for her because it is emotionally and physically obviously

very troublesome with a woman that age with the medication.

So they want to give her strength.

But they’re really talking to the kidnappers.

They want to, when they look at Nancy,

they want to see the grandmother getting kisses from the grandchildren.

Because that is human.

And they want to put that human face on her.

But they also talk into the kidnappers, reach out.

We want to talk.

Which tells me that the initial letters that were sent to the

the TMZ and the and the national ones, they may not

think are valid.

They also said the manipulation.

Which is really big now today with AI.

Because proof of life is getting more difficult.

My kids, I had one summer where all three, three or four, three of four of my kids were in Europe.

We all had code words if they said a certain word.

They were under distress.

And I had a proof of life that wasn’t actually true because you don’t want AI to be able to to bring up your proof of life question.

You want the only person to be able to answer that is the the person that was kidnapped.

So there’s some difficulties now coming in with technology.

But they’re asking to reach out.

They want to talk.

Because this is a negotiation.

Obviously, if the first letter, if they thought was valid, if they had communication, they wouldn’t be putting this out.

It’d be a bit different.

From what you saw.

Rob, we heard from the Sheriff’s office at that press conference two days ago now.

There’ll be another briefing later today as well.

That they had processed Nancy Guthrie’s home, that they had left the home.

And then yesterday, or last night, they taped off Nancy’s house again.

And there apparently was a team of FBI agents and the Sheriff’s office back on site.

What do you read into that?

I thought it was very quick to turn the the crime scene back over to the family.

And I, I think they probably saw the same thing.

When the reporter went up and saw the blood outside, there was actually a comment made in that about the blood.

They may have not have saw that, they may not have processed it, which is is somewhat embarrassing.

But you also don’t want the public having that much access to a crime scene like that.

So I, I think they rethought that, went back out.

Obviously, probably this area doesn’t deal with with, you know, high

high visibility kidnappings often.

So the the the investigators went out, thought they processed everything.

And then I think some of the the news footage that came out on it later and the access the public had to that.

They rethought it and went back out and and secured it.

Rob, from everything that you’ve seen and also the actions of the local Sheriff’s office.

Does it seem like they are dealing with a specific entity or person or still casting a wider net?

I, I think they’re casting a wider net.

I think them asking, we’re ready to to talk.

I think is a big clue that they don’t feel they have that communication.

I’ve done overseas kidnappings a lot.

And it’s always tough to figure out if you’re actually dealing with the right group that has your your person.

Or you’re dealing with people that are trying to take advantage of it.

So I, I think the the, let’s talk is a way to reach out and say, hey, we, we want to have negotiations.

We want to talk to you.

But they don’t feel that they have it now.

And also it, it, it can bring a quicker, you know, rapid end to this.

Because once you start communicating, either you get to a solution or you get more leads to be able to follow up.

Retired FBI special agent MS Now National Security and Intelligence analyst Rob D’Amico.

Rob, thanks for being with us again this morning.

And again, Mika and Joe will say there’s a press briefing later today.

It was scheduled two days ago, so that doesn’t mean they’ve got a lot of new information from us.

We hope so.

We hope that someone will be compelled to come forward by seeing Savannah and Annie and Cameron in that video.

Savannah, as articulate and faithful and beautiful talking about her mother as she always is in that video.

And we just hope that compels whoever, if someone is holding Nancy Guthrie, to see the humanity in her and and step forward today.

Let her go.

We’ll be following this story throughout the morning.

And still ahead.