By Evan Garcia and Steve Gorman
TUCSON, Arizona, Feb 9 (Reuters) – U.S. television network news host Savannah Guthrie, who said her family has reached “an hour of desperation,” pleaded for the public’s help on Monday in locating her elderly mother, presumed kidnapped for ransom more than a week ago from her Arizona home.
Nine days into a round-the-clock search for Nancy Guthrie, 84, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Monday that investigators still had not identified “any suspects, persons of interest or vehicles connected to” her disappearance.
Separately, the FBI said it was “not aware of any continued communication between the Guthrie family and suspected kidnappers.”
No proof of life of the elder Guthrie is known to have surfaced since she was last seen on January 31, when family members dropped her off at her home near Tucson after dining with her. Relatives reported her missing the following day, according to authorities. Family members reportedly checked on her whereabouts after she failed to show up as expected for Sunday church services.
County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Nancy Guthrie had extremely limited mobility and could not have wandered far from home unassisted, leading investigators to conclude early on that she had been abducted. Law enforcement officials and family members have described her as being in frail health and in need of daily medication to survive.
At least two apparent ransom notes have come under police and FBI scrutiny since she vanished, both delivered initially to news media.
“We believe our mom is still out there,” Savannah Guthrie, 54, co-anchor of NBC’s “Today” show, said in the latest of four video messages she and other relatives have posted to Instagram in recent days.
‘WE NEED YOUR HELP’
“Law enforcement is working tirelessly around the clock trying to bring her home, trying to find her. She was taken, and we don’t know where. And we need your help,” Guthrie said.
She asked that anyone who notices “anything at all that seems strange” that might pertain to her mother’s fate, “even if you’re far from Tucson,” to report it to law enforcement, adding, “We are at an hour of desperation.”
The message coincided with a looming Monday deadline enumerated in a purported ransom letter sent to several media outlets last Tuesday, days after the elder Guthrie disappeared. An initial deadline set in that letter for 5 p.m. last Thursday came and went.
The FBI and sheriff’s department said a second apparent ransom note surfaced through the news media on Friday, a day after Savannah Guthrie’s brother, Camron Guthrie, had appealed to whoever might be holding their mother to open a direct line of communication with the family.
On Saturday, Savannah Guthrie appeared with her brother and sister in another video message, also directed at their mother’s presumed captors, pleading for her return, saying, “This is very valuable to us and we will pay.”
Since Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, the last time any of her children addressed their videotaped comments to her directly was in their first video, released last Wednesday, when Savannah Guthrie said, “Mamma, if you are listening, we need you to come home,” and Camron exhorted her to “stay strong.” In subsequent recordings, they have referred to her only in the third person.
Asked last Thursday whether he feared she was dead, Nanos acknowledged he did, but added, “We operate from a position that until we know, she’s out there, she’s alive, and we’re going to continue thinking that way until we find her.”
Nanos also confirmed reports then that DNA test results had determined that blood found on the porch steps at the front door to the victim’s home came from her.
The FBI last Thursday offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance. On Monday, the FBI said additional personnel from its field offices across the country “continue to deploy to Tucson” to assist in the investigation.
(Reporting by Evan Garcia in Tucson, Arizona; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Michael Perry)
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