The search for Savannah Guthrie’s mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, has extended to an eighth day.
Late Saturday, “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, flanked by siblings Camron and Annie, released a video begging for their mother’s safe return and telling Nancy’s abductors, “We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her.” Guthrie said the family was willing to pay for the octogenarian’s return.
Billboards to assist in the search for the grandmother, who vanished on Jan. 31, have appeared in high-traffic areas in states near Arizona.
Police were spotted leaving Annie Guthrie’s home wearing gloves and carrying brown bags on Saturday as the search for her and Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy, entered day seven.
Photo flashes went off several times through the shaded windows of Annie Guthrie’s and husband Tommaso Cioni’s Tucson, Ariz., home during a late-night search Saturday, according to NewsNation.
After nearly three hours, authorities walked out of the residence wearing blue gloves and carrying brown bags.
Savannah and her siblings, Annie and brother Camron, offered to pay their 84-year-old mother’s ransom in a heartbreaking video posted on Instagram on Saturday evening.
“We received your message and we understand,” the “Today” anchor said. “We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her.
“This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay,” she added.
The Guthrie family has requested police presence at Nancy Guthrie’s home.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department shared Sunday that they would maintain a presence at the missing 84-year-old’s Tuscon, Ariz., home as they continue to search for her.
“At the request of the Guthrie family, PCSD will maintain a presence at Nancy Guthrie’s residence for security,” the statement reads on X. “Media & the public are reminded to follow all traffic & private property laws.”
“No trespassing is allowed on the Guthrie property,” the statement continues. “Violations are subject to enforcement.”
Digital billboards featuring Nancy Guthrie’s missing person flyer are being posted in states near Arizona, where the 84-year-old grandmother vanished from her home.
The billboards have already been spotted in Texas and New Mexico and are also expected to be posted in California as the second ransom deadline for her safe return looms.
The ads are being placed in high-traffic cities like Albuquerque, San Diego and Los Angeles.
Clear Channel, a billboard advertising company, offered its services to the FBI Phoenix office to spread the word about Nancy’s disappearance, ABC 13 reported.
Nancy, mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing on Jan. 31.
A purported ransom letter was sent to TMZ and KOLD 13, a Tucson-area news outlet, demanding $6 million in bitcoin for Nancy’s safe return.
The note listed a deadline for 5 p.m. on Feb. 5, which has since expired. A second deadline for Monday is fast approaching.
Nancy’s children said that they are ready to pay in a third video statement aimed at the possible kidnappers.
The pastor of Nancy Guthrie’s longtime Tucson church devoted much of his service a week after she went missing to themes of forgiveness and prayers for her family.
“When we find ourselves heartbroken by the inhumanity and the evil that has been done to Nancy and her family,” said pastor John Tittle of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Sunday, according to NBC News.
“What do we do?” he said, adding that forgiveness was the only way to heal “hatred and bitterness.”
Tittle began the service with a prayer for Nancy and her family, calling out each by name.
“We pray for the grace of God to be with all those for whom we offer intercessions, for those whose needs are known to God alone, and for those who are on your hearts and minds this day,” Tittle said. “Thomas, Nancy, Annie, Savannah, Camron and their families.”
He even asked congregants to pray for “those who are responsible” for Nancy’s vanishing in the hopes they might do the “humane and right” thing with the 84-year-old.
Nancy was first reported missing after she failed to show up for church a week ago.
Savannah Guthrie and her family shouldn’t pay any ransom for their missing mother until the supposed kidnappers provide proof that she’s still alive, a top former FBI special agent said.
“Proof of life is everything. They need to have a dialogue, and the family’s looking for a dialogue with these kidnappers,” Michael Harrigan, who oversaw the FBI National Academy, told The Post.
“But if there’s no two-way here, no good comes of sending the money,” he added.
Savannah and her siblings released a video Saturday evening telling the senders of a supposed $6 million ransom note that they were ready to pay.
It’s not clear if the Guthrie family has had additional communication since the first ransom note was sent to several news outlets last week.
The initial ransom demand provided no proof that Nancy was still alive or even in their hands, even as a second deadline of 5 p.m. MT Monday to pay the sum in bitcoin approaches.
Cops have not yet to determined whether the note is believed to be real or a fraud.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department detectives are searching a septic tank behind Nancy Guthrie’s house, with drone footage showing them opening a manhole cover in the backyard.
The 84-year-old was last seen over a week ago after she was dropped off at her Tucson, Arizona home by her daughter and son-in-law.
It comes as police restated that they have no suspects or persons of interest identified in the case.
The authors of Nancy Guthrie’s ransom note may have exposed themselves as operating outside the US because of one tiny detail in their note – a specification that their multi-million dollar demands be paid out in US dollars, law enforcement experts think.
“Why would you use that if you’re a domestic person? That points to somebody who might be potentially outside the country, which also lends the potential for this being a scam,” former FBI agent Michael Harrigan told The Post.
“If you’re domestic, why would you ever put ‘USD?’ You put six million,” he added.
Guthrie’s supposed kidnappers demanded a bitcoin ransom to be paid in “USD” by two deadlines – one at 5 p.m. MT Thursday, with the amount increasing for a Monday deadline after the first was missed.
The note sender has made no contact with law enforcement or the Guthrie family since the note was first sent to news outlets last week, and investigators have not determined whether the notes are real or not.
We got another “no update, update” on the search for Nancy Guthrie from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department on Sunday.
There are still no suspects or person of interest — and no suspect vehicles have been identified.
“Detectives and agents continue to conduct follow-up at multiple locations. Details of that follow-up are not being released at this time,” the sheriff’s department said.
Authorities were spotted conducting a late-night search of Annie Guthrie’s home as the search for her and Savannah Guthrie’s mom, Nancy, enters day seven.
Law enforcement were seen taking photographs at Annie and husband Tommaso Cioni’s Tucson, Ariz., home late Saturday until around 10:30 p.m. MT, according to NewsNations’ Brian Entin.
The outlet reported an agent carrying a silver briefcase into the home.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.
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